Stop lecturing me and play fair

It was billed as the “biggest strike for over 30 years” with schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, courts, transport, immigration and government all hit by a walkout involving up to two million workers.

I’m old enough to remember the ‘Winter of Discontent’ and the strikes of the 80s and I am struggling to recall what industrial action has actually achieved. Even the Jarrow March in 1936 failed to achieve anything, other than notoriety.

When the Jarrow crusaders finished their march, very little was done for them. The ship industries stayed closed and the marchers were given £1 each to get the train back home, from London.

As I watched the march, the big screen on Embankment, the rousing music, the passionate (and not so passionate) speakers, placards donning ‘iron fist’ emblems, the anarchists that aren’t there to support anyone, copies of Socialist Worker strewn across the road, I felt depressed.

It felt like 1984; George Orwell’s 1984 and of course the 1984/85 national miners’ strike.
Thirty years ago the teachers disrupted my secondary education; the miners disrupted my community and health professionals affected waiting lists, which disrupted my father’s care when he had his first heart attack.

Strikes have rules, ballots, negotiations and majorities, but the rules seem to bend at will”

Strikes do not sit well with me.

Public sector workers believe their actions are valid (even when they’ve walked out on students to celebrate “today’s success with Cuban rum and UCU comrades in the Casa Bar” as @UCUFENorthWest tweeted).

They are protesting over reforms that unions say will force them to work for longer before they can retire, and pay more for pensions, which will be worth less. They expect that pay freezes and capped wages are going to be very widespread.

According to The Guardian, the government spends more than £26billion a year on public sector pensions and the government says this is not sustainable.

Strikes have rules, ballots, negotiations and majorities, but the rules seem to bend at will.

The government, from what I can see is trying to negotiate, so how can a strike be valid when negotiations are still ongoing? It’s been said before, but let Agitator say it again… striking during negotiation is not playing by the rules, so don’t lecture me on fair play.

This strike, and the others that ensue will cost us dearly. Obviously they will cost us financially, the chancellor said; “The strike is not going to achieve anything. It’s not going to change anything.”

They’ve walked out on students to celebrate ‘today’s success with Cuban rum and UCU comrades in the Casa Bar’”

Strikes do nothing to enhance the reputation of the education sector, even striking lecturers will agree their actions reduce the quality of the student experience, if I were a student, I’d call that stealing.

And, internationally, our reputation is plummeting: why would international students pay thousands to study at a strike-ridden college, or university? It’s rip off Britain all over again.

Private training providers could have the advantage here, where college staff are concerned about the picket line, employers are concerned with their bottom line, and strikes don’t tend to endear customer loyalty.

Employer led? Learner focused? These are just phrases in your prospectus… they don’t mean anything if your college closed.

If I was a private training provider, I’d be selling my training on “uninterrupted service”, a guarantee that colleges, with their unionised staff cannot offer with a straight face.

Although a straight face isn’t something that strikers tend to worry about, they take a day off, screw up your life, and then complain and berate others that are trying to rise to the occasion.

This is the 21st century; our working lives and the demands on our society have changed enormously in the last 30 years. So, why, in this day and age, are the unions using the same methods?

We have moved on and so should they, and preferably without shouting, “Scab” as they do so.

And, anyway, as any hematologist would tell you, scabs save lives!

Toni Pearce, vice president for FE, NUS

The last time I interviewed Toni Pearce, she was visibly nervous. As the incoming NUS vice president (FE), it was her first official press interview and it was clear she was both exhilarated and worried about the year ahead.

Having led the NUS campaign to save the Education Maintenance Allowance, which resulted in a partial u-turn from the government, the outgoing vice president, Shane Chowen, would be a hard act to follow, she said.

Also daunting was the prospect of public speaking, which she confessed she didn’t really enjoy. And having spent two years as union president at Cornwall College, where she sat on various boards and committees (including the governing body), she knew some people might need convincing that she was more than just a glorified head girl.

