Ban on borrowing puts college capital projects ‘at risk’

College capital projects are in jeopardy due to strict and “unnecessarily complicated” government rules on borrowing that have been rapidly introduced following colleges’ reclassification as public sector bodies.

Kendal College had secured finance from a high street bank to redevelop the disused Westmorland Shopping Centre into a new campus but has now been forced to pause this option and look for “alternative methods of funding”.

Meanwhile East Durham College has had to put a multimillion-pound loan refinancing deal planned to pay for a new T Level facility on hold with no timeline for a solution despite facing a tight deadline to give the project the green light.

The issue follows a Department for Education ruling that colleges must gain special permission, which will only be granted in rare circumstances, to borrow commercially from November 29, 2022, when the Office for National Statistics changed their status from the private to public sector.

Shadow skills minister Toby Perkins said there were more college capital projects at similar risk in a letter to education secretary Gillian Keegan. He called on her to urgently investigate the situation and criticised the DfE for failing to put in alternative plans for college borrowing immediately.

The Association of Colleges said at least 20 colleges had to ask for borrowing approvals in December and “many more are in the queue waiting for an ESFA verdict in the spring”.

Julian Gravatt, AoC deputy chief executive, told FE Week that officials had explained that colleges with DfE-funded projects will be able to get a government loan in future, but it is “unclear what the terms are and there is a risk of delay while the two sides discuss the amount”. 

Kendal College completed phase one of its Westmorland campus before the end of 2022 and has already moved over 150 students to be taught in the centre. It is being designed to hold up to 500 students and the project is planned to complete by September 2023. 

Kendal College principal Kelvin Nash said that not proceeding with the Westmorland campus build was “not an option for the college”. He is continuing funding negotiations with the DfE.

He told FE Week: “Whilst no outcomes have yet been reached, the discussions are positive and on-going, and the college will continue to engage with the ESFA and the DfE over the coming weeks until a satisfactory solution is found.”

Sarah Judson, vice-principal of finance and business planning at East Durham College, said her college’s loan refinancing was “very close to signing” and had incurred costs of about £70,000.

She said the college had not expected an immediate “shutters down” approach at the point of reclassification and had been led to believe the process would be phased, “given the DfE knew we were in the middle of a refinancing”.

Judson added: “There is no clarity or timeline for responses in the complex consent process that has been put in place and there appears to be little consultation with and involvement in any future decision by the college.

“One of our capital projects is at risk as our match funding is now in jeopardy and we have no clarity over our ability to continue.”

When colleges were reclassified as public sector bodies on November 29 the DfE announced that permission would be required, as a condition of funding, for any new private sector borrowing. It added that colleges “may only borrow from private sector sources if the transaction delivers value for money for the Exchequer”.

The department said it was “very unlikely” colleges would be able to satisfy that condition given the higher financing costs of non-government lenders.

Extra funding worth £150 million was promised to colleges in spring 2023 through the DfE’s FE capital transformation programme to make up for the inability of colleges to borrow commercially. But Gravatt said the situation had created “uncertainty for dozens of colleges”.

He added: “The position for colleges with projects funded by other government departments, or who had planned to use bank loans to self-fund projects, is totally unclear.

“It is possible the Treasury is planning further increases in the FE capital budget to help colleges fill the gap left by the loan embargo and still meet future investment needs, including those associated with net zero targets and levelling up plans. But I am worried that state control and austerity targets will leave the sector short of the long-term finance needed in its estate.”

Judson said the situation was an “added and unnecessary complication” that was going to cause “massive uncertainties at a time when colleges are facing unprecedented challenges from the external environment, from inflation, from energy costs and staff recruitment and retention”.

A DfE spokesperson said: “We encourage colleges with commitments to capital projects which had been planned to include commercial borrowing to open a dialogue with the department as soon as possible.”

Sunak outlines maths to 18 ‘ambition’…but not before 2025

Rishi Sunak will set an “ambition” for all students to study “some form of maths” until the age of 18.

But the prime minister will only commit to starting work to introduce the new policy in this Parliament.

He will acknowledge in a speech tomorrow that the proposed reform would not be achieved during the course of this Parliament – which will come to an end in 2024 at the latest.

The government also “does not envisage” making maths A-level compulsory for all students, Downing Street has said.

Ministers are “exploring existing routes”, such as the core maths qualification and T Levels, as well as “more innovative” choices, Number 10 said this evening.

But there are no details about how more maths teachers would be recruited. Government has failed to recruit the required number of maths teachers since at least 2012, Labour analysis shows.

‘Empty pledge without more maths teachers’

Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the prime minister “needs to show his working”.

“He cannot deliver this reheated, empty pledge without more maths teachers, yet the government has missed their target for new maths teachers year after year, with existing teachers leaving in their droves.”

