OfS awards further £14m for degree apprenticeships expansion

Thirty-two colleges and universities have won a slice of a £14 million pot to grow and improve their degree apprenticeships. 

The Office for Students (OfS) has announced the results of the second wave of funding from its £40 million degree apprenticeships expansion fund. Announced in September, the funding is designed to address “market failures” in the provider base and equality of access.

Projects funded through the scheme have to increase the number of students on level 6 degree apprenticeships and “increase equality of opportunity for students into and during” the apprenticeships, the OfS said.

£40m fund launched to fix ‘market failures’ in degree apprenticeships

This comes on top of £12 million awarded in January from the first wave of bids.

Of the 66 bids received from colleges and universities for this round, 32 were successful. 

Unlike the previous round of funding, wave two applicants could be new to the degree apprenticeship market. Most (20) recipients also won funding in the previous round which was only open to existing providers.

This brings the total number of providers that have received a share of the £40 million to 63, including 13 colleges.

Projects funded under this round are due to start from April and run until July 2025.

Cash for colleges

Of the newly announced £14 million, just over £2 million has been awarded to seven further education colleges. 

Weston College has been awarded £1,185,375 to grow ten of its degree apprenticeships including manufacturing engineer, chartered manager, social worker, registered nurse and aerospace engineer. 

Combined with the £272,000 it received from wave one of the fund, Weston College has received the second-highest amount of all successful universities and colleges to date.

The college has said it will use the funding to recruit specialist staff to develop and deliver the courses alongside supporting students from under-represented groups. 

Bridgwater and Taunton College won £296,954 to grow its nuclear and nursing degree apprenticeships. This comes on top of £176,915 it received for those apprenticeships from wave one. 

New College Swindon, Reaseheath College, Blackpool and The Fylde College and City College Norwich have won funding for the first time.

Reaseheath College said it would spend its £132,854 on introducing environmental practitioner and food industry technical professional apprenticeships. 

Click here to view the full list of successful providers

John Blake, the OfS’ director for fair access and participation said: 

‘With this second round of bids, we were looking for universities and colleges to not only describe how OfS funding would expand their degree apprenticeships student numbers and course provision, but also to further demonstrate how they would prioritise recruiting and supporting students from all backgrounds to succeed. I’m pleased to say that all the successful bids have risen to this challenge.  

John Blake

“We have been inspired by the ambitious and forward-looking plans we have received, and I look forward to seeing how this funding can make a real difference to students and our future workforce over the next year and beyond.”

One more wave

The remaining £14 million will be allocated through a third-wave competition later this year with activity starting from October. Previous OfS guidance said a bidding template for wave three will be published in May 2024.

Like the wave two projects, those successful in wave three will have to be completed by the end of July 2025.

Providers hoping to bid for funding must be registered with the OfS in its ‘approved (fee cap)’ category and could be new to degree apprenticeship delivery.

Skills minister Robert Halfon said: “As minister, I have backed us to go further by committing an additional £40 million to developing degree apprenticeships so that more people can benefit from these life changing opportunities. In this second wave of funding, institutions will be able to expand their degree apprenticeship opportunities as well as prioritise access and participation for young people, individuals from disadvantaged and underrepresented groups, and those least likely to access and succeed in higher education.

“From supporting our NHS with degree apprenticeships in health to developing partnerships with leading employers to upskill the local workforce and recruit new talent, these projects will facilitate upward mobility, bridge skills gaps, and fuel economic growth.”

‘Clunky’ Advanced British Standard risks ‘blunt choice’ for students, leaders warn

Government plans for a new Advanced British Standard qualification will create a “blunt choice” between academic and vocational routes for students and add to uncertainty over post-16 options, leaders have warned.

College membership bodies and school leaders’ unions have released responses to the government’s consultation on the proposal, which closes for submissions today.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak announced last year that the ABS will replace A-levels and T­ Levels in around 10 years, though an anticipated Labour election win means the policy is unlikely to ever come to fruition.

The government initially announced it would create a single qualification for post-16 study. But the consultation, published last December, set out plans for two – the ABS and the ABS (occupational).

In the National Association of Headteachers’ (NAHT) response, head of policy Sarah Hannafin warned the proposals hold “tightly to the traditional system in place now – a repackaging of the current A-level and T Level content, blunt choices for 16-year-olds, a focus on knowledge and assessment by examination”.

