Governors’ clerks have been assured that their training will continue after the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) closes at the end of next month.

Sir Geoff Hall, interim chief executive of the Education Training Foundation, which will take over from LSIS, said there was “no basis for thinking the clerks’ course won’t continue”.

Clerking In The New Era: Implications For College Governance, which LSIS says is the first research into clerking for 10 years, found worries over the continuity of the clerks’ qualification programme, availability of governor training materials, annual conference and governance support.

Sir Geoff said the course  was discussed at the clerks’ conference “and we are expecting a proposal from the national clerks’ network so they can take responsibility for the continuation of the courses, which is just the type of professionalism we want to encourage”.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) added: “There’s a commitment that those who are on the existing clerking programmes will be able to complete them.”

The report, based on consultation with 31 clerks, also highlighted increased demands they faced as a direct result of the new freedoms under the New Challenges, New Chances policy document, concerns over access to college budgets, geographical barriers to training and misconceptions over the work of clerks.

It said: “Barriers some clerks face include difficulties accessing college budgets, and limited budgets for training, not just for themselves but for their board members. For almost a fifth of clerks, the training budget for their own training and board members was under £1,000 per annum.”

Geographical barriers “added time and cost”, for clerks in more remote regions, preventing them travelling to national training events.

It said 93 per cent of clerks surveyed were educated to degree level, with 40 per cent having higher degrees, and many coming into clerking from local government, civil service or higher education backgrounds.

But it said there was a “misconception” of the role.

“It is viewed as administrative — rather than governance advisory. This misconception, many clerks feel, is not helped by the title ‘clerk’. The time may be right to consider a review of the title and the consideration of alternatives including; ‘governance adviser’ or ‘director of governance’,” it said. The priorities for the future, according to the publication, include working with the foundation to ensure continuity of the clerks’ qualification programme, support and training for new clerks, including clerk induction programmes and induction pack, and possibly introducing a formal mentoring scheme.

A spokesperson for LSIS said: “Over the past few months we have had discussions with BIS, the Education and Training Foundation and a range of partners regarding the many LSIS services, and we continue to work with them. In the few weeks that remain LSIS is, to the best of our remaining capacity, keen to support the transfer and continuation of services that have been valued by and of benefit to the sector.”

The former head of FE and skills investment at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is to lead a review of college governance.

Dr Susan Pember, who retired from the civil service just over two months ago, has taken up the post of governance review adviser at the Association of Colleges.

Her first task is to draw up an action plan to support governors and clerks.

She said the review had been commissioned “not because the present system is broken, far from it, governance of FE colleges is working well, but to determine what is now needed for the future”.

The work is expected to take around three months and will involve finding good practice by looking at organisations relevant to college governance, and carrying out an appraisal of existing support.

Martin Doel, association chief executive, said: “With her background as a former principal, as a governor of a college (West Herts) and as a former senior civil servant working on this agenda in BIS, Dr Pember was eminently well qualified to lead this work.” It is due to be completed by September.

The review will also look at helping chairs to assess output from Ofsted, the type of helpline and web support that should be in place, and legal and advice services.

It comes five months after Ofsted boss Sir Michael Wilshaw told members of the education select committee that college governance was not as responsive as school governance when failure was identified.

Sir Michael had already expressed concerns about college governance in his first annual report as Ofsted boss in November last year.

Ofsted learning and skills director Matthew Coffey welcomed Dr Pember’s review.

He said: “Governance is such a fundamental aspect of leadership and management, something that was highlighted in last year’s annual report.

“Weak accountability, leadership and governance are common failings in poor provision.

“One of the most significant underpinning reasons why providers failed to improve was a lack of effective accountability.

“Following discussions with the association’s governors’ council, Ofsted is developing a governors’ dashboard that will support governors in their role.”

Mr Doel said: “With the freedoms extended to colleges under New Challenges New Chances it is clear that more will be asked of governors and governance in colleges.

“These enhanced expectations were reinforced in Rigour and Responsiveness and in the annual report by the chief inspector.