But when she published her first blog as president, last May, there was little doubt that Pearce meant business. In it, she claimed that since being elected as vice-president, she had had to deal with “dozens” of cases of sexual harassment, where union officers and students had approached her, expecting her to have sex with them because they had elected her. She wanted to make clear that NUS had a “zero tolerance” approach to sexual harassment

It was a bold move, but one that seems to have paid off. Six months on, Pearce says the harassment issues have calmed down. She has also realised that she is “not as bad at public speaking as she thought she was” and has coped well, even when she spent three weeks as acting president after Liam Burns took leave for personal reasons.

“I think people have realised that I’m not just here to make up the numbers,” she says.“I’m definitely here because it’s what I am passionate about and it’s what I want to do…and I’m not going to take any of that quietly.”

It’s hard to imagine Pearce taking anything quietly and, as ever, she is keen to point out that she is “not afraid of speaking her mind”, a quality that has earned her the reputation of being a bit fierce. In fact, she is reputed to be so feisty, someone has set up a Twitter account to lampoon her. Toni_Fierce boasts of getting legless on cider and picking fights with people in the street, which Pearce mostly takes in good humour.

At times some of the posts have been a bit close to the bone, (including one, when she was still Cornwall SU president, about getting drunk with the principal’s sons) but Pearce accepts it comes with the territory.

One of the biggest challenges has been moving away from her home in Cornwall for the first time. While she loves living in London, having been a “big fish in small pond” at Cornwall College, becoming part of something “that’s much bigger” has taken some getting used to.

And juggling the competing demands of the job has also been difficult at times. “What I’ve found is that things come up and they’re all equally important so it’s about prioritising…whether to campaign on student governors, international students, enrichment, funding cuts or adult students or whatever. In reality, you can’t really prioritise and you have to just sort of do your best for everybody.”

But saying yes all the time can be tiring. Most weeks are spent travelling up and down the country (Virgin trains are getting good business out of her, Pearce jokes) attending meetings, conferences, and visiting colleges.

It is certainly not a 9 to 5 job, and she admits she never really feels as if she’s off duty. “I guess at 2am you’re still vice-president. It doesn’t matter that it’s not office hours and I don’t think that excuse would wash with our membership. I mean, people don’t stop being students at 2am, so I shouldn’t really stop being their representative.”

Thankfully, when she gets a call out of normal office hours, invariably it is something nice, like an invite to a campaign launch or a radio appearance. But Pearce does admit that she finds networking “difficult at times.”

And although she is rarely “star struck” (the former Lewisham College principal and LSIS chief Dame Ruth Silver being one notable exception), attending award ceremonies and events with “important people” and having one-to-one meetings and phone calls with ministers has taken her out of her “comfort zone “ more than anything in the job.

Union officers and students had approached her, expecting her to have sex with them because they had elected her”

Pearce says she has also found people management hard at times and admits she is still learning to think before she speaks. “I guess that people generally understand when I am being sarcastic or when I am making a joke, but maybe that’s not always the case. And I can be quite challenging and confrontational if someone says something I don’t agree with…which I guess is not always the best way of dealing with a situation.”

But she has many achievements to be proud of – not least her successful campaign to stop the government removing the requirement for every college to have at least student governors. She is also proud of helping to educate the student movement that further education is much more than “16-18 students doing A-levels.”

But there is still work to do on that front and the education minister Michael Gove, who she claims “doesn’t even seem to know FE exists in the NUS” is top of her hit list. “One thing I have noticed since I started doing the job is that 16-19 year olds who are in further education colleges are really glossed over by the government in that they tend to focus on apprenticeships, apprenticeships, apprenticeships and some higher education.

The Department for Education generally focuses on schools and sixth forms, so anyone who is 16-19 and studies in a college gets missed out quite a lot by the government.”

But she has nothing but praise for the skills minister John Hayes, who she says has “a lot of time” for the NUS and students generally. “He is really keen on students being involved in the design and delivery of further education.

I think he is really positive and quite refreshing particularly from this government,” she says. “It’s good to be able to chat to him about student governors and explain to him how we feel, whereas we get the complete opposite from Mr Gove.”

Pearce says, with mock outrage, that Andy Burnham moving over to health really “trashed her” (the running joke amongst her NUS colleagues is that she has a big crush on the former shadow education minister) and the jury is still out on his replacement, Stephen Twigg.

