More than four in every five FE data staff believe the funding data return for the 2013/14 academic year due this week should be abandoned after delays hit the Skills Funding Agency funding software, an exclusive FE poll has suggested.

No fewer than 165 data staff of the 200 who answered the survey said the return (known as R03) should be scrapped, while 135 (68 per cent) feared their data would not be error-free in time for Wednesday’s 6pm deadline.

The FE Week survey was posted on the information authority Feconnect forum as well as and the CMIS-Network, a Jiscmail email discussion group, this morning and attracted 200 responses in a just a few hours.

Providers have been left with just eight working days to install and remedy any errors after delays in supplying the new funding information system (Fis) software.

Yet almost half (42 per cent) of data management staff said their organisation had so far failed to even install the Fis software, with the figure rising to 85 per cent for local authorities (29 out of 34 survey respondents).

The new internet-based Fis is part of a wider agency data collections and funding transformation programme (DCFT), which has been developed to comply with the Cabinet Office’s new digital strategy, which includes using a range of both large and small software development companies.

An agency spokesperson said: “We expect to deliver significant benefits from the delivery of the DCFT through the use of our current supply chain and small and medium sized enterprises in full alignment with the Cabinet Office guidelines.

“However, this complex programme has had some difficulties in implementation and we are sorry that this has resulted in frustration and concern for many colleges and other providers. We are committed to ensuring all providers can make accurate data returns, recognising that key funding and allocations calculations are based on them.”

But responses to the survey have suggested the installation problem relates to firewalls that providers use to protect against malicious cyber-attacks — Fis draws down information from the internet continuously, but would be blocked, and unable to function with a firewall.

As part of the DCFT, providers have also been waiting for a learning aims reference system (Lars) with qualification funding values, but the agency spokesperson said it was still “in development” and would not comment on when it would be ready.

However, she added: “All of the reference data that would have been viewed through Lars is available now in Fis and through the Fis export database.”

Meanwhile, following related letters of complaint to the agency from the Association of Colleges and the 157 Group, Junior Shadow Education Minister Rushanara Ali has now written to Skills Minister Matthew Hancock branding the software delays “excessive” and “unacceptable”.

She wrote: “While this software change has been planned for two years, the delays are excessive and the danger now is that enrolments will not be calculated properly and funding lost for FE colleges.”

She demanded Mr Hancock explained what measures he intended “to take in order to see off any resultant disruption for the FE sector and their funding streams”.

She added: “I would also ask you provide an explanation as to why this software change, now two years in the making, has produced such unacceptable delays.”

The agency has now set up a dedicated ‘payments and data’ page on its website — http://tinyurl.com/pm7z6h5 — to provide updates on the situation.

The website says the agency “recognises the technical issues related to the new data collections system mean some of you have found it difficult to calculate your current funding position,” but that “payments will continue to be made and are not affected by these technical issues”.

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Editorial : Funding system says no

Our survey, and the comments posted online, should leave the Skills Funding Agency and Skills Minister Matthew Hancock in no doubt as to the seriousness of their replacement software problem.

Colleges and other providers have been put in a position, through no fault of their own, where it seems many will fail to submit valid data for the first quarter of 2013/14.

And that could happen even if they manage to resolve firewall issues and successfully install the funding software given how little time there is before deadline to correct potentially tens of thousands of errors.

But the submission deadline, however frustrating for data staff, is a sideshow.

Fis and Lars may be new silly names, and they may have been in development for two years, but they are not new tools.

The real scandal is that providers have not been able to revert back to the 2012/13 version of the funding software (Lis), which ironically included 2013/14 ‘shadow funding’ reports.

And while the agency is no longer willing to say when Lars for 2013/14 will be available, its predecessor for 2012/13 (Lara) remains languishing online and unloved.

Surely the agency knew of the complexity associated with implementing the Cabinet Office digital strategy requirements at the same time as new funding systems for both young people and adults?

Nick Linford, editor

Warm tributes have been paid to Skills Funding Agency chief executive Kim Thorneywork after it was announced she was stepping back to concentrate on her fight with breast cancer.

The agency’s chief operating officer, Paul McGuire, emailed FE sector figures late last month with news that an interim chief executive was being looked for while Mrs Thorneywork was away.

“Kim has been poorly over the last few months. She now has been diagnosed with breast cancer and has started treatment,” he said.