The creation of two routes at the outset “undermines” the parity of esteem between academic and technical education, she added. 

Hannafin said without “significant investment in the recruitment and retention of education staff these proposals are unworkable and undeliverable”.

The Association of Employment and Learning Providers added: “Although we agree with the ambition to remove the perceived ‘false divides’ between academic and technical education we question whether the ABS is the right vehicle in which to achieve this.”

Menu of options ‘already exists’

Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) post-16 specialist Kevin Gilmartin said the principle of a “high-quality menu” of options for young people “already exists in the 16-19 landscape in the form of over 60,000 students who mix and match A-levels with applied general qualifications”.

Gilmartin said it also “seems clear that, under these proposals, a majority of students would continue to take three majors, with some additional English and maths”.

“This does not, despite claims to the contrary, appear to represent a significant broadening of their curriculum.”

Under the government’s plans, students would study a set of subject majors and minors, and all would be required to study English and maths to 18.

But unions warned against considering 16 to 19 reform in isolation.

Hannafin said reform must be “considered as a coherent whole, from early years to key stage 5, and not in isolated silos of key stages or year groups”.

Gilmartin added the starting point for reform “should be a consultation on the underlying principles of what we want our students to study at the age of 16 to 19”.

By not taking this approach first, and “trying to make a clunky qualification ‘wrapper’ serve several purposes”, the government is “putting the cart before the horse”.

The Association of Colleges added that starting a major reform for all of the 16 to 18 learning phase by describing the qualifications “gets in the way of the wider set of design and implementation issues we believe are the main drivers for success”.

AoC chief executive David Hughes said: “Qualifications are simply measures of success used for progression; they should not define curriculum purpose or limit the educational experiences we want to provide for every young person.”

‘Driven by electoral considerations’

The Sixth Form Colleges Association warned the consultation “seeks views on how to reach the government’s preferred destination, but not on the destination itself”.

A “genuine consultation” would seek views on the “wisdom of scrapping A-levels (first sat in 1951) and T-levels (the government’s “gold standard” technical qualifications, first sat in 2022) and replacing them with a single qualification framework”.

“Instead, we are presented with a detailed consultation that seeks views on the principles that should underpin the design of ABS, but not on the fundamental principle of sweeping away all existing qualifications to make way for ‘a single menu of options’.”

They also warned the ABS was “widely perceived to be driven by electoral rather than educational considerations and to have been imposed on the Department for Education by the prime minister”.

The consultation’s proposal for two programmes “suggests that ministers have already reversed the original plan set out in October to introduce a ‘single qualification’. Successive U-turns on such fundamental issues do not inspire confidence”.

T Level planning ‘has suffered’

The plan to replace T Levels, which have only recently been introduced and have been fraught with problems, has prompted widespread concern.

The SFCA said schools and colleges had been pressed to sign up to the “once in a generation” reform of the qualifications system, but “now find T Levels will suffer the same fate as the BTEC qualifications they were supposed to replace”.

“Recruitment, morale and planning has suffered as a result,” they added.

Hannfin said she also feared some young people “will be forced to make a choice which will have a lasting impact on their futures, and yet they may not be ready to make that choice”.

It is not “clear how much flexibility there will be in enabling young people who make the ‘wrong’ choice at 16 to be able to change their route”.

The NAHT suggested creating a two-year programme “which students could ‘step off’ after one year and progress onto the level 3 qualification, move into work or work-based training if appropriate, or stay on to complete the ABS at level 2 with a further year of studies”.

Ofsted: ‘Constrained’ funding could ‘compromise’ inspection reliability

The reliability of inspections will be “compromised” if funding is “further constrained”, the board of Ofsted has told government.

Actions taken by the watchdog to absorb rising costs are a “short-term fix” and will likely “store up cost pressures” for this year and beyond, Ofsted’s chair Dame Christine Ryan said during a September board meeting.

Christine Ryan
Christine Ryan

Minutes, published this morning, added: “Many parts of the DfE regulatory system, including actions following a ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’ rating, rely on Ofsted inspection judgments.

“A high level of assurance on the reliability of inspection judgements is therefore needed, but will be compromised if inspection itself and the activities that support inspection quality are further constrained.”

While the comments were made under the previous Ofsted leadership, the watchdog also sounded the alarm over finances last week.

Funding has ‘fallen significantly’

Responding to calls from MPs for longer inspections, Ofsted said its role and responsibilities have “expanded significantly” since 2005. 

