A government “crackdown” on apprentice minimum wage offenders has been queried with more than one-in-five apprentices not getting paid the legal amount.

Labour MP Julie Hilling put the statistic to Employment Relations Minister Jenny Willott in the House of Commons, pushing the Lib Dem MP about what action the government was taking to enforce the £2.68 an-hour minimum wage for apprentices.

“It is worrying that the proportion of apprentices not receiving the minimum wage has increased to more than one-in-five,” said Ms Hilling during a Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) questions session on Thursday (January 23).

The apprenticeships pay survey in 2012, published in October, found that 29 per cent of learners had not received the then legal minimum of £2.65 an-hour, a jump of 45 per cent on the year before.

Ms Willott said the government was “concerned” by the number of employers breaking the law, and that it had “zero tolerance” for offenders.

She said: “We have introduced a range of enforcement measures to crackdown on rogue employers. Since June 1, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs [HMRC] has been prioritising complaints about non-payment on the national minimum wage.

“We also started an awareness campaign in November targeting schools and college so most young people starting apprenticeships are aware of what they’re entitled to.”

She further pointed to a letter from Skills Minister Matthew Hancock, sent out from October, to all learners at the beginning of their apprenticeship, informing them of the minimum wage.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has also pledged it will soon start naming and shaming employers who do not pay the national minimum wage, either for apprentices or for non-apprentice employees.

In his evidence to the Low Pay Commission, published last week, Business Secretary Vince Cable said it was hoped such negative publicity would deter employers from underpaying employees.

He said: “We are expecting to start naming employers early this year.”

Such employers would be the first named since a new scheme came in at the beginning of October.

Dr Cable said: “Under the original scheme, employers had to meet one of seven criteria plus a financial threshold before an employer could be referred to BIS from HMRC for naming.

“The revised scheme has removed these restrictions.”

The government had been criticised for failing to ensure all job adverts on the National Apprenticeship Service vacancy matching website showed the new minimum wage.

It was only last month — three months after the increase had come into force — that the system was amended to stop jobs adverts below the minimum wage.

Ambitious plans to become an incorporated FE college and develop new sites across the country have been revealed by Essex-based charity Prospects Learning Foundation.

The independent learning provider (ILP), which has a current Skills Funding Agency allocation of £2.6m and already brands itself as Prospects College, has launched a consultation on plans to get FE college status.

Chief executive Neil Bates told FE Week he hoped the move would unlock government money and allow it set up new bases — potentially competing with existing colleges.

He said: “We are looking for FE college status to support very specialist, sector-focused provision, primarily apprenticeships and workforce development, where employers play a central part in the running of the facility and influence both the curriculum and the quality of what is delivered to make sure it meets the needs of their industry.”

Mr Bates added: “Our ambitions beyond Essex and beyond what we have done here is to try to replicate this model across the country because in many locations there are big gaps where there is not this kind of technical vocational provision.

“Our belief as a company is that as the government tries to rebalance the economy there is going to be a problem in terms of there not being the infrastructure through facilities like this to meet the demand.”

It could be the first new FE college in more than 20 years, but comes just weeks after the government separately unveiled proposals for a new FE college to train engineers for HS2.

And it appears the government has amended its position on who could run the HS2 college, having previously said it was expected to be a wholly new institution — not an existing ILP.

Mr Bates said it was “too early” to speculate about who would run the new HS2 college, as unveiled by the Department for Transport (DfT) and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), but said it would make sense for Prospects, which has an Education Funding Agency contract worth £715k, to be involved.

He said he would be “very keen” to talk to Ministers about running the college with his charity, which has around 250 staff, 2,000 students and a turnover of £11m last year, specialising in training engineers for the rail and aviation industry across some of its five bases. And his proposals already include plans for a rail academy.

“As I understand it, what the government announced in terms of HS2 is that there is going to be a specialist FE college in order to support the skills needs for the development,” said Mr Bates.

He added: “We believe that what we are proposing in terms of the new FE college is compatible with the new college for HS2.”

Prospects’ announcement, predicted by FE Week last year, also comes after it was rated good in its first Ofsted inspection.

The education watchdog praised growing numbers of successful apprentices and “outstanding visionary leadership”.