While it is early days, “he has definitely picked up the portfolio of education minister in the same way that Michael Gove sees it, as about schools and maybe 16-18 and not necessarily more broadly speaking,” she says.

And while she is pleased about his announcement, at last month’s Association of College’s conference, of a commitment to reinstate face-to-face careers advice in colleges and schools, it is “really disappointing” that he hasn’t made a similar commitment on the EMA. “I think a lot of people walk into education, and particularly further education, thinking that it is fairly simple – and they couldn’t be more wrong.”

Pearce, who is now 21, says she has been thinking about her plans for next year, but won’t make any final decisions until after Christmas about whether she will stand for vice president (FE) – or indeed any other post – next year. And she is still no clearer about her long -term career plans than she was a year ago, when she had applied to “five different universities to do five different degrees” (ranging from politics to neuroscience).

While she says the idea of becoming an MP “is not an attractive prospect,” she would love an education job in policy or campaigning.

Her proudest moment as vice president (FE) was returning to Cornwall College recently to give a speech at a graduation ceremony for degree students. “To go back and speak to them…as someone who doesn’t have a degree and hasn’t graduated, who is still able to get up there and give a speech to people who I have grown up. with It was a real privilege.”

Who knows where the secrets are buried?

History. Everyone and everywhere has one. We all do. We like telling stories. In fact we define our lives through stories. We are surrounded by them: anecdotes, jokes, newspapers, soaps, films, books. That‘s how we understand things. And FE colleges have their history in spades.

I have been knocking around the sector for about 30 years now and every time I go into a college and talk to anyone I get the “history”. I know it’s coming, I just brace myself. “So,” I ask innocently, “why do you do this?”

“Ah well,” they say, “the so and so decided this was a good idea [we go back to 1972 or summat] and then so and so did this, and someone else did that. Before you know it you have an accretion of bonkers stuff and you are looking at a system that no one in their right mind would ever invent unless they wanted to be carted off to Broadmoor. You know, like FE funding systems.

I once worked in a college where the enrolment system was so convoluted that huge queues built up. It was like Soviet Russia. To entertain the queues they played them re runs on video of black and white episodes of The Lone Ranger.

Following the music, I stumbled into a whole roomful of stunned looking people transfixed by the William Tell Overture and chaps on horses. All they wanted to do was to get onto an AAT course.

Perhaps they regarded this as part of the process, like some sort of endurance test. I once tried enrolling on an FE course myself. It was surreal! But that’s another story.
I learnt something quite early on. The caretakers know everything. They are often first in in the morning and last out at night. They observe and they gossip and they judge, but no one ever asks them what they see or know.

If you want to know what goes on in a college you ask the caretakers. Or the receptionists. It’s call tacit knowledge (http://www.knowledgeboard.com/download/3512/Tacit-vs-Explicit.pdf) , and it’s underestimated.

For all their E&D policies and “open door management” guff most FE colleges are more hierarchical than the Catholic Church.

If it’s any consolation, universities are worse.
I once did a job for a college in, um, the South East. The Principal was troubled, as so many are when you get them behind closed doors, and spent a long time fretting about the state of the place.

Making the front page of the Daily Mirror the previous day hadn’t helped his equilibrium either, especially that picture of him with Fergie. On skis. He gave me a free rein to go anywhere and talk to anyone.
I quickly sought out the head caretaker and bought him a cup of tea. He was, of course, dead suspicious. It was either my charm or the jam doughnut which did the trick. He then told me exactly what the Principal had told me and quite a lot more besides (great stuff if you like gossip) and concluded by saying, “Of course, the Principal knows none of this.”

Well not the sexier stuff anyway, some of which was eye opening and, frankly, quite tricky when you have a formal meeting with the culprits the next day and have to keep a straight face about what you know about the car park, the Christmas party and the stationery cupboard.

This tacit knowledge is a powerful thing. So much of the money spent on surveys and research exercises and complaints procedures and whatnot could be saved if people just got the receptionists and caretakers in for a monthly chat to find out what was really going on and what the students were happy or griping about.

Try it. You could learn a lot about your own college.

 

By Nick Warren

Colleges close as lecturers walkout over pension dispute

Lecturers across the country went on strike as part of the industrial action against pension cuts.