However its funding has “fallen significantly” over the same period, and is now 29 per cent lower in real terms compared with 2009-10.

The board update added “unfunded pay guidance” on top of budget reductions meant the inspectorate was also “losing its capacity for independent discretionary work, which provides insight on themes of national importance emerging from its inspection and regulatory work”.

The minutes added: “The chair described these as systemic issues that need to be considered fully by the DfE, including in its own risk assessments.

“The DfE observer thanked the chair for the summary and gave assurance that it would be communicated to ministers.”

Ofsted and the DfE have been contacted for comment.

Second consecutive ‘outstanding’ for Catholic sixth form college

A Catholic sixth form college in Greater Manchester has been awarded a second ‘outstanding’ rating by Ofsted, seven years after its first grade one.

St John Rigby RC Sixth Form College in Wigan received top marks across all areas of inspection following a visit in January.

The college previously received a grade one in 2017 and inspectors once again praised the provider for its quality of teaching and “highly motivated” students.

Seven inspectors visited the college between January 23 to 26. At the time of inspection, the college had enrolled 1,351 students, mostly studying level 3 programmes and a minority on level 2 vocational courses.

Principal Peter McGhee said the inspection outcome was a “testament” to the “relentless hard work and dedication” of staff and students.

“We have now been recognised as a beacon of educational excellence in this region over an extended period of time,” McGhee added.

“This has been achieved by doing everything we can to maintain our high standards and expectations whilst simultaneously providing the support needed by our students to enable them to excel in their studies.”

Inspectors poured praise on the college’s support system for students.

They found the college had enabled bespoke support such as subject-specific interview support for Oxbridge applications, mock recruitment and assessment sessions for prospective apprentices, and individualised support for students with high needs.

“Students with high needs feel staff really believe in them and help them to become the best version of themselves,” the report said.

Students were found to feel comfortable and safe and learnt about maintaining good mental health and that use of phobic language is not tolerated.

Additionally, St John Rigby’s was commended for its contribution to meeting local skills needs through its collaboration with Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and Wigan Council.

The stakeholders identified health and social care, science, professional services, engineering, and digital as key priority growth sector areas. As a result, leaders introduced level 3 engineering to support these skills needs.

“They have developed a range of T levels that complement the offer at other local providers,” the report said.

The report however added that the college provides four T Level programmes, but “they have not yet recruited enough students for them to run”.

Meanwhile, inspectors found leadership and management to be “outstanding” and senior leaders and governors are “highly ambitious” for their students and their staff.

Teachers also are “very well qualified” and help students understand complex subject content “expertly”.

For example, inspectors found “in A-level psychology, teachers sensitively and ethically manage discussions about domestic violence while teaching students about the evolutionary explanations of aggression.”

Plus, governors were found to have an “excellent understanding of their statutory responsibilities” and use the “highly detailed reports” provided by leaders to challenge and hold leaders to account for their actions.

“Governors have a very accurate understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the college and individual programme areas.”

This is the latest ‘outstanding’ report in recent days. On Friday, Ofsted published grade ones for specialist colleges St Piers College (Young Epilepsy) and Woodpecker Court.

Sunak to scrap SME co-investment for young apprentices

The government is set to scrap small and medium-sized employer (SME) co-investment payments for apprentices under the age of 22.

It also plans to increase the amount of funding that can be transferred from apprenticeship levy-payers to other businesses from 25 per cent to 50 per cent.

The reforms will come into force from the start of April, prime minister Rishi Sunak is expected to announced this morning.

In a speech to a conference for small businesses, Sunak will say the move will equate to an additional £60 million of new government funding for apprenticeships – presumably the estimated amount it will cost to fully fund SME apprenticeships up to the age of 21.

The Department for Education told FE Week the extra funding will increase its 2024-25 ring-fenced apprenticeships budget from £2.669 billion to £2.729 billion.

Government claims that the changes will lead to an extra 20,000 apprenticeships.

The announcements come in response to dwindling apprenticeship numbers in SMEs – last year saw apprenticeship starts in levy-paying businesses grow by 2 per cent while starts for non-levy payers fell 13 per cent.

Starts among young apprentices have also fallen dramatically since the launch of the levy.

