The apprenticeship champion line-up

One of these three women will be crowned apprentice champion of the year.

Chloe Gailes, aged 28, Karen Lowry-Hall, 31, and Nichola Mitchell, 22, have battled it out for the honour, but must wait until next month to find out who’s won.

The former apprentices were whittled down from a shortlist of 10 before going to a public vote, which ended on Friday.

Chloe, from Knutsford, represents Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Staffordshire, and works for Barclays. She studied with Mid Cheshire College.

Karen Lowry-Hall, from Kidderminster, is an employee at Worcestershire’s Community Housing Group, and represents the West Midlands. She studied with Kidderminster College.

Nichola Mitchell, from Wigan, is an employee at BAE Systems and represents Lancashire, Cumbria and Greater Merseyside. She studied with Winstanley College, in Wigan.

The award, now in its second year, is sponsored by City & Guilds. Last year’s winner, Jenny Westworth, completed an advanced apprenticeship in aerospace engineering and now works at BAE Systems.

Karen Woodward, interim national director of apprenticeships at the National Apprenticeship Service, said: “We’re very excited to be running the apprenticeship champion of the year competition again this year, and our three finalists are fantastic examples of the vital contribution apprentices make to businesses around the country.”

Skills Minister Matthew Hancock said: “We want to make it the new norm for young people to either go to university or take an apprenticeship. Competitions like this, which showcase the best of apprenticeships, will make that a reality. It is important we continue to raise awareness and inspire young people to take apprenticeships. Chloe, Karen and Nichola are an inspiration and example to other young people in achieving this.”

The winner will be announced at the National Apprenticeship Awards at The Skills Show, in Birmingham, on November 14.

Colleges hoping for VAT ‘anomaly’ end after MPs’ letter and PM pledge

Sixth form colleges could be about to see the end of a “longstanding inequality” on VAT after more than 70 MPs wrote to Education Secretary Michael Gove calling for a change in the law.

England’s 93 sixth form colleges currently have to pay VAT on goods and services, while schools and academies are reimbursed.

But a cross-party group of 74 MPs, led by Education Select Committee chair Graham Stuart, urged Mr Gove to support the introduction of a VAT refund scheme.

“MPs across the House feel strongly that it is wrong that sixth form colleges still have to pay VAT, when school and academies can reclaim those costs,” said Mr Stuart.

Their letter follows a pledge from David Cameron, during Prime Minister’s questions on October 9, to “look carefully at the issue”.

And now a Department for Education spokesperson has told FE Week: “In 2011/12 we ended the unfair funding between schools and colleges for post-16 students by putting both on the same funding rate. We have put in place protection until 2015, to make sure they can plan ahead.

“Colleges are treated differently to schools when it comes to VAT because of their legal status. We are looking into whether funding arrangements should be reviewed to take this into account.”

The MPs behind the letter all represent constituencies that either contain or are served by a sixth form college.

Among them are former Labour Education Secretaries David Blunkett and Alan Johnson, Liberal Democrats president Tim Farron and Green Party MP Caroline Lucas.

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

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the SFCA, said: “We are delighted that so many MPs from across the political divide have united to campaign for an end to this longstanding inequality.

“Sixth form colleges are the most effective and efficient providers of sixth form education in England. However, changes to the way that 16 to 19 education is funded will see them lose a greater proportion of their income than any other type of sixth form provider — a VAT rebate would help sixth form colleges to maintain their high standards.

“We are not asking for anything that school and academy sixth forms do not already receive — the current VAT treatment of sixth form colleges amounts to a tax on learning that redirects funding away from the front line education of students.”

The SFCA report Unlocking the potential of Sixth Form Colleges was published on Tuesday, October 15. It highlighted how the additional investment from a VAT rebate would be used by the sector and the benefits it would bring.

It said: “At present, sixth form colleges are required to pay VAT on their purchases, but unlike schools and academies they are not reimbursed for these costs. This is a historic anomaly that the Department for Education estimates would cost £20 million per year to rectify.

“As this report highlights, the return on the government’s investment would be significant.

“In addition, it would help to rescue strategically important, but less popular courses, such as modern foreign languages and further maths, which colleges are being forced to drop as their funding reduces.”

