West Nottinghamshire College principal Asha Khemka (pictured) tops the FE and skills sector’s representation on the New Year Honours list by becoming a dame.

She is in line for the honour for services to FE just five years after she was awarded an OBE for services to education.

Mrs Khemka, principal of West Nottinghamshire College since May 2006, will be the first Indian-born woman for 83 years to be awarded the DBE.

She said: “To receive such recognition is deeply humbling. This is a shared honour; shared with everyone who I have worked with over the years.

“West Nottinghamshire College and the communities of Mansfield and Ashfield embraced me.

“We have worked together to achieve an ambitious vision for our communities. Without their unwavering support this would not have been possible and I pay tribute to them.

“I am indebted to my husband [Shankar] and my three children [daughter Shalini and sons Sheel and Sneh]; throughout this journey, they have been my rock and my inspiration.

“My passion for FE is impossible to describe and grows more so every day. I am immensely proud to be part of this amazing sector.”

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “Under Asha Khemka’s leadership, West Nottinghamshire College has become one of the most eminent FE colleges in the UK.

“She has embraced the apprenticeship agenda, leading the college to become the largest 16 to 18 provider in the UK and finding jobs for 700 young people in the first year.

“Her charitable trust, The Inspire and Achieve Foundation, is especially focused on those not in education, employment or training. She is in the process of opening a skills centre in India.”

More than 20 honours recipients linked to the sector were announced, including nine OBEs and a British Empire Medal.

Among them was South Tyneside College principal Lindsey Whiterod (pictured right), whose OBE was also earned for services to FE.

She has worked in FE at senior management level since 2000 when she became director of the School of Business, Management and Computing at Newcastle College.

After three years she joined New College Durham as deputy principal, before returning to South Tyneside College as principal in October 2009.

Miss Whiterod said: “This is a tremendous honour, and indeed a great surprise. It is a very proud moment for me.

“I was taken aback when informed but I can see that I have been part of many good and positive advances and initiatives which I hope have benefited the students, lecturers and other staff that I have worked with.

“I have enjoyed a very happy and satisfying career and every stage has brought rewards as well as challenges, but I consider my best achievement to have been the driving up of standards at South Tyneside College as part of a wonderful team.”

Meanwhile, former West Cheshire College principal Sara Mogel (pictured left) was honoured with an OBE for services to vocational education.

She said: “This is a tremendous honour and I am delighted to see recognition for vocational education.

“When I started out to deliver vocational learning which aimed to make students employable and work ready this was an unusual thing.

“I was lucky to be surrounded by talented people at West Cheshire College who were able to bring about this revolution in learning and open it up to all.”

 

 

Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire

For services to FE

Asha Khemka, OBE, principal, West Nottinghamshire College (Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire)

Order of the British Empire (OBE)

For services to FE

Cath Richardson (Wigton, Cumbria), former principal, Lakes College, West Cumbria

Brenda Mary Sheils (Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire), principal, Solihull College

Lindsey Janet Whiterod (Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear), principal, South Tyneside College

For services to FE and voluntary services to the community in Bradford

Richard Edward John Wightman (Ilkley, West Yorkshire), chair of Bradford College Corporation

For services to FE for young adults with complex disabilities and severe learning difficulties

Kathryn Margaret Rudd (Cheltenham, Gloucestershire), principal, National Star Specialist College

For services to further and adult education

Elzbieta Wanda Piotrowska (London), principal, Morley College, London

For services to the community in South Yorkshire

Ann Cadman (Sheffield, South Yorkshire), director, The Source Skills Academy

For services to training and education of young people through Kirdale Industrial Training Services and to charity in West Yorkshire

Allan Oliver Jagger (Elland, West Yorkshire)

For services to vocational education

Sara Mogel (Flintshire), former principal, West Cheshire College

Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)

For services to adult education

Alexandra Graeme Day (Soberton, Hampshire), director, adult continuing education, Peter Symonds College, Winchester

For services to adult education and to the community in Greenwich

Ameen Hussain (London), manager, Asian Resource Centre, Greenwich

For services to education

Anne Laura Bryden (London), former language teacher, St Edwards Church of England School and Sixth Form College, Havering

Margaret Houghton (St Helens, Merseyside), head of French, Carmel Sixth Form College, St Helens

For services to FE

Sacha Corcoran (London), deputy director, City and Islington College

Anthony John William Douglas (London), music teacher, Morley College, London

For services to FE and the community in Northern Ireland

Joan Patricia Carberry (Belfast), family learning co-ordinator, Belfast Metropolitan College