Colleges were incorporated in April 1993 primarily to remove funding from local government and keep down council tax bills while refocusing public-funded education on employer needs.

A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spokesperson said Prospects could not be ruled out as the HS2 college provider.

He added: “We support the establishment of new colleges to allow new entrants who offer greater choice and diversity, and drive up quality, customer focus and responsiveness.”

Visit www.prospectsconsultation.com to take part in the consultation, which ends on February 17.

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Q&A with Neil Bates

Q: Who benefits from your approach of tailoring training to the needs of a geographic area?

A: Our plan has been to develop technical vocational centres in key sectors which are linked to the needs of the economy. So, this centre is based in Basildon, in the heart of the Thames gateway, 16 per cent of the workforce locally work in engineering and this is about Prospects being responsive to the needs of local businesses.

Meeting the needs of local business creates sustainable employment for young people as well, so it’s a win-win-win. It is a win for businesses because they get the people they need, it is a win for young people because they get sustainable employment and it is a win for us because we are meeting the demands of the sector.

That is how we have been able to grow our provision significantly in such a short period of time, because we have targeted sectors where there is a very specialist need. Rail is a very good example of that, as is aviation.

Q: Were you expecting the HS2 college announcement at this time?

A: No, but we are perfectly content that, having had discussions with BIS about us becoming the first newly-incorporated FE college since 1992 that quite clearly others will follow.

We are not too worried about the fact that we are not the first to be announced, because we envisage that over time there will be a number of these new specialist FE colleges. We think that is essential in order for the UK to compete on skills internationally.

Q: What do you say in response to concerns that the capacity of existing FE colleges to train people for HS2 has not been explored?

A: I have a mixed view of this. I think that FE colleges will certainly be given the opportunity to become involved in the new college, but equally I think there is opportunity for new types of organisation to be involved in the delivery of skills.

The point about there already being provision out there is not really supported by facts, because the facts are that the UK languishes at the bottom of the OECD league tables for skills, particularly in the engineering and construction sectors, and there is quite clearly not enough high level provision to support the needs of businesses and the community.

Something has to be done and that might well involve investment in existing FE infrastructure but our belief is that there is also a need to produce new players in the market and to get employers much more closely involved in the development of skills.

Q: Is the potential for capital funding the main benefit of incorporation for Prospects?

A: The potential access to capital funding is one of the benefits. One of the other benefits is we can gain access to the full value of the funding for delivery rather than having to go through a third party. They are not benefits because we are a private organisation, we are a registered charity. What they will enable us to do is to create much better facilities for learners, and more opportunities for learners because we will have the resources to do that. That is attracting us to incorporation.

The discussion about incorporation started with senior colleagues in BIS and when they approached us regarding this , our first reaction was ‘if you are asking if we would be interested in being a general FE college, then the answer would be no’.

What we are interested in is Government recognising new models of delivery within apprenticeships and skills and I think there is a real place and need for specialist, technical, small colleges that are heavily responsive to the needs of employers.

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Editorial : Brave new College

It’s hard to comprehend how there’s been no new college in more than 20 years — no incorporation since 1993.

We’ve seen new colleges born of mergers, for sure, but behind them there will have been market forces at play somehow, whether we like it or not.

It’s therefore almost unbelievable that such market forces — in the space of two decades — would not have been best served on at least one occasion by a wholly new college.

So if a revisit to incorporation will benefit learners then it is to be welcomed and Neil Bates’ ambitious plans deserve a fair hearing.

And ambitious they certainly do sound.

New Prospect sites could be on the horizon and, apparently coincidentally, there’s also the possibility of the HS2 college contract.

The confidence underpinning the plans is uplifting, but fortune does not always favour the brave — and neither, arguably, do market forces.

So while Mr Bates’ incorporation hopes sound positive, he should also be careful what, or how much, he wishes for.

Chris Henwood

An ongoing official investigation into defunct provider Elmfield Training has “frustrated” Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee chair Adrian Bailey, who said he was waiting to probe the firm’s dealings.

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) had been looking into the provider’s business even before it went into administration in November owing £11m.