Baker’s Career Colleges ‘risk confusion’

Further education leaders have expressed concern at Lord Baker’s plans to establish “yet another” brand of vocational training colleges.

The Tory peer has announced new proposals to create Careers Colleges, focussing on training from 14 years old in areas including hospitality, tourism, finance, health and care and construction. These would be based at existing colleges, follow 14 to 16 direct recruitment funding rules, but require a subsidiary board made up of at least 40 per cent employers.

But sector leaders are worried these would be similar to existing University Technical Colleges (UTCs), a programme which Lord Baker also leads. These independent institutions offer 14 to 19-year-olds vocational training in science, technology, engineering and maths-based (STEM) subjects, alongside the teaching of core academic subjects.

Lynne Sedgmore, executive director of the 157 Group, said: “We are keen to ensure that creating another type of institution catering for 14-year-olds does not further confuse the picture for parents and young people at a time when recent reports have been critical of guidance processes within the system as it is.”

Lord Baker laid out his plans for 40 Careers Colleges over the next four years at the annual Edge Foundation lecture, The first colleges are being set up in Oldham, Oxford, Bromley, Purfleet and Vauxhall Colleges.

The peer denied UTCs and Career Colleges could cause confusion, or had the potential to compete with each other.

“There’s a demarcation line. UTCs are for STEM subjects and careers colleges are non-STEM subjects,” he said.

Nevertheless, Martin Doel, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said: “Career colleges are another option for this age group, alongside UTCs, studio schools and direct enrolment in further education colleges. An advantage of a career college might be that they would be a subsidiary of an FE college which means they could share resources, staff and facilities.

“But we are not recommending one option over another — it is the choice of each individual college whether they choose to become involved in any of these initiatives.”

Brian Lightman, Association of School and College Leaders general secretary, said: “These new colleges will be good for the students who can access them, but the reality is that they are expensive to open and will benefit a small number of young people.”

Sixth Form Colleges’ Association deputy chief executive James Kewin said: “At a time when sixth form colleges are grappling with unprecedented cuts to their funding, we would question the wisdom of introducing yet another type of new and unproven provider.”

Lord Baker said: “What Careers Colleges will create is a truly integrated student pathway. I have a high regard for FE colleges, but they’ve not ever attempted to do in the past what’s called a rounded education, they sell courses.”

He denied that the planned Career College at Oldham College, which would provide digital content creation training, would compete with Salford’s MEDIACITYUK UTC, which is set to specialise in creative and digital industries for the nearby BBC studios. Both colleges are due to open next year.

Alun Francis, principal of Oldham College, told FE Week Careers Colleges would be run by a central charitable organisation.

He added the legal format, how much colleges would pay to have their provision recognised as a Careers College and exactly what support they would be given in return had yet to be agreed.

 

The Baker’s dozen you wanted answering

Reporter Rebecca Cooney puts 13 questions to chair of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust and former Conservative Education Secretary Lord Baker.

1. How many Career Colleges would you like to see in 10 years’ time?

I’d like to see as many as the market can hold, and the market is the number of employers who want them.

2. How many University Technical Colleges (UTCs) would you like to see in 10 years’ time?

Again I’d like to see as many as we can get. David Cameron has just said he wants to see a UTC in every major town of the country. It depends how you define major, but that’s many more than what we’ve got at the moment.

3. Which sector do you see there being the most need for UTCs in?

If you take all the industries, and mechanical industries, electrical industry, agricultural industries or computing industries, they are massively short on skills. At a UTC in Wigan I met representatives of the food processing industry who said they were 100,000 short or technicians and they didn’t know what to do.

4. Which sector do you see there being the most need for Career Colleges in?

Certainly catering, hospitality and tourism. I think also in the health and care side — residential care, social care, family care, child care, parental care.

5. Do you still think that failing colleges should be made into UTCs as you wrote in a column for The Times in November last year?

I still believe, yes, if any college or school is really failing, if you can’t get it right, you close the school and open again as a different institution, a UTC or career college.

6. Given a choice, would you send your child to a Careers College or a UTC?

It would depend entirely on the talent of my child. If it was a STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] subject then a UTC would be a wonderful start, if it was somebody interested in the creative industries, for example, arts, theatre and music, I’d say go to a Career College.