“Although over the last few months Kim has remained as our chief executive, and has been in constant contact, she now feels that she needs to concentrate on getting better.”

Mrs Thorneywork, a chemistry graduate and mother-of-one, was appointed agency chief executive in July last year, replacing Geoff Russell.

Stewart Segal, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said: “We were very sorry to hear of Kim’s illness.

“Kim has always worked closely with the provider network and in her role as chief executive she has built on the principles of partnership and transparency.

“We will continue to work closely with the agency in Kim’s absence.”

Martin Doel, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said: “Our thoughts are with Kim and her family at this difficult time and we send them our best wishes.

“I know Kim will miss the hurly-burly of work with the sector — and we will miss her — but I also know that she’s a fighter and at this time she needs to focus her energy on her health and on her family.”

Mrs Thorneywork began her career as a science teacher in Walsall. Her last
teaching post was as a deputy headteacher in a technology college. In 2003, she entered local government as a school improvement inspector.

In 2006, Mrs Thorneywork joined the Learning and Skills Council as area director for Coventry and Warwickshire.

At the launch of the agency in 2010, she became senior account director for the West Midlands, with a portfolio of 33 FE colleges and more than 160 training organisations.

In May the following year she was appointed executive director of delivery, leading agency work on funding policy, investment and provider performance.

Mike Hopkins, chair of the Principals’ Professional Council and Middlesbrough/Gateshead College Federation chief executive, said: “Kim has been an excellent chief executive of the agency ensuring stability for the organisation while at the same time having to make significant change as a result of austerity.”

He added: “She has worked with great integrity and skill, balancing her commitment as a chief executive of a government agency while ensuring that senior civil servants and ministers received honest, evidence-based analysis, even when the message was not comfortable for them.”

Lynne Sedgmore, executive director of the 157 Group, said: “Kim is in the thoughts and prayers of the 157 Group members and they have asked me to send their warmest regards for a speedy recovery.

“We have the highest regard for her work and her support for colleges. We hope Kim will now be able to concentrate on her health and wellbeing — that is what matters most at times such as this.”

Skills Minister Matthew Hancock said: “I would like to wish Kim well and will be thinking of her throughout this difficult time.

“I have immense respect for her and the outstanding leadership she has shown during her time as chief executive of the agency. I hope that we will be able to work together again soon.”

An agency spokesperson said: “Everyone at the agency sends Kim their best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.”

The agency’s Mr McGuire added that it was hoped arrangements for interim cover would be announced “shortly”.

 

The Association of Colleges (AoC) maintained its support for allowing member colleges to recruit unqualified lecturers, despite some college principals and other senior leaders joining a campaign to reverse the government policy.

The Further Education Teachers’ (England) Regulations 2007 requirement for teaching qualifications was scrapped under legislation published by the government in August.

The AoC has told FE Week it is standing by the reforms, despite widespread criticism from politicians and sector heads in the last week.

An AoC spokesperson said: “It is appropriate that the type and level of qualification for different staff should be determined by the college.

“Like universities, colleges can be trusted to appoint the right staff and support their professional development to meet the changing needs of learners.”

Deregulation was heavily criticised in a letter sent by senior FE figures to the Daily Telegraph, ahead of a debate in the House of Commons over whether teachers should be qualified.

They stated: “We believe standards in FE, as well as in schools, are threatened by the absence of a national policy for trained and qualified teachers and trainers.

“The government’s role is to safeguard standards of education for young people, and having well-trained and highly-qualified teachers in schools and further education colleges is vital for doing this.”

The letter was signed by Toni Fazaeli, chief executive of the Institute for Learning, Joe Vinson, vice president FE of the National Union of Students, Professor Chris Husbands, director of the Institute of Education, and Alison Boulton, chief executive of the Association of National Specialist Colleges.

Also Maria Chambers, vice-chair of Natspec and principal of Beaumont College, Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, Sue Crowley, chair of the Institute for Learning, Stephen Grix, chief executive of MidKent College, and Paula Jones, chief executive of Learning South West.

Other people to sign included Stella Mbubaegbu, principal of Highbury College, Penny Petch, head of teaching and learning development at Chelmsford College, Marion Plant, principal of North Warwickshire and Hinckley College, Sue Rimmer, principal of South Thames College, and Kathryn Rudd, chair of Natspec and principal of National Star College.

