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Fraudster cash goes toward apprenticeships return

A council in Bedfordshire will use the ill-gotten gains of a junk mail fraudster to bring back its apprenticeship programme.

Bedford Borough Council has announced it will partner with Bedford College to use £450,000 of the money confiscated from Hendrick Meniru (pictured) to employ 15 apprentices.

The 49-year-old was found guilty by Luton Crown Court jurors in April last year of two charges of unfair trading, two charges of fraud and one of failing to comply with money laundering regulations after an investigation by the local authority. He was sentenced to three years behind bars.

The probe was launched after the council uncovered details of his involvement in a junk mail scam, which involved conning members of the public, usually the elderly or vulnerable, out of money through a number of bogus claims and promises.

And at a proceeds of crime hearing this month, Meniru was ordered to pay back £3m along with £200,000 in costs — £762,500 of which was received by the council.

The council has announced that £450,000 will fund the apprenticeships, with the remaining £312,500 going back into the council’s budget for fighting fraud.

Dave Hodgson, Bedford council’s directly-elected mayor, said: “We want to ensure that something positive can come out of this appalling, callous crime.

“This funding will be put to good use and shared between two vital purposes — providing training and employment opportunities, and the prevention of, and enforcement against, such crimes in the future.”

A council spokesperson said it had not employed apprentices for “several years,” adding: “The council has put forward plans to allocate £450,000 to fund 15 apprenticeship places annually over the next three years.

“The places will be working within the council which will partner with Bedford College as its training provider.

“These apprenticeship places are available to all but will be especially promoted to groups which might particularly benefit from the scheme such as ex-servicemen and looked after children.”

Ian Pryce, principal of Bedford College, said: “We are happy to be the council’s first choice for the training of its apprentices.

“We support young people into employment in a wide range of ways, including via apprenticeships for a wide range of organisations.”

REVEALED – the new FE Insider columnist for FE Week

Like the next Dr Who or latest James Bond, the world has been waiting with bated breath to learn the identity of the new FE Week columnist to pen the monthly FE Insider articles.

And we can today officially unveil a former 157 Group policy officer and ex-Warwickshire College executive assistant to the principal as the person taking over from previous FE Insider Ben Nicholls.

Ben, a former House of Commons Education Select Committee specialist and ex-Newham College head of policy and communications, left the FE and skills sector this summer in a bid to become the Liberal Democrat MP for Romsey & Southampton North.

His shoes will be filled by… Gemma Knott (pictured), director of marketing, communications, admissions and sales at Stratford-upon-Avon College.

“I’m delighted to be the next FE Insider columnist for FE Week,” she said.

“I’ve been in the sector for more than five years years now since graduation and in this time I’ve experienced all manner of chopping and changing — both on the front line in my roles at Warwickshire and Stratford-upon-Avon colleges and in the policy remit at 157 Group.

“But it never ceases to amaze me how responsive, innovative and dynamic our colleges are, and it frustrates me that we are often forgotten about at government level.

“We are all doing more for less and the repercussions impact on the next generations — talk about false economies.”

Leicester-raised Gemma featured in the pages of FE Week as the subject of our ever-popular profiles back in April 2012, where her drive and passion for the sector were laid bare.

And they’re what our readers can look forward to in her FE Insider articles that appear in editions dated the first Monday of every month we’re in production.

She said: “I’m hoping more young readers will be picking up copies of FE Week and I’m very passionate about lobbying colleges to invest more time and effort in progression and development for their young and talented teams.

“We are tasked with nurturing our students so why don’t we invest in our own young, vibrant and energetic staff too? We often talk about the ‘Student Voice’ but we don’t listen to our biggest asset — the staff that we are employing, at all ages.

“We want students to follow our example, and we need to lead from the very top down.

“There’s definitely a talent vacuum in this sector and I’ll be writing more about this in my column — as well as life in the fast lane in my new role.”

Minister to rule on Barnfield split after public say

Skills Minister Nick Boles will rule on plans for Barnfield College to leave the Barnfield Federation once a public consultation on the proposed split finishes next month, FE Week can reveal.

The Bedfordshire-based federation announced in July its plans for the college to leave the group and its associated schools in a move that would mean the end of the eight-year-old federation.

