About 50 further jobs are set to be lost at England’s largest apprenticeship provider as a new leadership team takes shape.
Lifetime Training this week launched a redundancy consultation – its second this year – to reduce its 1,000-strong workforce by about 5 per cent.
FE Week understands that nine departments across the business are affected, including curriculum, learner support and work-based learning partnerships.
The cuts come weeks after David Smith replaced Jon Graham as chief executive of the provider.
Smith also recently announced the appointment of a new chief financial officer, people director, operations delivery director, and partnerships director.
A spokesperson for Lifetime said the leadership team completed a “strategic planning exercise” over the summer, focusing on “growth and long-term sustainability”, which led to the decision to reduce the workforce. FE Week understands 120 staff are part of the redundancy consultation, but 50 jobs are expected to be cut.
Smith said: “Our focus is on long-term sustainability and enabling the business to take advantage of future growth opportunities. We have been carrying out a cross-functional review to avoid duplication and improve accountability and ownership. The review also strengthens our partnership, compliance, quality and operational models of delivery, which are reflected in the updated governance structure, bringing further emphasis to high-quality teaching strategies.”
Smith comes from outside the FE sector having led big-name companies such as Parcelforce, Royal Mail, City Link, Serco and, most recently, estates management company Bellrock Group.
He replaced Graham in July, who was moved on after just over a year in charge.
The CEO switch came a week after Lifetime Training’s executive chair Geoff Russell, who used to lead the Skills Funding Agency, suddenly left his post.
Both Graham and Russell were brought in from another large training provider, JTL, last year. Their departures came months after Lifetime Training was taken over by its lender, Alcentra.
The provider has experienced a rocky year including a critical ‘requires improvement’ Ofsted report and an ongoing government audit dispute that could result in a £13m clawback. It made about 60 staff redundant earlier this year.
Weston College has started the new academic year with an interim boss as the hunt for a permanent successor to England’s former best-paid principal, Sir Paul Phillips, drags on.
Jacqui Ford has been appointed acting principal and chief executive until at least March 2024 following multiple failed attempts to fill the post left by Phillips, who retired over the summer after two decades as leader of the south-western college.
But questions remain over whether Phillips has stayed on at the college in a newly created and remunerated role as president, as previously announced to staff earlier in the year.
The college is now staying tight-lipped over the presidential position after concerns were allegedly raised by prospective successors of the principalship in the past academic year, which a local union leader claimed was “creating a crisis at the college”.
A spokesperson for the college this week refused to confirm or deny whether Phillips has taken up the role of president.
Ford’s appointment comes after the recruitment process for a permanent principal went back to square one in June. The top job was formally offered to Cornwall College Group deputy principal Kate Wills but was revoked under mysterious circumstances.
The president’s role was created earlier this year and governors told staff in memos seen by FE Week that the role was “absolutely key” for governance initiatives and profile bids.
‘Appointment follows exceptional leadership and legacy of Sir Paul Phillips’
Ford was formerly deputy principal for partnerships and led Weston College’s SEND division. Her previous stint at the college spanned over two decades between 1995 and 2020.
At Weston College’s annual academic conference on August 23, Ford unveiled the college’s new management structure, which also showed the departure of three members of the executive team – Leah Palmer, Jo Watson and David Trounce.
Sir Paul Phillips’ son, Joe Phillips, who has worked at the college since 2010, will be Ford’s de facto second-in-command as chief operating officer after being recently promoted.
Ford told conference attendees that the managerial team will be moved around and based in different campuses so that key management personnel will not be “sitting in an ivory tower”.
In a public announcement dated August 23 about Ford’s appointment, Weston College said that “guidance of Sir Paul has been instrumental in shaping this new management framework”.
“This appointment follows the exceptional leadership and legacy of Sir Paul Phillips CBE, who has steered the institution towards remarkable achievements over the past 22 years,” the statement said.