For services to FE in Wales

Pauline Dale (Abergele, Conwy), programme area manager in hospitality, Coleg Llandrillo

For services to skills training in Scotland

Alan Douglas Boyle (Larbert, Stirling and Falkirk), chief executive, West Fife Enterprise Ltd

For services to skills training in the painting and decorating trade

Kevin McLoughlin (London), founder and managing director, K&M McLoughlin Decorating Ltd

British Empire Medal (BEM)

For services to local government and the voluntary sector in South London

Councillor Daphne Kathleen Marchant (London), director, Myrrh Education and Training

Hopes of a VAT refund for colleges look to have finally ended with Education Secretary Michael Gove admitting his hands were tied by the Treasury.

All 93 sixth form colleges in England, along with general further education colleges, pay VAT on goods and services, while schools and academies are reimbursed.

The Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA) has long campaigned for the “anomaly” to end, but Treasury Minister David Gawke said the policy would continue.

And Education Secretary Michael Gove said he was unable to secure funding from Chancellor George Osborne to address the issue.

James Kewin, SFCA deputy chief executive, said: “We are very disappointed that the government has decided not to address this longstanding anomaly, particularly when year on year funding cuts are pushing some sixth form colleges to breaking point.

“In that context, and when the government is meeting the VAT costs of new and untested 16 to 19 providers such as free schools and academies, this can only be described as a senseless decision.”

A cross-party group of 74 MPs had written to Mr Gove in October in a bid to change the situation, following a pledge from David Cameron, during Prime Minister’s questions on October 9, to “look carefully at the issue”.

The VAT issue is believed to cost sixth form colleges an estimated £30m per year and, according to research from the SFCA, has resulted in colleges being forced to drop courses such as modern foreign languages and further maths, as their funding reduces.

But Mr Gawke said in a Westminster Hall debate in parliament on December 17 that the Department for Education (DfE) had “considered whether adjustments could be made to funding for 16 to 19 education to recognise the differential VAT treatment of different types of providers”.

He said: “In particular, the DfE has considered whether it could additionally fund sixth form colleges by an amount equivalent to their typical VAT costs. The DfE has concluded that that is not affordable in the current fiscal climate.”

He added that while it would cost £20m to reimburse sixth form colleges, this would lead to the inclusion of general further education colleges as well, pushing the costs up significantly.

“Extending extra funding to FE colleges, which have a similar case to sixth form colleges, would cost some £150m,” said Mr Gawke.

However, Mr Gove acknowledged the case for change when he was questioned by the Education Select Committee the following day.

“There are some historical anomalies, not least the fact that sixth form colleges are treated differently in respect to VAT. I’d love to be able to [change] that, but money is tight,” he said.

“We looked at it before the autumn statement and the case is clear and strong.

“If I got more money from the Chancellor then I would like to and if we can be certain that it will be spent effectively, and there’s no doubt that sixth form colleges do, then I’d love to be to address that anomaly.”

When asked if he could put a timescale on potential change in the future, he said: “I’d like to but the Chancellor wouldn’t let me.”

Julian Gravatt, assistant chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said: “We are disappointed that government isn’t planning to act on the absurd anomaly which means that 16 to 19 free schools get VAT, but 16 to 19 colleges don’t.

“VAT law is fiendishly complicated with UK-wide and EU implications, so we’ll be pushing DfE to ensure that students are fairly funded wherever they study.”

A “painful” funding cut to 18-year-olds’ full-time education that drew cross-FE sector opposition could be delayed.

Education Secretary Michael Gove told MPs he was willing to “have a look” at pushing the 17.5 per cent cut, due to be introduced the next academic year to save £150m, back until September 2015.

The cut was announced by the Education Funding Agency, which said 16 and 17-year-olds’ education funding would not be hit, just over a week ago.

The current, unweighted, funding rate for 16, 17 and 18-year-olds is £4,000. The new rate for 16 and 17-year-olds is expected to be announced in March, but at the current rate — and with the cut applied — 18-year-olds would be funded at £3,300.

The announcement drew strong criticism from the Association of Colleges (AoC), the 157 Group, the National Union of Students, the Sixth Form Colleges Association, the Association of School and College Leaders and the University and College Union.

And research commissioned by the AoC showed students from disadvantaged areas and black, minority and ethnic groups would be worst hit.