In the Commons debate on October 30, Nic Dakin, Labour MP for Scunthorpe, said: “All my experience tells me there are only two things that really matter in running schools and colleges — the quality of leadership and the quality of teaching and learning.

“A profession has proper structures for training, qualifications and professional development. That is the framework that delivers high-quality individuals.”

But Education Secretary Michael Gove insisted the quality of teaching would be maintained through tougher standards enforced by Ofsted.

He said: “We got rid of the fuzzy standards that used to prevail under the previous government and we have drawn up new, professional standards.”

Hundreds of Elmfield Training staff could still be in the dark about their futures more than a week after it announced that directors had “taken steps to protect the company through an administration process”.

As FE Week went to press there had been no further public statement from the firm, thought to have more than 400 workers across the UK, leaving staff uncertain if or when they will be paid.

They received an email late on Thursday, October 25, telling them salaries due the following day could not be processed.

It is understood that financial specialists Deloitte UK has been approached about the administration process, but its spokesperson declined to comment.

An Elmfield spokesperson said it had been in “daily contact with staff” but it had nothing further to add to a statement of October 24, which said: “Efforts are continuing in order to seek to preserve jobs and protect learners.

“While this is on-going, the directors have taken steps to protect the company through an administration process.”

Meanwhile, chair of the House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Committee Adrian Bailey said he still wanted former Elmfield director Ged Syddall and Skills Funding Agency finance director Paul McGuire to face a “no-holds-barred” grilling from MPs.

Mr Bailey told FE Week last month he would be calling the two men before the committee. A senior current member of Elmfield staff is also expected to be summoned with Mr Syddall having quit as the firm’s director amid a BBC Newsnight probe last month — although it is understood he remains majority shareholder.

Mr Bailey told FE Week after the administration announcement: “We have not yet fixed the date for the committee hearing, but it will be as soon as practicable.”

It would be the second time Mr Syddall has appeared before Mr Bailey’s committee. He gave evidence in April last year, when he said Elmfield’s entire income of £30m in 2011/12 came from public funds. He also defended his own £3m company dividend.

News that Elmfield could be going into administration followed accusations of apprenticeship malpractice on Newsnight. Its report, supported by information uncovered by FE Week, aired on October 4 and focussed on the firm’s dealings with workers at supermarket giant Morrisons.

It was alleged Elmfield received agency money for apprenticeships that employees had declined. Elmfield told Newsnight that investigations had been carried out, uncovering “no evidence of malpractice,” although a further investigation had since been launched.

Elmfield was banned from taking on new learners following an inadequate Ofsted grading in June, although the agency lifted the blanket ban last month after a positive Ofsted monitoring report saying it would assess new apprentice requests on a “case-by-case basis”.

A Lancashire-based training provider has been stripped of its £2.5m Skills Funding Agency contract following a damning Ofsted grading and monitoring visit.

Training for Travel (TfT) an independent provider offering workplace training in the travel sector to more than 2,000 learners, was deemed inadequate across the board by the education watchdog, following an inspection in September.

The agency terminated the contract, worth £2,501,343, plus a £401,025 24+ loan facility, with three months’ notice on October 9, two days before the company was due to be bought by Mardell Associates Ltd which trades as Smart Training.

An agency spokesperson said: “The agency took the decision to terminate its contract with TfT following an inadequate Ofsted inspection and an inadequate financial health assessment.

“This decision has been taken in line with the government’s rigour and responsiveness policy, which states that independent training providers can expect to see their contracts terminated, subject to protecting the interests of learners.”

Around 50 staff members are now faced with the possibility of losing their jobs.

The Ofsted inspection found that not enough learners completed their frameworks or made the progress they were capable of, too many learners were on programmes which did not enable them to reach their full potential and the quality of teaching and learning was “not good enough”.

It said: “Leadership and management throughout the company are not effective in bringing about improvement — too many areas for improvement identified at the previous inspection remain.”

A monitoring visit just over a month after the initial inspection found that “as of yet nothing has changed in respect of the TfT provision and the experience of the learners”, but expressed hope for the proposed buyout by Smart Training.

It said: “The company acquiring TfT is a good provider and has the capacity and capability to make improvements to the TfT provision.

“The transition strategy for acquisition and beyond is realistic and well thought out.

“A comprehensive and well-structured post-inspection action plan is in place which addresses all of the action points arising from the inspection.”