Phillips stepped down officially as principal on August 31. He was England’s highest-paid principal, earning a total package of £362,000 in 2022, according to an analysis of college accounts data.
A Weston College spokesperson told FE Week: “Further to the retirement of Sir Paul Phillips on August 31, the college has implemented a robust interim management structure, which will be ably led by Jacqui Ford and a highly experienced team.”
Wills returns to Cornwall after Weston role mystery
Kate Wills has been re-hired by Cornwall College Group after resigning earlier this year to take the top job at Weston College.
She is now one of two group deputy principals and chief executives, working alongside Mark Wardle who was appointed to replace her to lead on curriculum and quality.
Wills now has senior responsibility as deputy chief for land-based provision, international and higher education at the college group.
After being appointed by Weston’s governors back in May, resigning from her previous role as deputy at Cornwall College Group and being announced to Weston staff, Wills’ offer was mysteriously withdrawn, leaving her without a job.
John Evans, principal and chief executive at Cornwall College Group, has now re-hired Wills on a 12-month contract following Wills’ bruising experience with Weston College.
Evans described Wills as an “exceptional leader” and told FE Week he “doesn’t like to see people treated badly”.
The national adult education budget tender has been “further undermined” after the government handed a last-minute contract to a provider and seemingly revoked another.
In July, the Department for Education named 55 training providers who won a contract in its AEB procurement worth £75 million in total.
But when releasing contract values last week, it only listed 54, whose combined allocations totalled £74.7 million. TLG Business Services*, an original winner, was left off.
The DfE then announced on Thursday it has awarded an “additional” AEB contract for an undisclosed amount to The Portland Training Company, taking the total number of winners back up to 55.
The department and Portland Training have refused to comment on the case. TLG Business Services did not respond to FE Week at the time of going to press.
It is therefore unclear why TLG Business Services is no longer a national AEB contractor, or why Portland Training has suddenly been given a contract months after the tender results were determined.
The outcome of the government’s AEB tender is also currently being challenged through the courts by Learning Curve Group, one of several major training providers that had bids rejected.
‘This further undermines the process’
Paul Warner, Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ director of strategy and business development, said: “We always welcome allocations being given to quality providers, but this change raises more questions than it answers. There were already concerns raised previously over this procurement round, and this further undermines the process.
“As a result, many providers will now be left wondering if this delayed award is an indicator of a wider issue in the way bids were they originally scored. This very much illustrates and reiterates the need for a frank and transparent discussion about how these processes work.”
A notice from the DfE about its decision to award Portland Training a late contract only said: “The relative characteristics of this incremental award are consistent with those of other successful tenderers.”
A 10-day voluntary period commenced on September 7. The contract will be entered into on September 19.
Karen Thompson, operations director at Portland Training, told FE Week: “We’re delighted that we got the outcome. It means we can continue to support learners back into employment. But the actual process of getting it I can’t comment on.”
Portland Training is judged ‘good’ by Ofsted and won a national AEB contract for £1.7 million in the last AEB tender in 2021.
TLG Business Services has never been inspected. DfE criteria for the AEB tender did however welcome bids from new providers that are not yet Ofsted registered.
In 2021/22, the provider held subcontracts worth just over £100,000 with South Tyneside Council.
AELP director of policy Simon Ashworth told his members last month that “on reflection”, the performance and quality thresholds for bids were “set too low”.
From the 2023 competition, 15 of the winners were awarded almost the maximum individual amount of £2.5 million, including Realise Learning and Employment Ltd, The Skills Network and Let Me Play Ltd.
Three of those 15 big winners – Prevista Ltd, Aspire Sporting Academy Ltd, and Pathway First Ltd – are judged ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted. A further two – The Construction Skills People Ltd and Twin Training International Limited – have only had an early monitoring visit.
The lowest value contract awarded was to Logistics Skills & Consultancy Ltd, which received £236,580.
ESFA officials were delayed in commencing the contracts due a legal challenge launched by the Learning Curve Group, which imposed an “automatic suspension” in August. Learning Curve Group has since given permission for the suspension to be lifted.