A number of further education (FE) colleges closed due to the extent of the walkout, while others stayed open but experienced disruptions to their daily schedules.

The action took place on Wednesday as part of a nationwide public service strike, which saw up to two million workers in sectors including education and health walkout.

Despite the college closures, principals remained adamant that no teaching hours would be lost.

Peter Mayhew-Smith, principal of Kingston College, said: “With almost all of our site and security teams planning to strike, we cannot open all the college sites safely.

“Instead, we will replace all lost hours during the rest of the year so that no student loses any of their learning.”

Teachers and staff at Greenwich Community College picketed outside of the campus’ main entrance before joining a joint union rally at General Gordon Square. Claire Miller, a lecturer and community development worker at Greenwich Community College, said: “It’s not as if our current salaries and our current pensions are excessive.

“The myths that are being put out by the government are a travesty for those of us that are working here.”

She added: “In June, the bankers said in justification of maintaining their high levels of both income and bonus that if you didn’t pay what bankers were due, you wouldn’t get the same quality of banking – and banking would collapse.

“It begs the question, why different for teaching and public services? Why should that be any different?”

Mary Bottomley, another lecturer at the college, said the government needed to show more “good faith” to the public sector.

“I think they have to face the reality that lots of people are feeling angry, disgruntled, and worried,” she said.

“We’re not asking for a silver handshake, a golden handshake or anything like that. It was done in good faith and we want that good faith reciprocated.”

The picket line was just one of more than one hundred demonstrations taking place up and down the country. The epicentre of the industrial action took place in the capital, where thousands of concerned public workers marched from Lincoln Inn Fields, near Holborn, to a rally in Victoria Embankment.

Walter Valentine, a lecturer at Cambridge Regional College and member of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said: “The government is deliberately provoking some sort of reaction because they want to try and use some of the money from the pensions pot to offset some of the deficit.

“The problem has been that we’ve been given no alternative – the government has refused to negotiate and they’ve already imposed changes on the pension scheme without negotiation.”

Under government proposals, pension contributions from lecturers in the FE sector will increase from 6.4 per cent to up to 9.8 per cent by 2015.

Lecturers earning less than £15,000 are said to be excluded from the contribution increases.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU), has been involved in recent negotiations with government.

There are also hard liners. Militants, itching for a fight”

She said: “What is very clear is that there is not good communications, and not agreed figures between those who are negotiating with us and the Treasury.

“We have been going in there with good faith, and I have got no issue with the civil servants that we are dealing with, but those civil servants have no mandate to extend or change the amounts of money we are talking about, at which point we are simply talking about moving around different figures to mitigate cuts in different places.”

Public sector pensions have already been switched so that each year they now rise in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure of inflation, rather than the Retail Price Index (RPI).

The Independent Public Service Pensions Commission, led by Lord Hutton, has said the change will cut the value of public sector pensions by roughly 15 per cent.

Additional proposals include increasing the retirement age to 66 by 2020 and up to 68 by 2046.

Mr Valentine said: “They’ve already announced that we’ll be working longer, moving from 66 to 68 years of age.

“As one colleague joked at a committee, ‘I started my primary school teaching taking children to the toilet, and I just feel that by the time I’m 68 they’ll be taking me to the toilet!’”

Michael Gove, secretary of state for education, called on teachers to “think again” about taking part in the industrial action during a speech at the think tank Policy Exchange.

He said: “Union leaders are people that work hard for their members, and who I respect.

“But there are also hard liners. Militants, itching for a fight. They want families to be inconvenienced. They want mothers to give up a day’s work, or pay for expensive childcare, because schools will be closed. They want teachers and other public sector workers to lose a day’s pay in the run up to Christmas.”

Mr Gove added: “These people want scenes of industrial strife on our TV screens, they want to make economic recovery harder, they want to provide a platform for confrontation, just when we all need to pull together.
“I want to appeal directly to teachers, and other public sector workers – please, even now, do think again.”

Not every Union was supporting the strike action however. The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), representing 15,000 leaders of secondary schools and colleges, had ‘different views’ on how best to solve the dispute.