It went under amid allegations of apprenticeship malpractice, with Mr Bailey having already revealed plans to call former Elmfield director Ged Syddall and SFA finance director Paul McGuire for a “no-holds-barred” grilling by the committee.

However, he told FE Week his inquiry was being delayed by the wait for the conclusion of the SFA investigation — but he warned he may yet push ahead regardless.

“I am quite irritated and frustrated by the lack of progress by the SFA with this and if necessary the committee will now consider going ahead before publication of the report,” he said.

It would be the second time Mr Syddall has appeared before Mr Bailey’s committee. He gave evidence in April 2012, when he said Elmfield’s entire income of £30m in 2011/12 came from public funds. He also defended his own £3m company dividend. But a BBC Newsnight probe screened in October last year, supported with information uncovered by FE Week, put Elmfield back in the spotlight, over its dealings with workers at supermarket giant Morrisons.

It was alleged Elmfield signed Morrisons staff up to apprenticeship programmes they had declined, enabling the provider to claim public funding for training. A separate probe into the allegations was launched around three months ago by the SFA, but it was still unable to confirm a date for when its findings would be published.

An SFA spokesperson said: “Our investigation into Elmfield is due to be finalised imminently and the results can be shared shortly, once we have formally considered the final report.”

Following administration, the majority of Elmfield’s business and assets were sold to EQL Solutions Ltd, which is 100 per cent owned by CareTech Holdings plc. The deal is understood to have saved 300 jobs. A CareTech spokesperson said the acquisition was completed as part of a “pre-pack insolvency” of Elmfield for a total “cash consideration” of £1.5m. The Morrisons contract was sold to NCG (formerly Newcastle College Group), which saved the remaining 50 jobs at the company.

A statement of the company’s affairs later submitted to the High Court of Justice revealed it owed £11m. It was in debt to more than 180 firms, including provider Skillsfirst Awards which was set up by Mr Syddall and owed £863,550.

A spokesperson for the company said Mr Syddall no longer had any involvement in either the running or day-to-day finances of Skillsfirst and hadn’t for some time.

Alan Clay, from provider A14 Training which was owed £8,720, said: “We have been working well with EQL since they took over the contract and they have been extremely co-operative, but the original Elmfield debt is still outstanding.”

The SFA spokesperson said: “We took action to respond to the situation as soon as it was notified that Elmfield Training was in administration. It would not have been appropriate for the agency to take action prior to the provider’s declaration of insolvency.

“A provider that contracts directly with the agency retains ultimate responsibility for all aspects of provision it is contracted to deliver, including elements that it chooses to sub-contract.”

Ofsted is set to warn the boss of a London-based subcontractor to remove a Twitter post that wrongly suggested her firm had received a “successful” visit from the education watchdog.

Krissy Charles-Jones (pictured), chief executive of Bright Assessing, tweeted on December 12 last year to thank her team for “such a successful Ofsted”.

And the homepage of the provider’s website, at the time of going to press, also stated: “Graded ‘good with outstanding features’ — inspected December 2013” (pictured).

There was a further message that read: “Assessor training graded as ‘outstanding’ under Ofsted standards — December 2013”.

But the firm has not been inspected by Ofsted and, as a subcontractor, would not be fully inspected.

It had, in fact, hired Portsmouth-based private contractor Prospect Consultants to carry out an inspection based on Ofsted guidance.

A spokesperson for Bright said it had “no intention whatsoever to mislead anyone” with the postings. “Hence we have published the full report on our website — including the logo and the company letterhead of the consultants concerned,” he said.

However, Ofsted told FE Week that a letter would be sent to Bright asking for the tweet and any misleading messages on the firm’s website to be taken down.

“As with every other occasion when there is a potential misrepresentation of our name, or misuse of the Ofsted logo, we write to the organisation of individual concerned to clarify our position,” she said.

Ms Charles-Jones has amended her account since the offending tweet — which stated: “BIG thank you to Bright team for such a successful Ofsted this wk” — so that only confirmed followers can read her postings.

The Bright spokesperson said: “We are not subject to any mandatory or regulatory inspection by a government body or otherwise, so the only option open to us was to commission an inspection at our own initiative and expense.