The provider group, which has seven offshoots, has set out plans to make 30 of its 1,000 staff members redundant due to the bid failure.
However, Learning Curve Group is still hopeful of a positive outcome from the legal case, which is seeking a re-run of the procurement as well as damages.
The legal challenge claims the group was “deprived of a real chance of winning a contract” and the agency had “unlawfully failed to create or retain lawful, sufficient contemporaneous records of the reasons for the scores awarded”.
Chief executive Brenda McLeish said the court case is ongoing and added: “We’re being forced into unfair redundancies due to the Department for Education’s unlawful decision to refuse our bid.
“We’re losing good staff and good people. We’ve been put into an unfortunate situation that we don’t want to be in.”
*[UPDATE: After this article was published the DfE published a separate Contracts Finder page for TLG Business Services’ contract award, taking the total number of AEB tender winners up to 56. The DfE claimed: “Publication on contracts finder takes place after signing of the contracts by both parties. The difference in timing is as a result of the automatic suspension.”]
Few of a certain age can forget Woolworths’ irresistible pick n’ mix counter. It was the high street store’s unique selling point, providing customers the flexibility to choose from an array of sweets to create a bag that truly catered to their tastes. That concept is the inspiration behind Calderdale College‘s approach to adult learning.
Adult learners have varied backgrounds, ambitions and challenges that traditional education models can sometimes struggle to address. So with pick n’ mix in mind, we set out to provide our learners with the ability to select and combine elements of learning to suit their unique tastes – in this case, their interests and career needs.
To shape our programme, we leaned on a ‘triplex’ model, drawing insight from three core pillars: the college, the learners, and the labour market.
We started with foundational employability skills, but quickly recognised the potential for a more dynamic approach to learning using the Diploma in Progression. With this, we could cater to individual learners’ needs and ambitions while aligning their education to current and future market demands.
We initiated conversations with important employers in our area like the NHS and Bluebird Care to fully understand the dynamic nature of the labour market.
Changes in government policies like the extension of free childcare hours from September 2024 and 2025 will open up more opportunities in the childcare sector. This means demand for trained professionals will rise. Our curriculum is designed to prepare our learners for these and other opportunities.
These policies will also release fresh people into the workforce; many who previously had childcare responsibilities will be freed up to pursue their own career ambitions.
By partnering with Gateway Qualifications, we’ve created a blueprint for a flexible program that evolves with market needs and supports individual learner journeys.
In the Calderdale area, this is particularly important for sectors such as health and social care, childcare, digital, fashion, textiles and creative industries, where Brexit and Covid have left significant skills gaps.
It started with 15 students in 2021 and has engaged 900 learners since
This pick n’ mix approach has proven to be an enormous success. It started as a pilot with 15 students in 2021 and has grown to engage over 900 learners in two years.
Most importantly, we earned an ‘Outstanding’ rating from Ofsted for adult education. Inspectors didn’t just take our word for it; they went into the community and heard from our learners themselves, who are our strongest advocates.
As we look to the future, we remain committed to fine-tuning and expanding this model. There is significant potential to take the concept further, at higher levels, and make adult education more accessible, engaging, and rewarding for learners from all walks of life.
Adapting to our learners’ needs and engaging with local businesses has helped Calderdale College create an inclusive, flexible, and industry-aligned program. It’s a testament to the power of innovation in education, proving that when we think creatively, we can open new pathways that meet learners where they are and help them get where they want to go.
We’ve learned a few things along the way, so if you’re keen to explore the pick n’ mix model in your college, here are my top tips:
Understand your learners
A strong grasp of their backgrounds, aspirations, and challenges is crucial to design a programme that meets their unique needs and aids their personal and professional growth.
Engage with local employers
Understanding employers’ current and future needs is essential to ensure your curriculum aligns with market demands.