Brian Lightman, general secretary of ASCL, said: “ASCL members fully understand and share the anger of those teachers who have reluctantly decided to take industrial action.

“While we have different views on the best way to resolve the dispute, all the unions are united in opposition to the severity of the proposed changes to pensions and have been working with one voice to influence negotiations.”
Mr Lightman added: “Negotiations are at a highly critical stage but there is reason to believe that with a constructive approach and goodwill from all parties we can reach a successful outcome. The government must show that it is serious about reaching a compromise.”

 People are feeling angry, disgruntled, and worried”

Voice, a union for education professionals, strives on its cardinal rule that “members shall not go on strike in any circumstances.”

Philip Parkin, the general secretary of Voice, said: “Voice members do not undertake industrial action because we believe it to be ineffective, negative and damaging, both to the cause of those taking it and to the interests of children, students and their parents.

“Those whose lives are disrupted by strike action are not those responsible for making decisions on public sector pensions.”

Unions will continue to negotiate with the government in the run up to Christmas.

Sally Hunt said the unions would continue to push “as far as is necessary” to try and change the proposals.

“If I was them, I would think very hard about being as stubborn as they are being because I think they’re losing credibility throughout the sector at the moment every time they open their mouth,” she said.

“People are not greedy, and people are not selfish, and people want to see a resolution to this.”

VAT exemption for shared services

The government has announced plans to make colleges and charities exempt from paying VAT when they share services.

It has been heralded as “unusual good news” for colleges and could lead to innovative savings through cross-college – or even cross-sector – partnerships.

In the Autumn Statement, which was published by the Treasury last week, it states: “Following consultation after Budget 2011, the Government will introduce a VAT exemption for services shared between VAT exempt bodies, including charities and universities.”

The Association of Colleges (AoC) say they “welcome the fact that action is being taken” in response to the consultation, which was held by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in June.

“Among the tax changes scheduled for 2012 is a plan to change the way in which VAT is levied on universities, colleges and charities when they share services,” the AoC response to the paper states.

“Our experience in supporting shared service projects in colleges suggests that there will be long-term savings to match the loss of VAT income which results from these plans.”

Colleges are exempt from paying VAT when they deliver education and training.

However, they currently pay tax on some supplies and likewise have to charge students VAT for products which are tax eligible, such as the sales of coffee, and food to non-students

Bob Deed, a financial director and consultant, said: “The VAT exception for shared services is unusual good news for colleges. It removes an obstacle to joint working.

“However, the devil will be in the detailed requirements of the Revenue and Custom.

“Moreover, many college managers are wary of sharing anything with anybody in an increasingly competitive environment.”

Mr Deed added: “The Policy Costings issued alongside the Autumn Statement recognise that the probable take-up is uncertain and likely to be low for both colleges and charities.

“Nevertheless, the VAT exception may allow some brave colleges to innovate and generate some savings by working with other colleges or even organisations outside the sector such as charities, higher education institutions and local authorities.”

Colleges currently pay an estimated £210 million in irrecoverable VAT each year.

An AoC spokesperson said: “Colleges are able to reclaim some of the VAT which they pay to the extent that they have non-exempt business activity, but this is not normally more than five per cent or so.

“Some agricultural colleges have a high proportion of VAT-able business and might claim more like 20 per cent of their lost VAT.”

The HM Revenue & Customs consultation, titled ‘VAT: Cost Sharing Exemption’, said that by removing a VAT charge colleges would benefit from efficiency savings.

The report states: “It is designed for use by businesses and organisations unable to recover all of the VAT they incur on their purchases, such as charities, universities and further education colleges.”

It later adds that to be compliant with European legislation, colleges would need to become members of an independent ‘cost sharing group (CSG)’, which would be put in charge of supplying VAT exempt services.

The AoC said in response to the consultation that the exemption could provide the sector with annual savings of between £15 and £30 million.

“We would expect that many colleges would consider forming or joining a CSG; more than 100 colleges (from a total of 347) are already involved in Shared Services Projects,” the response states.

“Colleges inform us that they would consider transferring the following into a CSG: payroll; IT maintenance; data storage; finance functions; management information and systems; health and safety advice and guidance; procurement; facilities management and catering.”