“We specifically sought someone who was very familiar with the Ofsted framework, as they are a set of standards with which many of our learners are familiar, and they were instructed to use those terms of reference throughout.”

He added: “We tried to make the inspection as ‘real’ as possible for our staff and, with that in-mind, the team at Bright was informed at very short notice that an Ofsted inspection was being conducted — the day before the inspector arrived.

“This is why, on a Twitter account, a message of thanks to our staff was circulated thanking them for their cooperation with the ‘Ofsted inspection’ and it was only after the process had been completed that we made everyone aware that this had been an inspection conducted by consultants using the Ofsted framework rather than by Ofsted themselves.”

It comes after FE Week reported in November that Bright, which provides qualifications for unemployed people who want to re-enter the workplace, was being investigated by NCFE (formerly the Northern Council for Further Education) for a second time.

The provider had boasted a pass rate of between 95 per cent and 100 per cent.

The claim no longer appears on its website, but the firm is still being investigated over learners’ claims that courses were substandard.

The Skills Funding Agency and Ofqual are being kept informed about the investigation, which is expected to conclude shortly.

For the first time FE league tables have been released separately, listing institutions’ performance in academic and vocational qualifications.

The tables, published by the Department for Education on Thursday (January 23), have met with a mixed response from the sector.

While some have welcomed the distinction between the two qualification types at level three, others have expressed concerns that it could “create a hierarchy of qualifications”.

Of the colleges listed, Hills Road Sixth Form College, in Cambridge, and Middlesbrough’s Cleveland College of Art and Design were among the top performers for A-levels, with the highest average points score per entry each getting an average of a B and B- respectively).

Doncaster College was bottom of the list for A-levels, with an average points score equivalent to an E.

In vocational qualifications, Runshaw College, Cardinal Newman College, Esher College, Stockton Sixth Form College, Barton Peveril Sixth Form College, Reigate College and Havant College were top of the list, all boasting an average point score per entry of a distinction*-.

The lowest scoring college for vocational qualifications was South Thames College, although it still averaged a merit -.

Association of Colleges policy director Joy Mercer said: “This data is new and needs careful analysis.

“There is a strong performance among small selective sixth forms but we’re also delighted to see a number of larger colleges achieving high average grades despite a larger number of students.”

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said she was not in favour of publishing the performance table as separate lists.

She said: “It sends the wrong message to pupils, parents and schools about what is important.

“Academic and vocational qualifications are of equal value, should be held in equally high esteem and treated as equal in a unified reporting system.

“All 16 to 19-year-olds need vocational skills irrespective of what subjects they are studying, and they all need the option of studying both academic and vocational subjects.

“We are also unhappy about some vocational qualifications being labelled ‘applied general’ and some ‘tech level’ as we fear this will create a hierarchy of qualifications.

“There should be a single set of characteristics and expectations that define high quality vocational education, whether the qualification is designed to provide work skills or enable students to study further.”

However, Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the separate tables would create “parity of esteem” and that vocational qualifications “need to be recognised” as “different”.

“Separate tables are helpful because trying to create equivalences between vocational and academic qualifications does not work,” he said.

“What is important is that vocational qualifications are accepted as equally important and the most appropriate route for many young people.”

However, he was critical of the lack of explanatory information provided with the data.

“Raw data does not tell the full story, it can only help to identify the questions that might be asked,” he said.

Mrs Mercer agreed, saying: “It is disappointing the DfE has once again published the tables without any commentary to put them in context.

“Their complexity makes them difficult for parents and students to understand and doesn’t allow them to use the tables to answer the simple questions, such as ‘which local school or college should I go to if I want to do a particular job.”

The number of University Technical Colleges (UTCs) is set to hit 50 after six more of the institutions offering vocational education to 14 to 18-year-olds got the go-ahead from the Department for Education (DfE).

The newly-announced UTCs will be located in Bolton, Peterborough, Scunthorpe and Warrington, with two in London.

The colleges were the brainchild of former Education Secretary Lord Baker, and offer a mixture of academic study, including maths, English, science, foreign language, history and geography, alongside a technical curriculum geared towards a particular industry. They are run through a partnership between local universities, FE colleges and employers.