However, the withdrawal of the agency contract means the sale will now not go ahead.

Bev Platt,TfT chief operating officer, said: “We’ve not been treated properly.

“Ofsted said in its [monitoring visit] report that it was quite pleased with the solution we’d found… and the senior management team, myself included, was not transferring to Mardell.”

She claimed the financial health issue raised by Ofsted was “null and void”, as it was based on intercompany debt owed to TfT’s own holding company, which would not be recalled, and would be incorporated into Smart Training’s accounts.

“There’s nobody else in the travel sector, we’re the only ones, so who are they going to transition the learners to?” she said.

The agency spokesperson said: “The priority for the agency is to ensure minimal disruption to apprentices, learners and employers and we will work to ensure all learners and apprentices are transferred to alternative providers.”

The Skills Funding Agency will not remove City College Coventry’s Notice of Concern, despite Ofsted ruling it had made “reasonable progress” since its damning grade four inspection result.

The college received inadequate ratings across the board when it was inspected in March, but a monitoring visit carried out last month by the education watchdog found the college had begun to turn around.

However, an agency spokesperson told FE Week: “We will not be lifting the Notice of Concern.

“The notice requires that the overall effectiveness of the college, its leadership and management must be judged grade three or better at the time of re-inspection by Ofsted.”

Full re-inspections usually take place anywhere from a year to 15 months after the original inspection.

At the time of the college’s inadequate grading, then-principal Paul Taylor  told FE Week he was refusing to step down despite having previously had two other poor inspection results during his 16 years in post.

He was backed by Warwick Hall, chair of the governors at the college since 2001, who also carried on despite question marks over his continued role. Both men have since left the college.

Coventry’s monitoring visit report examined themes of self-assessment and improvement planning, quality of teaching, learning and assessment, work place learning and science, maths and business.

It also looked at progress made in strengthening governance, and found in all cases that “reasonable progress” had been made.

The monitoring visit report noted that stronger leadership and governance had played a role in the college’s improvement.

It said: “Much stronger leadership of teaching and learning has ensured that teachers are clear about their role and are being held accountable for making sure learners succeed.

“Teachers benefit from detailed feedback from observations which are more rigorous and accurate than previously.”

Interim principal John Hogg said: “This was a very important outcome for the college, laying down a significant marker on distance travelled since the last inspection.

“It is recognition of the hunger, passion and sheer hard work of the staff at the college.

“However, we are not getting carried away, there is still much to do and we’re getting on with it.”

The report also said college governance had been “strengthened” with the appointment of the new chair and vice chair of governors in July.

It added: “The decline in learners’ outcomes has been halted in most areas.”

New governors’ chair Maggie Galliers said: “We are obviously pleased with the outcomes from the monitoring visit which evidenced green shoots of recovery.

“However, green shoots are delicate and we need to nurture them by continuing to focus relentlessly on the student learning experience over the coming months.”

The Department for Education (DfE) has rejected calls by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace) for a huge expansion in family learning to be paid for with Pupil Premium cash.

A Niace report spelling out the benefits for disadvantaged children, parents and carers of rolling out extra family learning schemes across the country was unveiled last month at PricewaterhouseCoopers, in London.

In a speech where he also expressed disappointment that no representatives from DfE attended the event, Niace chief executive David Hughes said he would like to see the expansion funded with 2.3 per cent of the Pupil Premium budget.

However, the DfE appears to have ruled that out. A spokesperson told FE Week: “We are taking decisive action to support disadvantaged pupils and close the unacceptable attainment gap between them and their peers.

“The Pupil Premium, which is increasing to £2.5bn a year, is extra funding to support those children who need the most help, from when they join school to when they finish GCSEs. It is completely separate to the range of measures the government has in place to support adult and family learning.”

Niace responded by pointing out Education Secretary Michael Gove expressed support for family learning in parliament six months ago.

During a House of Commons debate on literacy and numeracy, Caroline Dinenage, Tory MP for for Gosport, Stubbington, Lee on the Solent and Hill, asked him what what measures were being taken to support family learning programmes.

Mr Gove said: “If parents are given the opportunity to play a part in their child’s education and if they are given additional confidence in their own grasp of literacy and numeracy, the whole family can benefit from it.