Birmingham colleges announce merger plan

South Birmingham College and City College Birmingham have agreed to take forward a proposal to merge.

An outline of the proposal to merge, which should result in members of the City College Birmingham Governing body joining the existing Governing Body of South Birmingham College, has been submitted to the Skills Funding Agency (SFA).

It is now subject to their approval, along with Ministerial sign off, but if a favourable response is received, a full public consultation will take place before any merger can take place.

The colleges say that by “combining the considerable strengths of the two organisations the proposed merger will better serve the local community and will ensure the highest quality of education and training is available” now and in the future.

The Principal and Governors from both colleges have worked collaboratively on the proposal.

Mike Hopkins, principal at South Birmingham College, said: “This merger is a great opportunity for Birmingham and will help us expand the first class education and training we currently provide.

“The combined expertise, staff and facilities of the two colleges will help us provide outstanding educational opportunities for our communities.”

Stuart Cutforth, principal at City College Birmingham, added: “We already have an excellent relationship with South Birmingham College and this move is a natural forward progression.

“Our aim is to ensure that the standard of education in Birmingham is amongst the best in the country and this move will help us work towards that.”

Sale continues as jobs are cut at LSN

A charity forced into administration by a crippling pension liability and decreasing income has been forced to cut jobs.

Global financial experts PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) have revealed to FE Week that 23 jobs have been lost from Learning and Skills Network (LSN).

Ian Oakley-Smith, David Hurst and Karen Dukes, of PwC, were last month appointed as the joint administrators of LSN, which provides educational expertise for businesses and agencies in the public and private sector across the UK and abroad.

Although it was business as usual for LSN’s staff, the axe has since fallen on 23 jobs, all of which were based at LSN’s head office in Holborn, London.

Prior to the losses, LSN employed 117 staff over five locations – with 48 in London. A further 14 work at offices in Oxford, 16 in Olney, 26 in Cambridge and 13 in Belfast.

A statement read: “PwC can confirm having reviewed the ongoing requirements of the business, regrettably there have been 23 job losses.

“A skeleton staff is being retained in Holborn to help the administrators with queries from interested parties and as support for the rest of the business.

“The administrators are working closely with employees affected by this decision to ensure they receive the support they need during this difficult time to assist with their claims for redundancy and other compensatory payments.

“All other staff remaining at LSN have been briefed with the administrators working closely with them over the coming weeks as the business continues to operate as normal.”

The charity’s demise has been partly placed on their turnover of around £13 million for the 2010/11 financial year – which is a substantially smaller figure compared to the £27.5 million during the previous tax year and £42.6 million in 2008/09.

Also, while PwC say LSN have been experiencing “no debt”, the charity has a “contingent pension liability” of around £8 million, which also added to its downfall.

In other words, if every member of staff retired and drew on their pension, LSN would be left with a multi-million pound deficit.

It is for those reasons that PwC say the board of trustees at LSN came to the difficult realisation that they could not carry on any further.

However, the process of selling off the different “business streams” of LSN is continuing.

LSN is made up of separate businesses: Technology for Learning, National Extension College (NEC), Education, Skills and Research, Development Services, Learning and Skills Development Agency (Northern Ireland) and Learning and Skills Network.

A PwC statement added: “The administrators have received a number of enquiries from interested parties and are working hard with these parties to help them assess the financial position of the business streams they are interested in so that final offers can be received.”

BIS respond to their FE and skills consultation

They have been in the pipeline for several months, but last week the government confirmed a raft of new further education (FE) reforms.

Key policies including the introduction of FE loans for the over 24s from 2013 and more freedoms for colleges have been announced following the release of the sector-wide consultation on FE reforms; New Challenges, New Chances.

The report, issued by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), highlights the overall FE and skills investment in 2012-13 will be £3.8 billion.

Of this, say BIS, £3.6 billion will be routed through the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), before falling to £3.4 billion by 2013-14 and £3.3 billion by 2014-15.

It will be supplemented by £129 million and £398 million respectively provided through FE loans for adult learners aged 24 and over on Level 3 or higher courses.