Lord Baker said: “This announcement shows continued support and commitment from the government to increase the size and impact of the UTC movement. I am delighted UTCs enjoy all-party support.”

He hinted that more could be in the pipeline, with a further round of applications to open UTCs in 2016 closing on May 9.

“Several applications were very close to approval and the DfE has said that they will provide additional support for their reapplications before the next deadline,” he said.

The two new London UTCs will join one in Greenwich, another in Elstree, as well as planned UTCs in Watford, Tottenham, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Heathrow and Dagenham.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “I welcome the government’s decision to back two new UTCs in London.

“They offer young people the chance to gain important technical skills and the qualifications they will need to compete in a highly competitive jobs market.

“The Sir Simon Milton UTC and the Global Academy UTC will nurture the next generation of home-grown talent going into transport engineering, construction and our fast growing media technology sector.

“These are areas that are vital to London’s continued growth.”

The first UTCs have been opening over the last two years, and the latest announcement means that nationally, UTCs will potentially have the capacity to take on as many as 30,000 young people.

However, figures released in November showed that some were running at less than 30 per cent capacity.

The 150-pupil Central Bedfordshire UTC was just 30 per cent full for the last academic year, while the 480-pupil Black Country UTC, near Birmingham, was 36 per cent full.

A further three opened at the beginning of 2012/13 but the combined figure for all five UTCs was still only 57 per cent (825 pupils).

Lord Baker defended the low numbers, saying they would increase.

“What happens is that head teachers of state schools are allocated pupils by the local authority, but we have to go out and get our pupils with marketing,” he said, adding that UTCs had also been increasing their marketing skills.

The Tory peer has also proposed another brand of educational institutions, Career Colleges, which would focus on training students from 14 years old in areas including hospitality, tourism, finance, health and care and construction, but would be based at existing colleges.

Six new UTCs — a guide to where, who, what and how

Bolton UTC
Bolton UTC is partnered with Bolton College. It is sponsored by the University of Bolton and supported by employers the Cohens Group and Ravat and Ray Dental Care, with additional partners including Equity Solutions, NHS, Bolton Council, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and the North West Engineering Employers Federation Bolton UTC will specialise in health and engineering technologies, catering for 600 pupils.

Greater Peterborough UTC
Based in Peterborough, and led by Peterborough Regional College, this 500-place UTC will specialise in environmentally sustainable engineering and environmentally sustainable technologies in the built environment. It is sponsored by Anglia Ruskin University with employer sponsors including Anglian Water, The Larkfleet Group, and Marshall Aerospace

Global Academy UTC
The London-based Global Academy UTC will cater for up to 800 students and specialise in teaching technical skills for work in the broadcast media industry. It is led by radio group ‘This is Global Ltd’, in partnership with the University of the Arts, London, and the Meller Educational Trust and supported by Universal Music, Arqiva, Clifford Chance, BPI and RCS, Global.

Humber UTC
Based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, the Humber UTC is partnered with North Lindsey College as well as North Lincolnshire Council, North Lindsey College and Outwood Grange Academies Trust and is led by the University of Hull, It is supported by Able UK, Tata Steel Europe, Total Lindsey Oil Refinery and Centrica. It will specialise in engineering and renewables and will cater for 600 pupils.

Sir Simon Milton UTC
Sir Simon Milton UTC in Westminster will cater for 550 students and specialise in transport engineering and construction.  Led by the Sir Simon Milton Foundation, in partnership with the University of Westminster and leading employers such as Network Rail, BT Fleet, Land Securities, TfL and Mace, and Westminster Council.

Warrington UTC
Warrington UTC in Cheshire is led by the University of Chester, in partnership with Warrington Borough Council and with support from Sellafield Ltd, Tenet Consultants, United Utilities, Boulting and AMEC. It will specialise in nuclear engineering and energy engineering, catering for 620 pupils.

Frustration is growing among providers as they continue to wait for the government to bring in a promised benefits exemption for traineeships.

Nearly two months after Chancellor George Osborne, in his Autumn Statement, said the programme would be freed from a rule limiting the time learners could take part while claiming, the FE and skills sector is still waiting for the exemption to be enforced.

A start date for the exemption has not even materialised, and documents seen by FE Week show that Job Centres are still advising staff to enforce the rule.