7. What are your thoughts on direct recruitment at 14 for general FE Colleges?

Let’s wait and see. It’s a tremendous transformation for an FE college. They don’t have to have a Career College, but I think already several are saying that some of them want to do it.

8. How do you think Matthew Hancock is performing as Skills Minister?

Very well, he’s a very gifted person. He’s very ambitious but he’s also very able. He goes down very well in the FE world, there’s no question about that.

9. How do you think Michael Gove is performing as Education Secretary?

He’s doing very well, he’s trying to drive up standards in schools and good luck to him.

10. Do you think David Cameron can win the next general election?

Yes.

11. Do you think he can win it without the need for a coalition?

Now that’s more difficult to say. Maybe we are moving into an era of coalition politics, but I think he has the capacity to win certainly the most number of seats and that could well be an overall majority.

12. It seems that today young people are portrayed in a number of different ways, from being unwilling to get a job, or being unable to get a job. What do you think of this generation of young people?

I think this generation of young people is very imaginative, they are very adaptable to new technologies, no question about that at all. And they want better opportunities, in life and they’re not getting them. There a million young unemployed people in our country and that’s an absolute disgrace.

13. Would you like to see Spitting Image return?

Yes, I enjoy satire, I’ve written books on satire and all politicians love to be caricatured.

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The Skills Show inspires and transforms young people’s lives through a series of interactive events held across the UK, changing the way we think about skills, training and apprenticeships.  

Agency restructure sees two directors remain but four out

Three directors and a chief information officer have been identified as among the first to go in a programme of Skills Funding Agency job cuts that has left more than 1,000 staff facing an uncertain future.

Julie Robson, executive director for growth (Midlands and North), Sally Stewart, executive director for people, Richard Field, chief information officer, and Marinos Paphitis, executive director provider management (South), will leave next year.

The agency told FE Week they would not be replaced, so the total number of staff on its executive management team (EMT) would be halved to four.

Chief operating officer Paul McGuire will stay on in the EMT to lead the operating division. Keith Smith, executive director of funding and programmes, will continue with his brief and chief executive Kim Thorneywork will remain in post. An EMT vacancy to lead the standards and services division is due to be advertised over the next month.

The agency is also preparing to cut the number of its senior managers from 36 to 23 by April.

An agency spokesperson said: “The agency has just announced a restructure which will see its executive management team being reduced by 50 per cent and its directors by approximately 35 per cent in the 2013-14 financial year. Once this phase has been completed, it is the agency’s intention to reduce the headcount of the rest of the organisation.”

More than 1,000 agency workers, below senior management level, were warned on September 23 their jobs could be under threat as part of a second phase of the job cuts in response to the “Civil Service Reform Agenda”.

The agency confirmed the final number of job losses had still not been determined. Tony Conway, industrial officer at the Public and Commercial Services Union, told FE Week staff meetings about the job losses would be held at each of the agency’s 13 offices around England by the end of next month.

The first meeting took place in Coventry on Thursday, September 12, and was attended by around 30 staff.

He said: “The staff had already had a lot of change imposed on them over the last couple years. I think a lot of them are still pretty shell shocked after this latest announcement.

“I know the local rep was pleased with the turnout at the Coventry meeting and there was a lively discussion about the job cuts. It is too early to say at the moment whether there will be any form of industrial action, as we don’t know the full scale of job losses yet and the period of time they will be imposed over.”The priority for the moment is to speak to as many members as possible about their fears over job security and how they want to proceed.”

The agency has shed 600 of its 1,900 staff in the last four years through cost-cutting schemes launched in October 2010 and December 2011. In April this year, Business Secretary Vince Cable wrote to the agency warning that its administration budget, which includes salaries, was expected to drop £8m, to just under £85m for 2014-15.The agency delivers £4.1bn of skills training through contracts with more than 1,000 providers.

Government figures show 16 to 18 apprenticeships down nearly 15,000 in a year

Figures published this morning show a 12 per cent (14,600) fall in 16-18 apprenticeship starts, and a one per cent (7,400) fall across all ages.

The first set of figures below compare the full year provisional 2012/13 apprenticeship starts with the same report from the previous year.