The prime minister will say: “Whether it’s breaking down barriers and red tape for small businesses, helping businesses hire more young people into apprenticeships and skilled jobs or empowering women to start up their own businesses – this government is sticking to the plan and leaving no stone unturned to make the UK the best place to do business. 

“Taken together, these measures will unlock a tidal wave of opportunity and make a real difference to businesses and entrepreneurs across the country.”

‘This will help SMEs hire more apprentices’

Since the apprenticeship levy was introduced in 2017, only large employers with a payroll in excess of £3 million pay into the levy at a rate of 0.5 per cent of salary costs.

The contributions go towards funding all parts of the apprenticeship system, including funding 95 per cent of training of apprentices in non-levy paying businesses.

SMEs then make a co-investment payment of 5 per cent. 

The government said today that it will “fully fund apprenticeships in small businesses from April 1 by paying the full cost of training for anyone up to the age of 21 – reducing costs and burdens for businesses and delivering more opportunities for young people to kick start their careers”.

FE Week reported last month that less than 3 per cent of apprenticeship-levy paying businesses have transferred funds to pay for apprenticeships in smaller employers, sparking calls for the 25 per cent transfer cap to be scrapped.

Announcing the move to a 50 per cent transfer limit today, the government said: “Under the new measures, large employers who pay the apprenticeship levy will be able to transfer up to 50 per cent of their funds to support other businesses, including smaller firms, to take on apprentices. 

“This will help SMEs hire more apprentices by reducing costs and enabling more employers to get the skilled workers they need while unlocking more opportunities for young people in a huge range of sectors, industries, and professions.”

The transfer increase is expected to come into effect from April 6.

Simon Ashworth, director of policy at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said the end of co-investment for young people was “particularly” welcomed as the “cost and bureaucracy burden to training providers usually outweighed the cash this actually brought in”.

AELP has however called for the end to co-investment for all-age apprenticeships and vowed to “continue to lobby the government to ensure training providers are not unfairly penalised when an employer stops paying their contribution which voids access to the final 20 per cent completion payment”.

David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said the targeted funding for all apprenticeships under the age of 21 will make a “modest difference” to the “dramatic decline in the number of young people undertaking apprenticeships”, but warned the change is “not enough”.

“We urge the government to properly review the levy rules and incentives to ensure the apprenticeship programme works for young people, key sectors and for employers,” he added.

Apprenticeship budget to go ‘over’ £2.7bn in 24-25

The government previously said that the Department for Education’s ring-fenced budget for apprenticeships in England will rise to £2.7 billion in 2024-25.

But today’s announcement said this budget will increase to “over £2.7 billion from next year”.

A DfE spokesperson told FE Week its ring-fenced apprenticeships budget for 2024-25 was supposed to be £2.669 billion, but this has now been boosted to £2.729 billion.

FE Week reported last month that of the department’s £2.585 billion ring-fenced apprenticeship budget in 2023-24, £2.525 billion, or 98 per cent, is expected to be spent. It means the DfE will hand back £60 million to Treasury, which could be being used to fund today’s funding announcement increase.

However, the disparity in what is distributed by the Treasury for public spending on apprenticeships compared to how much the levy is generating continues to grow.

Latest Treasury figures show £3.170 billion was received from employers who pay the apprenticeship levy between April 2023 and January 2024, with two months’ worth of receipts to come before the end of the financial year. 

A recent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast predicted that total apprenticeship levy intake to HMRC will reach £3.9 billion in 2023-24.

When DfE’s ring-fenced budget spend on apprenticeships in England is combined with the £500 million-odd that is handed to the devolved nations from the levy, it leaves around £875 million that was generated by the levy, but held onto by the Treasury in 2023-24.

Who cares? Funding boost won’t spark renaissance in care apprenticeships

Last year’s £1,000 uplift to adult care apprenticeship funding is not enough to entice training providers back to the market, as the number of new apprentices plummets, an FE Week investigation has found.

Nearly 200 training providers have ceased delivery of the level 2 adult care worker and level 3 lead adult care worker apprenticeships since 2019. Annual starts on the programmes have nosedived. In 2022/23, there were 10,500 fewer new care apprentices than in 2018/19.

FE Week identified 108 training providers, colleges and councils that delivered care apprenticeships in 2020/21 that didn’t in 2022/23. Of those, 23 independent training providers have closed and just six have re-started care apprenticeships this academic year.

In recent years, major care training providers Qube Learning and Quest Vocational Training also closed their doors.