An advisory document covering traineeships being given the Job Centre Plus staff as recently as a fortnight ago states “existing benefits rules apply”. It made no mention of the planned exemption.

And now sector leaders have warned the continuation of the rule, which prevents people from claiming job seekers allowance (JSA) if they take on study or work experience for more than 16 hours a-week, could be affecting the success of the traineeships programme.

Andrea Webb, director of traineeship provider Profile Development and Training, said: “The 16-hour rule is really limiting.

“What most of these learners need is experience of what it’s like to get themselves to work at 9 and stay until 5, day in day out, but you can only have two days like that under the 16-hour rule — leaving no time for training.

“It doesn’t feel like meaningful experience — it’s not fair, it’s disadvantaging young people and it’s putting off employers who want to offer it.”

“It’s very frustrating… the momentum’s gone out of traineeships.”

Peter Cobrin, director of Employment Pathways, described the situation as “a mess”.

“The announcement really hasn’t made any difference at all,” he said.

“The traineeship programme has failed if it doesn’t engage employers — and many of them want young people to take on level two training, which will definitely push them over the 16-hour rule.”

Paul Warner, director of employment and skills at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said: “The Autumn Statement said explicitly that the government will ensure benefit rules would not impede the take-up of traineeships and that the 16-hour rule would be lifted specifically in relation to study.”

He said early implementation would have helped to improve the uptake of the scheme, which has been much lower than expected.

He added: “The fact that we have not seen any evidence that the rules are about to change is very frustrating for the providers trying to do their best for young people looking for sustainable employment.

“We have a meeting arranged with officials shortly but are ready to take the matter up with ministers if necessary.”

The Department for Work and Pensions declined to comment, saying it was the responsibility of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

A BIS spokesperson said: “We are working closely with the DWP to make the necessary changes to exempt traineeships from the 16-hour rule.

“We aim to implement these changes as soon as possible and will keep the sector updated on developments.”

More than a dozen apprentice chefs were left stranded with their independent learning provider apparently having gone to the wall.

The Restaurant Academy, in Plymouth, closed suddenly on Friday, January 17, after just three months of operation.

It is understood that a notice was placed in the door last week. It stated that the restaurant was closed, with apologies for “any inconvenience caused”.

Parent company, independent learning provider Synergy Training South West, is reported by the Companies Check website to be meeting with creditors.

The Skills Funding Agency and City College Plymouth (pictured), which has its own training restaurant, are attempting to contact the 17 affected learners to continue their training. At least five of the apprentices have been contacted by City College Plymouth.

The firm was a subcontractor of K College and Sussex Coast College Hastings. As of November it had contracts worth £55k and £354k with the colleges, respectively.

A K College spokesperson said: “We subcontract a small amount of course delivery to Synergy — of the 17 apprentices affected by the restaurant closure, only two are K College students.

“Since the restaurant closed we’ve spoken directly to our apprentices, the SFA and City College Plymouth to secure and protect our learners and help them to complete their qualifications.”

Sharron Robbie, head of corporate relations at Plymouth, said: “Some of the apprentices are coming into the college to meet with us so we can see where they are in the grand scheme of things, because obviously we don’t know how far they had got with their courses.

“The SFA is also involved and I think there will soon be a more structured plan to make sure they all gain an equal advantage.

“For us it was really important that the young people in the city knew they had options available to them.”

An SFA spokesperson said: “Our priority is to ensure that all the apprentices are able to continue their learning with minimal disruption.

“We working with the lead provider to ensure that the apprentices are able to transfer to alternative providers, as quickly as possible, so that they can continue their apprenticeships.”

The Restaurant Academy training centre received an £80,000 investment from Gavin Jones, the chief executive of Synergy Training South West, according to local press reports.

A Sussex Coast College Hastings spokesman said: “We are working closely with learners and employers affected by this closure and want to assure those that we intend to do what we can to support them.

“We would also like to thank City College Plymouth and the SFA for their continued support at this time.”

FE Week was unable to contact Synergy Training South West.

Apprentices affected should contact Sharron Robbie at City College Plymouth by email at srobbie@cityplym.ac.uk or by phoning 01752 305896