Build in optionality
Flexibility in course selection allows learners to personalise their education pathway according to their career goals and interests.
Don’t go it alone
Collaborating with supportive organisations like Gateway Qualifications can be instrumental in designing and delivering a robust, flexible and industry-aligned curriculum.
Iterate and evolve
The world changes and so should your curriculum. Regularly review and update your course offerings to stay relevant.
Engage with your community
Not only are they an excellent source of advocates who can provide insights into local needs and opportunities, they are fundamental to building a supportive environment for your learners.
With these in mind, you could be well on your way to the kind of offer that will be fondly remembered for decades to come.
Apprenticeships are a fantastic way for people to start their career or move their career up a gear. Reforms since trailblazer process started in 2013 have contributed to improvements in quality and opened apprenticeships to a wider range of people, but these gains are at risk.
Degree apprenticeships in particular have seen considerable growth in the past ten years, spurred on by the apprenticeship levy introduced in 2017. However, much has changed since IfATE was set up and the levy came in.
Covid and the cost-of-living crisis have hit apprenticeships hard as they have many spheres of life. This raises the question of whether apprenticeships as currently operated are sustainable or whether we need a change of direction.
The challenges facing apprenticeships are both operational and a matter of financial viability.
Operationally, the present system creates a major peak for assessment in the period between Easter and the summer holiday period. This is because many apprentices are recruited at the beginning of the academic year and therefore finish at the end of the ‘school’ year. This results in major bottle necks in assessing, which is frustrating for everyone and adds to the cost of delivery.
EPA assessors cannot be pulled out of thin air just for a few months of the year. We need to break this cycle and spread the peak. This could be done through recruiting apprentices throughout the year and being more flexible about the end date and ESFA reporting.
But the biggest challenge of all is around funding.
For most standards, funding has not increased to account for major inflationary pressures – some of which are up to 20 per cent. These general inflationary rises are made worse by IfATE and their route panels changing standards, which increases delivery costs while funding rates remain unchanged.
The combination of spiraling costs and capped funding is making standards financially unviable. Hence, we are already seeing organisations pull out of provision – of both training and assessment – as apprenticeships become progressively financially unsustainable.
We all need to get realistic. That includes IfATE and the route panels
Is the funding regime going to improve, other than marginally? The answer is surely no. I know prediction in these volatile times is extremely hard, but most people would consider it very unlikely that any significant improvement in the funding position will happen for two to three years at best. So we all need to start to get realistic, and that includes IfATE and the route panels.
The first thing to do is to immediately stop changing standards where these changes add to the cost of delivery. Second, more radically, is to modify the delivery model to maintain quality, but in a more cost-effective and efficient way for all.
In terms of training delivery, ESFA, Ofqual and IfATE need to appreciate the fact that we must move to much greater utilisation of online learning and technology. With this, we need to recognise that we cannot be held to the previous norms of guided learning hours, total qualification times and the percentage of off-site training needed to support someone becoming fully competent.
The other area for improved efficiency without a decline in quality is in assessment. The present model is conceptualised on an academic model of everyone going into an ‘exam centre’ and collectively sitting exams. This is costly in all cases. For end-point assessments, which are one-to-one or one-to-few with a significant practical element needing a lot of materials, equipment and a ‘test bay’, the costs are extremely high.
It’s time for a rethink. Technology gives us the opportunity to capture verifiable evidence throughout the period of an apprenticeship. This, with a better and more transparent gateway process, would allow us to design end-point assessments which are more focused and less expensive to run.
If we can bring down the cost of delivering apprenticeships, we can avoid them becoming increasingly unsustainable and the policy progressively failing to achieve the improvements the economy needs.
Our model is not very old, but the world has changed substantially in a short time. We must face up to the new challenges and look at all the options rather than plough on in hope a miracle.
Amid the extensive attention given to the RAAC crisis gripping parliament and causing havoc for some schools’ start of term, one short sentence stood out for me. It came from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IfS) in one of their characteristically objective and insightful analyses. Next to a graph on the DfE’s capital investment in education, a simple line that reads: “Before 2020, almost all of the spending will have been focused on schools”.