Increasing demand for social care, high vacancies, and staff turnover – as well as low pay and poor terms and conditions – are all putting huge pressure on social care recruitment and retention.

In its annual state of care report, the Care Quality Commission said over half of adult social care providers had staff recruitment challenges which was reducing capacity in the face of rising demand.

With running costs increasing with high levels of inflation, fees for compulsory qualifications and assessments, alongside large drop-out rates, training providers are now reluctant to re-enter the care sector on what have been loss-making funding rates for some.

Investigation: Why care training is in crisis, and the solutions are falling short

‘Exceptional’ funding increase

Hope was on the horizon when both care apprenticeships were selected for the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s exceptional funding review in 2022. But funding was only increased from £3,000 to £4,000 which many providers felt still fell short of what was needed.

Simon Ashworth, director of policy of the Association of Employment Providers (AELP), said although AELP was “pleased to help drive” the 33 per cent funding increase, it “has only had a limited impact”.

“It [the exceptional funding review] took far too long, the starting rates were set way too low, and the cost base of providers has increased significantly so it still isn’t enough to cover costs for most providers, unless operating at scale,” Ashworth explained.

For GTS-Global Ltd, the hard-fought increase to care apprenticeship funding last year “wouldn’t impact significantly” its decision to re-enter the care training sector because of the high number of drop-outs.

Sean Rafferty, operations director at GTS-Global, told FE Week: “We believe our achievement rates would still be affected since learners prioritise obtaining the mandatory qualification.”

Other reasons for learner withdrawals included job transitions and mental health concerns, Rafferty added.

“Although the funding band increase is I’m sure very welcome to providers who deliver these apprenticeships, it wouldn’t make us reconsider delivering them as they don’t tie into our strategic plans,” said Luke Parsons, finance and strategy manager at GLP Training.

A further funding band increase could be on the cards.

Both the level 2 adult care worker and level 3 lead adult care worker apprenticeship standards are currently in the early stages of being revised with the occupational standards, assessment plans and funding bands under review.

AELP has called for all apprenticeships, including the care standards, to be funded at a minimum funding threshold of £5,000. Ashworth said this would “ensure viability of quality delivery and stop the ongoing loss of training capacity in this sector.”

Of the 108 providers that have dropped care apprenticeships since 2021, 38 were further education colleges.

Provider mix

Private training providers have upped their market share of care apprenticeships, rising from 84 per cent in 2018/19 to 92 per cent in 2022/23.

Meanwhile, the number of care apprenticeships delivered by further education colleges has halved. In 2018/19, 14 per cent of starts were with colleges, now it is just seven per cent.

College leaders told FE Week the focus on the T Level in health and healthcare partly explains their drop in involvement in apprenticeships.

One of the country’s largest college groups, NCG, withdrew its health and social care apprenticeship offer after reviewing “employer demand, retention rates and sustainable funding”.

NCG and Telford College both said they are instead focusing on growing their health T Levels. Telford College said it was reintroducing the level 2 health care support worker this September.

Risky drop-outs

Only four in ten care apprentices actually complete and achieve their apprenticeship, making the provision high risk for training providers and their achievement rates.

The latest available figures show an achievement rate of 40.1 per cent on the level 2 adult care worker standard and 40.9 per cent on the level 3 lead adult care worker standard in 2021/22.

Achievements on these standards fall far short of the national average, which was 51.4 per cent, and way below the government’s 67 per cent target.

Achievement rates for 2022/23 are due to be published on Thursday.

DfE could step in if T Level fee hikes hit college budgets

The skills minister has said Department for Education officials will consider intervening if controversial T Level fee hikes hit college budgets.

College bosses reacted angrily to plans – uncovered by FE Week in January – that would see them pay higher fees to awarding organisations if student numbers on the flagship qualifications were lower than expected.

The so-called “adaptive pricing” mechanism will be written into generation two T Level awarding body contracts, which are currently out to tender and come into force in 2025.

The move is part of attempts from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education to make T Levels more “commercially attractive” for prospective awarding organisations.

Major T Level awarding body NCFE wrote off over £2.5 million in its 2022/23 accounts due to lower-than-expected enrolments on its T Level courses.

David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, accused the government of “undermining confidence in T Levels” following reports of the new adaptive pricing model in a letter to skills minister Robert Halfon.

Hughes wrote: “I am alarmed at the proposal we have seen in the tender documents and the potential impact on the T Level programme and on individual colleges.”