“It is a commitment of myself and the MP for West Suffolk [Matthew Hancock], who has responsibility for skills and adult learning, to make sure that family learning programmes can be supported as effectively as possible.”

Mr Hughes said he still hoped to be able to convince the government to accept Niace’s proposals through a discussion on family learning he is set to hold with Skills Minister Matthew Hancock in a few weeks’ time.

He said: “We know that at the highest levels at the DfE there is support for family learning, exemplified by what the Secretary of State said back in April.

“We also know from working with local authorities, such as Sheffield City Council, the positive impact family learning has had on both children’s and their parents’ and carers’ attainment.

“We are very much looking forward to meeting the skills minister soon, where we will be discussing our proposals in more detail.”

The DfE spokesperson added that it had not sent anyone to the Niace family learning launch event because, “representatives from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills — the department responsible for adult learning — attended the event on behalf of government.”

Figures released this morning show just 239 loans for apprenticeships have been applied for  since the scheme began — 162 in September.

The figures are dramatically below government forecasts, in which around 25,000 applications for apprenticeship loans were expected this academic year (by July 31, 2014).

Provisional figures for the last academic year (ending July 31, 2013), before 24+ advanced learning loans were introduced, indicate there were 112,300 level three and above apprenticeship starts for those aged 25 and over.

A department for Business, Innovation and Skills spokesperson told FE Week this morning: “We are closely monitoring the take up of these loans and will continue to do so. We recognise that under the loans system where we have had over 49,000 applications in total, the current figures for apprenticeships are low. However, apprentices do not typically begin their role with the academic year so applications could increase throughout the year.”

Stewart Segal, chief executive of the Association and Employment and Learning providers said: “There are changes we could make to the system to improve the position but we need a more radical solution sooner rather than later to ensure the apprenticeship programme is not damaged further.”

David Hughes, chief executive of NIACE said: “We are extremely concerned that this radical funding change has resulted in a massive shift in delivery. This shows how price-sensitive learners and employers are and the impact that has on choices people make about learning.

“This week the Government announced ambitious plans for the future of Apprenticeships, but these figures show that action is needed now to rescue the programme for adults over the age of 24.”

Read more in the next edition of FE Week.

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has been hit with further criticism over “serious difficulties” faced by colleges because of delays in the release of critical new software.

Lynne Sedgmore, 157 Group executive director, has written to the SFA today to add her voice to growing sector concerns about the wait for new programmes that generate the value of provision delivered.

Her letter follows another from Association of Colleges chief executive Martin Doel, who wrote to the SFA last week to express his concerns about the software update.

Mrs Sedgmore said:  “The problems with immediate implementation are causing serious difficulties for my members and it is imperative that they be resolved without further delay.”

Colleges and training providers have been expecting the Data Collections and Funding Transformation programme in which the Funding Information System (Fis) replaces Learner Information Suite (Lis).

Meanwhile, the Learning Aim Reference Service (Lars) is to replaces Learning Aim Reference Application (Lara).

But while an updated version of Fis was released today, allowing providers to test whether their data entries were correct, there is still no Lars, which complements the new system with funding values.

The delay in supplying providers with the full software system means providers now have just eight working days to check tens of thousands of Individualised Learner Records, rather than the usual fortnight.

“My members are extremely concerned about the ongoing problems with the Fis software and its effect on the 2013/14 academic year,” it said in Mrs Sedgmore letter, seen by FE Week.

These problems, said Mrs Sedgmore, included being unable to accurately calculate income generated from adult enrolments, enter into sub-contracts or calculate the ‘rollover’ value of students.

“These are all very real and serious problems for the sector and I hope we can work together to an immediate resolution,” she added.

Mr Doel called for “concerted action” from the SFA to rectify the situation in an open letter sent to its chief executive Kim Thorneywork.

“Colleges need a clear, non-technical statement to be issued which explains to all those interested in [agency] funded activity what the situation is, plus concerted action to ensure the current implementation timetable is met,” he wrote.

Mr Doel added communication from the agency’s Data Service to colleges and stakeholders had been “insufficient and late”.

And his concerns about communication were echoed by Mrs Sedgmore, who further wrote: “In general, communication has been poor. My members would like short, clear, concise information about how the problems will be resolved and request a new timeline and clear indication of when the software will be released.”

Nobody from the SFA was available for comment as to what was causing the new system delay.

More information on this story will be found in next week’s edition of FE Week.