It is surely a testament to the ingenuity, doggedness and determination of college estates teams and leaders up and down the country that no college is currently fully or partially shut because of RAAC. To have maintained and improved the FE estate against a backdrop of public sector austerity and the complete absence of any recurring capital funding for well over a decade is a remarkable achievement.
I’m long enough in the tooth to remember the days of recurring FE capital grants. These were utilised to deliver carefully planned and scheduled maintenance programmes to improve our campuses and address emerging issues. We knew that next year (and the year after that) we would get a similar investment.
This predictability allowed medium- and even longer-term planning (remember that?), keeping the vital infrastructure of our buildings and estates operating safely and providing the high-quality learning environments to meet our communities’ skills needs. Flat roofs were replaced before they sprang leaks. Lifts were upgraded before they persistently broke down. Windows were double-glazed to improve energy efficiency and the quality of our learning environments.
Then came austerity. Combined with the transfer of any remaining FE capital funding to Local Enterprise Partnerships, the past 12 years or so have been characterised by colleges competing with each other for small investment pots. And these pots weren’t for unglamorous things like flat roofs or lifts; they were earmarked for landmark buildings and skills centres that could be opened with a fanfare.
We’ve managed to secure a number of these developments and they have made a significant difference to many students and apprentices. But having shiny new buildings while struggling to maintain existing ones has been a major headache.
Our campuses are assets that need regular investment
A further reminder of the differential treatment of the FE sector comes from our annual allocations from HEFCE/OfS for our Higher Education provision. This includes recurring capital funding for this group of students.
And of course, the DfE hasn’t been completely against funding capital maintenance in the post-16 sector. Local sixth forms have been getting small but regular capital investments every year while colleges have been wrapped in bidding rounds, costly capital bids, bureaucracy and, too often, disappointment.
The IfS report rightly notes the government’s recent (and very welcome) investment, primarily through the FE capital transformation fund. However, if colleges are going to ensure our estates can deal with emerging issues and remain safe and suitable learning environments, ministers need to address two key elements.
First, dropping investment on us with little or no warning and with very short delivery timescales means projects are chosen because they are possible rather than necessary. Capital investment needs careful planning and sufficient time to properly address the difficult and tricky issues present in all our estates.
Second, we can only properly manage the critical community assets which our colleges are with some level of predictability. Returning to annually funded capital investment would allow us to develop the medium- and maybe even long-term maintenance and improvement schedules that are required. Predictability would also provide us with a fighting chance of investing in the sustainability of our campuses – a critical agenda for our sector as well as government.
My thoughts are with education leaders wrestling with the awfully-timed RAAC crisis and mitigating its impact on their students, staff and communities. For the sake of all our learners, government must now recognise that our campuses are assets that need regular investment. Without it, history will only repeat itself.
Competitors representing the UK in this year’s EuroSkills event in Poland have had a “smooth” first day of the competition.
The city of Gdansk is hosting the three-day intensive competition, which has drawn in nearly 600 young skilled people from across the continent specialising in 42 different skills, ranging from CNC milling to patisserie.
Following the opening ceremony on Tuesday evening, Wednesday marked the first official day of the competition. Members of the public came in swathes to the Amber Expo Hall and outside tents to cheer on competitors from their respective countries.
Digital construction manager Michael McGuire told FE Week that competitor Isabelle Barron was “doing spectacularly well” on her task for day one, which entailed digitally constructing a building similar to her training.
The day has been so smooth, he says, that McGuire has not had much to do as chief expert.
“As chief expert, it’s my role to firefight after any issues and I’ve had nothing to do. I’ve been able to stand and just watch all the competitors actually enjoy the competition and test their skills.”
He added: “The tasks of today have been very smooth, very straightforward.”