Adaptive pricing “transfers the risk away from government and awarding organisations onto the individual college pioneering the qualification”, Hughes added.

Students will be taking generation two T Levels in early years, construction and digital from September 2025, while the health and science T Levels won’t be ready for teaching until September 2026.

In his response to Hughes, seen by FE Week, Halfon said adaptive pricing was “part of continuing efforts to explore innovative mechanisms to ensure … a thriving marketplace for T Levels, which will result in greater competition and therefore ensure value for money for providers and for government”.

Halfon said Department for Education officials were “mindful” of the risk adaptive pricing poses to college budgets and would consider “whether any further action is needed to mitigate its impact” should it be triggered.

His reply stated that any intervention from the government would depend on the DfE’s T Level budget following the next spending review, which isn’t due until after the general election.

Halfon said: “I recognise that you and your members are concerned that if numbers do not materialise this could add funding pressure to college budgets – department officials are also mindful of this risk.

“Should we become concerned that adaptive pricing will be triggered, we will consider whether any further action is needed to mitigate its impact in the context of the overall funding settlement for T Levels.”

DfE puts 40 staff on Advanced British Standard ‘vanity project’

The Department for Education has 40 civil servants working to develop prime minister Rishi Sunak’s Advanced British Standard “vanity project” even though it is unlikely to see the light of day.

Pepe Di’Iasio, incoming general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said it was “beyond frustrating that – at a time when recruitment, retention, funding, SEND and many other issues are under enormous pressure – there is a platoon of civil servants” having to work on the qualification.

Developing a “British baccalaureate” was a key pledge in Sunak’s leadership bid in 2022. The prime minister announced last year that his government would replace A-levels and T Levels with the qualification, which will see pupils study English and maths to 18 alongside “majors” and “minors” in other subjects.

However, the reforms are expected to take at least a decade to implement and, with the Conservatives mired in the polls and Labour focused on early maths education rather than post-16, the policy is unlikely to come to fruition.

Despite this, the government last year published an 80-page consultation on its plans and set aside £600 million for implementation.

In response to a freedom of information request, the DfE told FE Week that 40 civil servants were “currently working mainly on the development of the ABS”.

The government said it did not hold data on the amount spent on its development but, if 40 civil servants on the average salary for the department worked full-time on the policy for a year, the cost would be £2.6 million.

However, those working on policy development are likely to be more senior, and the figure of 40 staff provided by the DfE does not include staff from other teams who have contributed, so the true cost is likely to be higher.

A DfE spokesperson said the department did not “recognise these figures and these calculations are purely speculative”, adding that they were “taking the long-term decisions to continue to improve our education system for generations to come”.

Di’Iasio said: “It’s a qualification that will not be offered for another 10 years, if it happens at all, and seems more like the prime minister’s vanity project than a workable policy. 

“To say this is the wrong priority is an understatement, and smacks of rearranging the deckchairs while the Titanic heads for an iceberg.”

The DfE said that, alongside the “core directorate”, there are a “number of teams across the wider department who are contributing to the development of ABS alongside other priorities”. 

These include members from legal, commercial and finance units, “as well as wider schools- and skills-focused policy teams”.

The department also insisted that staff “have not been re-assigned from other projects to undertake this work, as the department operates a flexible approach to staffing in order to ensure that it can meet priorities. 

“This means that staff responsibilities can shift depending on needs. As part of this we also operate flexible resource teams, particularly to manage surge policy and analytical projects. As such, a list of projects from which staff have been re-assigned is not held.”

Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, told journalists at the ASCL conference on Saturday that “reform in the 16 to 19 space is not my priority”. Labour will instead focus on early maths skills.

“Further reform around the Advanced British Standard has just thrown into further chaos the rollout of T Levels, which is already under pressure, and it’s causing even more confusion for college leaders at a time where they’re facing lots of lots of challenges.”

West of England’s LEP funding withheld amid political infighting

Infighting between councils and the mayor of the West of England has led to an uncertain future for a body that gives local businesses a say on the region’s skills strategies.

The government has told the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) that it will withhold £240,000 in funding for the region’s local enterprise partnership (LEP) in 2024-25 because the authority has failed to formulate a plan to absorb its functions.

According to a report before a WECA committee this week, the constituent authorities have “differences of opinion” with regional mayor Dan Norris on what the future LEP should look like.