“In response to this, the governors’ council has initiated a review of governance support requirements and arrangements for colleges with funding from BIS.”

Dr Pember, who got an OBE in 2000 for services to FE, joined the then-Department for Education and Skills in 2000 as director of adult basic skills strategy, before taking up her BIS position in 2006.

She began her career as a lecturer and later became a senior education officer, before taking over as principal at Canterbury College.

A teenage student was suspended from a college in Yorkshire after claiming she was raped and sexually assaulted by fellow learners, jurors at Hull Crown Court have heard.

Three men are accused of abusing the woman, in her late teens, on campus at Bishop Burton College, in East Riding, in September.

She claimed all three befriended her outside the college, before taking her keys and pushing her into her room where they sexually assaulted her.

She said she reported the alleged attack to the college, but was not believed.

“The college said I had brought it into disrepute by having sexual actions with a group of people,” she told the court.

She added: “I was upset about it and my mum persuaded me to go to the police.”

Thomas Price, of Rotherham, 21, is accused of rape and assault by penetration, Stephen Johnson, 21, of Scotts Garth Close, Tickton, is accused of sexual assault and assault by penetration and William Robinson, 20, of Doncaster, is accused of assault by penetration. All three men deny the charges, claiming the alleged victim consented.

A spokesperson for the college declined to comment while the case was ongoing.

[Proceeding]

The government has been urged to set private contractor targets to boost the number of female apprentices in sectors traditionally dominated by men.

The Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee report Women in the Workplace also criticises careers guidance as promoting academic rather than vocational career paths and calls for action to improve female representation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

It points to figures, verified by the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS), that show — despite there being 276,200 female apprenticeships from level two onwards overall versus 244,400 male ones — huge gender disparities in certain sectors.

For example, just two per cent (230) of construction apprentices were female in 2011/12 and in industrial applications it was 12 per cent (2,240).

The report, published today, said: “The government should use the opportunities presented by the procurement of goods and services from the private sector to advance equality for women.

“They should produce an annual statement to illustrate the way in which government contracts have been used to achieve this aim.

“The government should make this provision more widely known to employers, with the potential to enable workforces to become more diverse and more representative of the communities that they serve.

“As with the government targets for the number of women on boards, targets should be set by the government to encourage women to explore more atypical work sectors, especially in those sectors that have a skills shortage.”

Adrian Bailey MP, committee chair, said: “The early influences children are exposed to are crucial in informing them about career opportunities. As such, the current absence of comprehensive careers advice is a matter of deep concern. The government must develop an enhanced careers strategy, with careers advice fully incorporated in the work of both primary and secondary schools.

“The government has demonstrated a welcome commitment to improving the representation of women on boards. It must now show the same commitment to addressing their under-representation in certain sectors of the economy. This should include a willingness to set targets and, if necessary, to regulate.”

The report further says that employees should be entitled to ask for flexible working from the outset, not only after they have been in a job for six months.

Additionally, the government should establish a voluntary code of practice to highlight best practice in the provision of quality part-time and flexible working.

“Four decades since the Equal Pay Act, we still do not have full workplace equality. We cannot wait another 40 years,” said Mr Bailey.

“Comprising over half the population, significant public funds are invested in women. Ensuring they reach their full potential is therefore as much an economic argument as one about equality.

“At the heart of the matter is the need for cultural change. Without this we address symptoms rather than causes.”

He added: “Flexible working is not a women’s issue; it affects all employees with caring responsibilities. We must dispel the myth that it is problematic and cannot work.

“The Public Sector Equality Duty is a useful tool in achieving workplace equality. It should be retained in its current form. Far from comprising an unnecessary burden, good employment practices are good for business.

“The government’s stated commitment to workplace equality is welcome. Its actions at times, however, not only fail to live up to the rhetoric, but stand in direct contradiction to it.

“Far from reducing workplace inequality, introducing fees for pregnancy discrimination cases, calling time on Equality Impact Assessments, and repealing provisions for the questionnaire procedure in discrimination cases, all risk exacerbating it.”