The final decision rests with Mr Boles, but the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) confirmed that no ruling would be made until a six-week public consultation on the split finishes on October 10. The split is expected to take place by December should the proposal win ministerial approval.

A BIS spokesperson told FE Week: “The Barnfield Federation wrote to ministers on July 28 setting out its plans to bring all five of its academies under one single Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) and for that MAT to legally separate from Barnfield’s sponsorship.

“The Skills Funding Agency [SFA] and Education Funding Agency [EFA] continue to supportthe college and the academy trusts and have advised on the steps required to bring about such a separation. A public consultation on the proposed change has started and will run until October 10.”

The move continues to leave a question mark over the future of federation interim chief executive Dame Jackie Fisher, who replaced previous federation leaders Helen Mayhew and Stephen Hall in February. She is to continue in her role until the possible split, at which point the two organisations were expected to appoint their own chief executives.

The announcement of the split proposals came after the SFA and EFA both published critical findings of their investigations into the federation in February.

FE Commissioner David Collins also visited and called for at least half the governors to be replaced and for “significant changes” to the federation’s leadership.

The Barnfield Federation was unavailable for comment, but in a statement released in July, a spokesperson said the decision to split the organisation was “not taken lightly”.

She said: “We are grateful for the hard work and exemplary commitment of our staff who can now put the past behind them and look forward to the future.”

And the consultation document says: “The Boards of each Academy Trust and the Board of Barnfield College are jointly of the opinion that to best service the educational and training needs of the people of Luton two wholly separate organisations should be put in place.

“Barnfield College would cease being the sponsor of the Academy Trusts… Barnfield College would revert to an FE college able to focus all its energies on further and higher education provision. This process is planned to be completed over the next few months with a view to establishing a single stand-alone Barnfield Multi Academy Trust by December 2014.”

Visit http://moorlands.barnfield.ac.uk/ for more details and to take part.

BREAKING: AoC goes ahead with pay deal despite UCU opposition

The Association of Colleges (AoC) is to proceed with its pay deal despite plans by the University and College Union (UCU) to strike over the offer.

According to the AoC, the other five of the six unions involved in the national joint forum (NJF) on colleges’ pay – AMiE, the ATL, GMB, UNISON and Unite the Union – have agreed to the offer.

But the deal, which includes the removal of the lowest pay grade, a 2 per cent rise to £7.65-an-hour for staff on the lowest remaining grade and a 1 per cent rise for all other grades, has failed to satisfy the UCU. It was holding out for a 3 per cent rise and is expected to proceed with industrial action on October 14.

An AoC spokesperson said: “Decisions of the NJF are made on the basis of agreement between the AoC and the majority of the signatory unions, therefore I am pleased to confirm the final recommendation of the NJF for 2014/15 has been agreed.”

See edition 111 of FE Week, dated Monday, September 22, for more.

Grandfather’s tributes to fallen friends inspire war poetry course

A lecturer who still has a copy of hand-written verses his grandfather dedicated to friends who died in battle is launching a part-time course on war poetry.

Simon Fletcher, who is a poet himself, will launch the eight-week course at Walford and North Shropshire College on reading war poetry next month.

It will cover works by Homer, Shakespeare, Tennyson as well as the famous First World War poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen.

Simon has a personal connection to the First World War through his deceased grandfathers.

One of them, Gilbert Fletcher, fought on the Western Front in France before he was sent home in around 1916 after being critically injured in a gas attack.

His other grandfather, John Tipton, was not called-up for military service due to a spinal injury but wrote poems dedicated to friends who died in the war which Simon still has a copy of.

Simon said he was inspired to start the course by his grandfathers. He added: “I think it’s fascinating that they had such different experiences of the war. The one who didn’t go to war wrote about it and the one who fought, and lost his older brother Harold on the Somme, hardly ever spoke of it.”

Cap: Lecturer Simon Fletcher with the book of poetry by his grandfather

Pensioner recognised for 25 years of constant study at college

Bosses at Bracknell and Wokingham College have waived a £129 course fee for grandmother-of-four Gen van den Heuvel as she marks 25 years of study, writes Paul Offord.

Gen van den Heuvel felt she might reconnect with the country of her birth when signed up for a French literature course at Bracknell and Wokingham College a quarter of a century ago.