Other measures see businesses “helping to develop courses that best meet their needs for growth”, while the sector will also be actively supported by promoting excellence in teaching and developing a package of education products aimed at global opportunities.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “Further education plays a critical role in extending opportunity, forging social cohesion and fostering enterprise.

“But we need to place more trust in the sector’s ability to understand and meet local communities skills needs.

“By giving more freedom to colleges to set courses based on local skills needs, and increasing businesses’ role in designing qualifications, we will empower students, colleges and employers to drive economic recovery.”

Colleges will, as expected and as set out in the recently approved Education Bill 2011, be given greater freedoms from central government control, allowing them to set courses based on local employer needs.

This includes streamlining, reducing bureaucracy and removing regulation – such as removing central government targets, bringing together various funding streams and giving colleges greater financial freedom over borrowing and investment.

Students will also be “empowered” to make informed choices, by pulling together comparative data on training providers and the launch of the new National Careers Service in April 2012, which has previously come under criticism from campaigners, who say it does not provide enough face-to-face guidance for youngsters.

At the same time, BIS say they we will take swift action to “failing provision”, providing intensive support and, if necessary, intervening to ensure “alternative and innovative delivery approaches are secured” for the future.

Skills minister John Hayes added: “These measures will place students at the heart of the FE system, free colleges to meet local skills needs and give the sector the financial certainty it has so long desired.

“By giving students the power to make informed choices over which course is best for them and ensuring funds are prioritised, towards those most in need, we will build the skilled workforce businesses need to thrive and communities need to prosper.”

The Skills for Life survey headline findings also published by BIS highlighted one in ten adults – aged 16 to 65 – lack basics in both numeracy and literacy skills.

To address this, English and maths training will be boosted, including apprenticeships providers to offer training to GCSE standard.

Criticism over competition

Skills Funding Agency could take funding away from providers who try to poach employers

Providers could miss out on vital apprenticeship funding if they are found to be poaching employers.

The hard-line has been taken by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) in the wake of a number of complaints from providers, who have already set up agreements with employers, in recent months.

Although the number of complaints has not been revealed, the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) say the figure is on the rise.

The SFA, in Update 84, said: “We have recently received complaints from some providers that employers, for whom they have an agreement with to deliver training, have been approached by other training organisations in an attempt to persuade the employer to transfer its delivery to them.

“Where it appears that this has occurred we reserve the right not to fund the delivery.”

A spokesperson for the NAS added: “The NAS has been made aware of a rise in employer poaching incidents over the last few months.

“We regularly remind providers that this is not an acceptable practice and we are committed to reviewing any incidents that they are made aware of.”

Chris Lang, vice principal finance and resources at Cambridge Regional College, described to FE Week two different methods of poaching that his institute had experienced.

The first involves providers who are aware of an agreement, but they approach the business regardless, with offers of free training.

Often, he said, this can come from a college promoting its own success story.

New providers then phone the business, which in turn call the original provider and say they have been offered free training.

While some businesses will call the college to ask for a discount, others will simply call to say they have changed providers.

Mr Lang said: “You can’t even go out and promote your own success. It’s like ambulance chasing.”

He added: “We’ve been charging fees for about four years. They range in price and we publish them, so other colleges and providers must know what our fees are. We are under constant pressure to have a no fee policy to market ourselves competitively.”

The second has seen providers contacting employers without the knowledge that they have an agreement in place. It is something which Mr Lang says has been occurring for “three to four” years, but it has so far gone without reproach.

He added: “One view is they’re not meeting their contract so they go out and offer low or no fee because they are desperate to meet it.

“We mail shot people but we don’t say we are doing it free and undercut people. If they say they work with somebody, we log it and won’t call them again. If they want to change, they can contact us. I don’t have a problem with free market and businesses are free to choose. But they aren’t choosing on a level playing field.”

Teresa Frith, the senior skills policy manager at the Association of Colleges, said competition should be on quality and not price. She said: “I would hope that it’s really about the quality of the provision and not the price of the provision. What I don’t want to see is the learner disadvantaged.”

She also said businesses being approached should consider what they are getting. “Are they getting like for like? Are they getting less?” she said.

Meanwhile, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) has stressed its support for the action. Graham Hoyle, AELP chief executive, said: “We support the approach that the SFA is taking.”