Martin Doel, AoC chief executive, said: “Our initial analysis is clear that, with more 18-year-olds studying in colleges than in schools, colleges will bear the brunt of this cut to the tune of approximately £100m.

“Sixth form colleges, some of the best-performing education institutions in England, could be worst affected and London colleges may be disproportionally hit as 25 per cent of their full-time students are 18.”

Middlesbrough College, Bedford College and Milton Keynes College said they could be forced to offer the same amount of provision for around half a million pounds less, while Uxbridge College could lose up to £800,000.

But while Mr Gove told members of the Education Select Committee this morning that the cut was “painful”, he agreed to review the move for colleges after hearing from committee chair Graham Stuart.

Mr Stuart said the cut would hit colleges, whose funding is lagged, hard. He asked Mr Gove to consider delaying the cut because colleges would be paid for this year’s intake — which had been enrolled without the knowledge of the impending funding cut — at next year’s lower level.

Mr Gove said: “Let me have a look at that. It’s a very fair-minded and generous suggestion.”

The Education Secretary had earlier told committee members that an impact assessment on the cut had been produced would be shared with them.

He said: “It is a painful cut forced on us by, A, difficult economic circumstances and, B, the fact that there are some parts of the education budget that are protected and some parts that are not.

“We conducted an impact assessment which we can share with the committee. In short, of all the ways we looked at to reduce expenditure in the 16 to 18 area, this is the one we felt was the least worst. But I won’t say that it’s a good thing to reduce spending in this area. It’s a difficult decision.”

The agency said the Spending Review for 2015-16 meant that savings were required from the 16 to 19 participation budget that year.

It had said the cut would affect less than a fifth of post-16 FE students and would come into force for 2014/15, by which time, it argued, most 18-year-olds would not need “as much non-qualification provision within their study programmes” because they will have already benefited from two years of post-16 education.

But it is estimated that the move would affect 100,000 18-year-olds in colleges, plus those in school sixth forms and studying foundation course in universities.

Lynne Sedgmore, executive director of the 157 Group, said: “With youth unemployment a major policy priority, it seems odd that the very groups of young people most likely to become disillusioned by education and therefore possibly Neet [not in education, employment or training] should be targeted in this way.”

Warm tributes have been paid to University and College Union (UCU) vice president John McCormack, who died on Friday (December 13).

The grandfather-of-one, described as a “wonderful, principled man,” had suffered a brief illness.

Mr McCormack, aged 66, was elected national president of UCU in 2012 and was due to serve his term next year.

Sally Hunt, UCU general secretary, said: “John was a wonderful, principled man. He was always courteous, even when he disagreed with you.

“John embodied everything that is so good and important about education. He was steeped in the trade union movement and made friends wherever he went.

“His death is a huge loss to UCU and to anybody fortunate enough to have met or worked with him.”

In addition to UCU activities, Mr McCormack also served on several regional and national bodies, including the executive committee of the Northern Region TUC. He was awarded the Northern Regional TUC Certificate of Merit in 1991. Earlier this year he also contributed to an FE Week supplement from the Labour Party Conference.

He was the branch chair at Northumberland College, where he lectured in trade union studies, for many years where he was credited with leading successful campaigns against compulsory redundancies and for improvements to lecturers’ terms and conditions.

Mavis Taggert, IT lecturer at Northumberland College and UCU branch secretary, said: “It was with great sorrow that we received the sad news about John, who was a well-respected member of staff at the college.

“He was an inspiration to many, made many friends and was always polite and compassionate towards the needs of others.”

Mr McCormack also lectured at Newcastle College, from September 2009 to February 2011, and Bradford College.

Margaret Stephenson, TUC course co-ordinator at Newcastle College, said: “John brought real passion and expertise to the role and inspired staff and students alike.

“He was a lovely man who was extremely professional at all times and he will be sadly missed. My condolences go to his family.”

Steve Davison, head of trade union studies at Bradford College, said: “John delivered trade union courses for Bradford Trade Union Studies Centre in the northern region.

“He was not only a respected course tutor, but someone who had enormous experience of work, trade union activity and representational abilities at the highest levels. He was truly a graduate of the University of Life.

“Respected for his principled approach to advancing the causes of working people, John will be sorely missed by his colleagues at all the levels he worked at including his fellow tutors at Bradford College.”

Mr McCormack is survived by a son, daughter-in-law and grandson.