The second set of figures compare the full year provisional 2012/13 apprenticeship starts with the final year figures for 2011/12.

Children sitting comfortably for story time

Carpenters from the North arrived like knights in shining armour to rescue schoolchildren from boring story-times by creating fairytale-inspired outdoor furniture.

The carpentry and joinery students from Wigan & Leigh College designed eight pieces of bespoke furniture, including a throne, for pupils at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, in Wrightington.

Yvonne Barber, college divisional manager for construction crafts, said: “The students worked really hard to create furniture that they can really be proud of.”

Louise Cherry, the Parents, Teachers and Friends Association member who initially contacted the college, said: “The furniture is perfect. The children really love it and are looking forward to using it more.”

SFA lifts blanket ban on new Elmfield learners after minister orders Ofsted revisit

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has lifted its blanket ban on new learners at Elmfield Training after an early Ofsted revisit ordered by Skills Minister Matthew Hancock resulted in a positive report.

The SFA will now assess any request from Elmfield to start apprentices with, for instance, current client Barclays Bank on a “case-by-case basis”.

The latest Ofsted report, published this month, states: “At the request of the Minister for Skills [Matthew Hancock], Ofsted inspectors conducted a monitoring visit in September, three months after the last inspection rather than the usual six to eight months.

“The aim of the visit was to explore the progress being made towards the recommendations of the inspection in June.”

The SFA issued the training provider with a notice of serious breach after a full Ofsted inspection in June, which resulted in a grade four (inadequate) rating.

The notice included a condition that Elmfield could not start any new learners with new or existing employers, or apply for more government funding.

However, an SFA spokesperson told FE Week its position had now softened, following the encouraging findings of the monitoring report, which unlike full inspections does not result in an overall grading.

She said: “The notice of serious breach remains in force. However, the agency retains the right to alter the conditions of the notice should we be satisfied with the progress being made.

“Ofsted has published the full report from its recent monitoring visit and the inspectors have noted the reasonable progress against five of the six actions taken by Elmfield and significant progress against one action.

“We will assess any request from Elmfield to start new apprenticeships on a case by case basis.”

An Elmfield spokesperson said: “We are pleased to see that we have been able to demonstrate progress in all areas of our work examined by Ofsted in a very short space of time.”

In May this year FE Week reported how Elmfield’s success rates showed just 47.5 per cent of its 13,420 leavers in the retail and wholesale sector, aged 25+, walked away with an apprenticeship certificate in 2011/12.

Ged Syddall (pictured giving evidence to the BIS Select Committee last year) then resigned as Elmfield chief executive in July, in light of the grade four Ofsted result, and as director during a Newsnight investigation last month, although it is understood he remains majority share-holder.

The BBC probe looked into allegations that workers had been signed up for apprenticeships despite turning down the programme.

The SFA has also told FE Week it was “investigating further allegations made against Elmfield Training Ltd and so we are not able to comment on the details”.

Nevertheless, the monitoring inspection, carried out over two days by two inspectors, found “significant progress” had been made in how Elmfield co-operates with employers over its training programmes.

Inspectors also found there had been “reasonable progress” with improving the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, and the rate at which learners achieved their qualifications.

Their report stated: “Improving success rates, especially the rate at which learners achieve their qualifications within the planned timescale, is now a key focus for all staff.”

It added that reasonable progress had been made with improving the development of learners’ key and functional skills.

However, the report warned a number of learners near the end of their training programmes had still not taken functional skills tests.

The Elmfield spokesperson said: “The new leadership of Elmfield has worked hard since our June 2013 visit by Ofsted to ensure that everyone in our business is focused on delivering high quality training for our learners on behalf of our clients and funding partners.”

Jodie takes a dive for critically-ill tots

A health and social care student raised more than £1,100 with a skydive to provide equipment for critically-ill newborn babies.

Farnborough College of Technology student Jodie Matthews, aged 17, took the plunge for Frimley Park Hospital’s Saving Tiny lives Appeal.

She said: “The money raised was for my local hospital so it was a cause I was particularly interested in.

“It’s always nice to give something back to the community and challenge yourself at the same time. It was an amazing experience.”

Health and social care programme manager Lesley Harden said: “Jodie really is an excellent example of a student who is doing something inspirational for other people.”