Born and raised in Paris, she experienced the Nazi occupation before moving to Britain in 1945.

And the studies proved more than a brief comfort, with Gen, now aged 82, going on to take courses in Russian history, pattern making for dresses, sugarcraft — even Christmas cracker making.

She puts the cost of all her studies over the years at around £2,500, plus £250 for books, but her impressive adult learning effort — and loyalty to the college — have been rewarded with 15 weeks’ free (worth £129) as she prepares to embark on another French literature course.

Gen told FE Week: “I still see friends I made there 25 years ago and plan to keep going to college for as long as I can get to classes.”

She added: “I used to get an old age pensioner discount for the courses but that stopped [five years ago] so the free lessons are much appreciated.”

Gen’s tutor, Marie-Chantal Brault, said: “I think it’s amazing, but then Gen is an amazing person who offers a great deal to the class. People in the class come from different generations and backgrounds and it gives them an opportunity to bring their personalities and opinions out when we are discussing the books.

“We also use other forms of learning to support the books we read including the internet, film and the theatre and we have been on a number of trips to see plays such as Les Miserables over the years.”

As a young woman, Gen worked as a bilingual secretary for security firm Bradbury Wilkinson.

She became a full-time housewife and mother after marrying Michael, who died 14 years ago, and giving birth to daughters Catherine, now 56, and Sarah, now 50.

Gen, who was an only child, said: “I never went back to work after having children and suppose part of the reason for returning to education was that I needed a bit more mental stimulation.”

She added: “I studied quite a variety of courses during my first 15 years there, but always stuck with French literature and just concentrate on that now.

“I didn’t want to have to sit any exams, so all the courses I chose did not lead to qualifications.

“That wasn’t the idea for me. I went along for social reasons and to keep my mind active, which attending college really allowed me to do.”

Principal Campbell Christie said: “It’s really rewarding to meet an adult student who has gained so much from their college experience.”

Gen’s latest class will be studying a book set in the First World War, called Un Long Dimanche De Fiançailles by Sebastien Japrisot.

Classic books previously studied by Gen included La Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky, Le Perre Goriot by Honoré de Balzac, La Bete Humain by Emile Zola, and Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, which inspired a class trip to watch the West End musical.

Cap: From Left: Course tutor Marie-Chantal Brault, principal Campbell Christie CBE, long-serving student Gen van den Heuvel and languages co-ordinator Karen Miller

Spurs stars pass on football advice

Tottenham Hotspur players took part in a question-and-answer session with football hopefuls from Barnet and Southgate College.

Youth team defensive midfielder Anton Walkes and first team central defender Eric Dier met students on level two and three BTec and NVQ courses run through the education and football development programme that the college runs with the Premier League club.

They explained how they prepared for big matches and reflected on their careers so far, before taking part in a training session with learners.

Mr Dier said afterwards: “You can see how passionate the students are about football, but it’s also important to work hard in the classroom and get the qualifications you need for later life.”

Level three BTec diploma in sport student Nabil Hasheem, aged 18, said: “I had a great time learning new football skills with the Spurs players.

“It’s great knowing that one day I could be one of them.”

Cap: From left: Barnet and Southgate College students Nabeel Hashim, aged 18, Amy Sinden, 17, Tottenham Hotspur defender Eric Dier and students Shakira Waithe, 19, and Mardochee Mboliko, 17

Campus 25

Skills Minister sings praises of apprenticeships

Skills Minister Nick Boles spoke to staff, students and employers at Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College about the importance of promoting apprenticeships to their local communities.

Mr Boles was full of praise for vocational training during a visit to the college with Ealing and Acton MP Conservative Angie Bray.

And he said it was important that providers made sure that everybody in their local area understood how apprenticeships, and not just academic qualifications, could transform young people’s lives.

Mr Boles, who replaced Matthew Hancock as Skills Minister in July, said: “There is no cap to where you can progress if you do an apprenticeship.”

Principal Garry Phillips said: “It was great to see the Skills Minister and Angie Bray talking directly and listening to our apprentices and employers.

“The college offers a number of excellent apprenticeships.

“We look forward to meeting with the minister again.”

Cap: Ealing and Acton MP Angie Bray, level three business administration apprentice Casey Ruff, aged 26, and Skills Minister Nick Boles

Pic: Get West London