Isabelle Barron, competitor in Digital Construction. Day 1 of EuroSkills 2023. Credit: WorldSkillsUK
“We’ve trained for this,” McGuire added.
Prior to the event, Barron had undergone an international pressure test set by a former Chinese champion, to test her limits and manage expectations for EuroSkills.
Barron works at architecture firm Chapman Taylor and her training is provided by Sheffield Hallam University. McGuire is a lecturer in the department of construction and surveying at Glasgow Caledonian University.
‘I’m very happy with myself’
Meanwhile, competitor in electrical installations Daniel Knox told FE Week after his first day of tasks that he was “very happy” with what he achieved.
“Today went really well,” he said.
Knox, 21, works at GP Electrical and Security, and his apprenticeship training is provided by South West College in Northern Ireland. His training manager is Geoff Shaw from Cardiff & Vale College.
“I’ve done more than I thought I was going to do so very happy with myself.”
Over the three-day competition, Knox has to install a whole mini workshop which he anticipates will be finished by Friday morning.
For the past six months, Knox has worked tirelessly to train for EuroSkills and that has required some sacrifices, mainly spending less time with friends and watching less TV.
“There’s been a few nights where friends ask you to meet you up or something, you have to say no sometimes because this is an absolute priority.”
Elsewhere, despite a minor injury hiccup, Sean Owens, training manager for Samantha Watkins told FE Week that the competitor in the cooking competition had a good first day.
Owens, who is also chief expert in the skill, said that Watkins had a minor interruption when she sliced her finger during the day, but was unfazed and continued with her tasks after being patched up.
Watkins is a commis chef at the Gordon Ramsay 1890 Restaurant at the Savoy Hotel in London. Her training is provided by Loughborough College. Sean Owens is culinary training officer at Ulster University, Belfast campus.
Follow the FE Week twitter feed (@FEWeek) for live coverage of the competition and closing ceremony this Saturday and send good luck messages to the team using the hashtag #TeamUK.
FE Week is the official media partner for Team UK and WorldSkills UK.
One further education college is among the list of over 100 education settings forced to close buildings because of the RAAC crumbly concrete crisis.
Petroc, based in Devon, has partially shut its site in Barnstaple which includes classrooms as well as a library, a hall and offices.
But all of its near-10,000 students remain in face-to-face education and have not had the start to their term delayed. The college has set aside £300,000 to make its site safe.
The government today finally published a list of 147 education settings currently affected by the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) as of August 30.
Of those, 20 are educating pupils with a mixture of face-to-face and remote lessons, while 19 had to delay the start of term and four switched fully to remote learning.
The government had previously said 156 schools were affected, but nine unnamed schools are now listed as “RAAC not present”.
Petroc is the only further education college listed. FE Week is however aware of at least one other college, Trafford College Group, which has identified RAAC and restricted access to one of its colleges.
The DfE has said it will update the list in the next two weeks.