It adds: “As a result, no integration plan has yet been submitted and it is anticipated that government will withhold the £240,000 funding until progress is made.”

In August last year, the government told LEP chairs, councils and combined mayor authorities that financial support for LEPs would end in April, save for “some revenue funding” for them to be integrated in 2024-25.

However, WECA is the only mayoral combined authority in England that has not already absorbed its LEP’s functions into a new board or committee dedicated to business and skills.

The report comes a week after the government issued a best value notice, warning that a “poor state of professional relationships” between WECA and its constituent councils means there is a lack of “clear, shared narrative” for the region.

Peterborough and Cambridgeshire Combined Authority has also been issued with a best value notice due to “significant questions on the culture, behaviour and integrity” of its leadership, but the notice did not specify whether the issues have impacted the delivery of adult education in the region.

Run by Labour mayor Norris since 2021, WECA is responsible for adult education, transport and housing strategy across three councils: Bristol City, Bath and North East Somerset, and South Gloucestershire.

In a letter published last week, the government said WECA’s problems – first raised by auditors in 2022 – are yet to be resolved and ordered the appointment of an independent improvement panel.

‘More pressing is how business is going to be represented’

Launched across the country in the early 2010s, LEPs were bodies that brought local business, political and academic leaders together to shape skills priorities and local economic growth.

But the further steps towards regional devolution in the government’s levelling up white paper published two years ago said LEPs should be absorbed into mayoral authorities.

Although there is no indication that political disagreements have impacted on how effectively WECA’s £16 million adult education budget is being spent, the disagreement over the LEP’s future suggests that regional coordination on skills could be hindered by the political row.

In exchange for government funding in 2024-25, England’s eight other combined mayoral authorities and the Greater London Authority have all already set up new “business boards” that absorbed their local LEPs’ functions last year.

WECA is now likely to use the LEP’s reserves to cover the running costs of operating the partnership, which amount to more than £1 million a year.

The West of England LEP has a role in managing £1.2 million on careers hubs and creative industry “scale ups” that includes training for businesses.

Members of West of England’s LEP, which include representatives from Airbus’s Bristol plant, the Bristol Port Company and regional council leaders were concerned by the potential loss of the partnership, which has run for more than a decade.

Minutes of a LEP board meeting last year say that without setting up a new board at WECA “the constructive challenge and support to ideas would be lost”.

Speaking to FE Week, chair of WECA’s overview and scrutiny committee chair, which reviews the work of the combined authority, Ed Plowden said: “£240,000 is not a huge amount, more pressing is how the business community is going to be represented.”

He said a key “contentious issue” is whether neighbouring North Somerset – which is not a member of WECA – is allowed to remain a member of the board that would replace the LEP.

A spokesperson for North Somerset told FE Week its leader Mike Bell has written to the government to complain that WECA’s mayor has only offered his council “affiliate membership” of the board, despite its significant role in the regional economy.

The spokesperson added: “North Somerset will bring key partners to the business board with both the Bristol Port Company and Bristol Airport as well as key neighbouring developments such as Hinkley Point C and the newly announced £4 billion gigafactory.”

Tensions appear to remain high between the mayor and local council leaders, with Norris accusing Lib Dem councillors on Bath and North Somerset Council of being “party political” rather than collaborating on regional strategy at a scrutiny meeting this week.

Formed in 2017, WECA has had control of its £16 million annual adult education budget since 2019. In 2025-26, it is also expected to oversee about £14 million in spending on skills bootcamps and other training programmes.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, WECA, and its constituent councils were approached comment.

‘Adult education is [viewed as] the least interesting area’

Green Party councillor Christine Townsend, who chairs a Bristol City Council scrutiny committee, said the disagreement between Norris and WECA’s constituent councils is down to “ego”.

She added: “It’s as simple as that. The [WECA] mayor doesn’t like the other [Bristol] mayor even though they’re both red. One wouldn’t give the other one an underground [train system] even though it was a fantasy nonsense, it’s pathetic.

“That’s between mayors in the same political party, they’ve been told to ‘play nice’ together.”

Councillor Townsend began investigating WECA’s adult education service two years ago after becoming concerned about whether young people with learning difficulties were falling through the gaps.

She told FE Week: “WECA is responsible for three areas, transport, housing and adult education and skills – but adult education is [viewed as] the least interesting, the least sexy. It’s the smallest team.”