The DfE’s full list of affected schools and colleges (as of August 30)
Abbey Lane Primary School
Sheffield
All pupils in face-to-face education
All Saints C of E Primary School
Manchester
All pupils in face-to-face education
Altrincham College
Trafford
All pupils in face-to-face education
Anglo European School
Essex
All pupils in face-to-face education
Ark Boulton Academy
Birmingham
Start of Term Delayed
Arthur Bugler Primary School
Thurrock
Start of Term Delayed
Aston Manor Academy
Birmingham
Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
Barnes Farm Junior School
Essex
All pupils in face-to-face education
Batley Girls High School
Kirklees
All pupils in face-to-face education
Baynards Primary School
Essex
All pupils in face-to-face education
Beehive Lane Community Primary School
Essex
All pupils in face-to-face education
Bentfield Primary School and Nursery
Essex
All pupils in face-to-face education
Birchington Church of England Primary School
Kent
All pupils in face-to-face education
Bishop Douglass School Finchley
Barnet
All pupils in face-to-face education
Bispham Endowed Church of England Primary School
Blackpool
All pupils in face-to-face education
Brandhall Primary School
Sandwell
All pupils in face-to-face education
Broomfield Primary School
Essex
All pupils in face-to-face education
Buckhurst Hill Community Primary School
Essex
Start of Term Delayed
Canon Slade School
Bolton
All pupils in face-to-face education
Carmel College
Darlington
All pupils in face-to-face education
Cherry Tree Academy
Essex
Start of Term Delayed
Chipping Ongar Primary School
Essex
All pupils in face-to-face education
Clacton County High School
Essex
Mix of face-to-face and remote arrangements
Claydon High School
Suffolk
Start of Term Delayed
Cleeve Park School
Bexley
All pupils in face-to-face education
Cockermouth School
Cumberland
All pupils in face-to-face education
Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School
Lambeth
All pupils in face-to-face education
Cranbourne
Hampshire
All pupils in face-to-face education
Danetree Primary School
Surrey
All pupils in face-to-face education
Denbigh School
Milton Keynes
All pupils in face-to-face education
Donnington Wood Infant School and Nursery Centre
Telford and Wrekin
All pupils in face-to-face education
East Bergholt High School
Suffolk
Start of Term Delayed
East Tilbury Primary School
Thurrock
All pupils in face-to-face education
Elmstead Primary School
Essex
All pupils in face-to-face education
Eversley Primary School
Essex
All pupils in face-to-face education
Ferryhill School
County Durham
Start of Term Delayed
Godinton Primary School
Kent
All pupils in face-to-face education
Great Leighs Primary School
Essex
All pupils in face-to-face education
Great Tey Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School
Essex
All pupils in face-to-face education
Harlowbury Primary School
Essex
All pupils in face-to-face education
Harwich and Dovercourt High School
Essex
All pupils in face-to-face education
Hatfield Heath Primary School
Essex
All pupils in face-to-face education
Hatfield Peverel St Andrew’s Junior School
Essex
Start of Term Delayed
Henham and Ugley Primary and Nursery School
Essex
All pupils in face-to-face education
Hillhouse CofE Primary School
Essex
All pupils in face-to-face education
Hockley Primary School
Essex
All pupils in face-to-face education
Holcombe Grammar School
Medway
All pupils in face-to-face education
Holy Trinity Catholic Voluntary Academy
Nottinghamshire
All pupils in face-to-face education
Holy Trinity CofE Primary School, Eight Ash Green and Aldham
Seema Malhotra has replaced Toby Perkins as the shadow minister for skills.
Malhotra joins the shadow education team under the shadow secretary of state for education, Bridget Phillipson, who kept her job in Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet reshuffle yesterday.
Perkins has been moved to Labour’s shadow Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) team.
“I’m honoured to have been appointed @UKLabour’s new shadow minister for skills. I can’t wait to get to work with [Bridget Phillipson] and the rest of the shadow education team to deliver on our mission to break down the barriers to opportunity at every stage,” Malhotra posted on X.
Nine shadow front bench appointments were announced this evening, including Catherine McKinnell who returns to the shadow education team as shadow schools minister.
Malhotra has been the Labour and Co-op MP for Feltham and Heston in West London for 12 years and was previously the shadow minister for business and consumers.
Before entering parliament, Malhotra was a child safety adviser in the video game and film industries. Her official biography also points to strategy and IT roles at Accenture and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
The shadow skills brief is Malhotra’s sixth shadow front bench role, with previous jobs shadowing the Home Office, as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury and shadow employment minister.
Malhotra also chairs the all-party parliamentary groups for Entrepreneurship, mortgage prisoners and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Outside of parliament she is president of the Fabian Women’s Network and is a former chair of the Fabian Society.
She replaces Toby Perkins who has shadowed the skills brief since April 2020. The MP for Chesterfield has fronted Labour’s skills policies, like replacing the apprenticeship levy and introducing Skills England, and committed a future Labour government to ringfence spending on SME apprenticeships.