Sunak pledged during the first Conservative leadership campaign this summer to introduce a “British baccalaureate”, which he said would also involve compulsory English study in sixth form.

However, his government has focused on maths since taking office in October.

In a speech setting out his priorities for the year ahead, Sunak will say the ambition is “personal for me”.

He will say “every opportunity I’ve had in life began with the education I was so fortunate to receive”. He attended prep school and then the private Winchester College, whose fees for boarders currently top £45,000 a year.

“And it’s the single most important reason why I came into politics: to give every child the highest possible standard of education.”

Ambition won’t be delivered before 2025

He will pay tribute to the “reforms we’ve introduced since 2010, and the hard work of so many excellent teachers, we’ve made incredible progress”.

“With the right plan – the right commitment to excellence – I see no reason why we cannot rival the best education systems in the world.”

The prime minister is expected to acknowledge the reforms won’t be easy, with Downing Street tonight admitting there are “practical challenges involved”.

Sunak is committing to starting the work to introduce maths to 18 in this Parliament, but not finishing it until the next.

The announcement will likely prompt scepticism about whether it will ever be realised, with the Conservatives mired in the polls.

Maths remains the most popular group of subjects at A-level, with just shy of 90,000 entries this summer.

But the government said only around half of 16 to 19-year-olds study any maths at all, warning the problem is “particularly acute for disadvantaged pupils”.

Downing Street also said the “majority” of OECD countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Finland, Japan, Norway and the USA, require some form of maths study to 18.

Sunak will say that “one of the biggest changes in mindset we need in education today is to reimagine our approach to numeracy.”

“Right now, just half of all 16–19-year-olds study any maths at all. Yet in a world where data is everywhere and statistics underpin every job, our children’s jobs will require more analytical skills than ever before.

“And letting our children out into the world without those skills, is letting our children down”.

Since 2014, all 16- to 19-year-olds without at least a grade C (now 4) in GCSE maths or English have had to continue studying these subjects alongside their main programme as a condition of funding.

But a DfE-commissioned review, led by Sir Adrian Smith in 2017, called for a rethink of this controversial resit policy and stopped short of recommending that everyone should continue to study maths until the age of 18.

Smith said today that the country needed to “upgrade the post-16 approach as part of wider reform at secondary and post-16”.

“It is time for a baccalaureate style system that will give a broader education than the exceptionally narrow A-levels.”

He added that “radical reform of the education system will not be easy and will take time but we need to get started now and build a cross party approach with support from teachers, students, parents and employers”.

“This matters too much to be a political football that could be punctured by the ebb and flow of politics.”

‘Show us the evidence’, says union boss

Bridget Phillipson
Bridget Phillipson

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Lleaders, said it was “important that the government sets out the evidence for extending maths for all students to the age of 18 before embarking upon a significant change affecting future generations”.

“It may improve employability and the ability to cope with modern life, as the prime minister suggests, but it is important that this is based on solid research and is not a pet project.

“We would also want to hear how such a policy would avoid exacerbating the already-chronic national shortage of maths teachers.”

Barton acknowledged the current post-16 qualifications system “encourages students to specialise in a small number of subjects, and, in fact, government reforms in recent years have actually served to narrow the curriculum”.

“There is a strong argument for developing a system which allows for greater subject breadth tailored around the needs of the student rather than simply bolting on more maths.”

Expanded North East devolution deal to transfer AEB powers by 2024

An expanded devolution deal for the North East of England has been unveiled by the government, which will see the adult education budget transfer to local leaders by 2024.

The government last week announced a new £1.4 billion deal encompassing authorities on both sides of the Tyne.

Currently the North of Tyne Combined Authority, established in 2019, covers Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland, while the non-mayoral North East Combined Authority serves Sunderland, South Tyneside, Gateshead and Durham.

Government chiefs said that under its expanded devolution deal plans, those two authorities will no longer exist and a new North East Mayoral Combined Authority formed incorporating those areas.

This is subject to local consultation and a governance review, as well as agreement from the area’s councils, but if approved will feature a new directly elected mayor in 2024.

The endeavour, featuring £48 million per year of funding for the next three decades, includes full devolution of the AEB by 2024/25 and input into drawing up local skills improvement plans (LSIPs) – key blueprints for meeting local skills needs.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities confirmed that the government will align the LSIP area with the new combined authority boundary in time for the first year of devolved AEB funding.

The government will consult with the new mayoral authority on calculating the new area’s AEB allocation. North of Tyne Combined Authority currently receives £25 million AEB from the government.

Levelling Up secretary Michael Gove said the “historic” deal will ensure local priorities are at the heart of decision-making while the funding will “provide the financial certainty needed to level up the area right now and for years to come”.

The government guidance said that while it cannot guarantee skills bootcamp funding beyond the 2022/23 financial year, it did intend to continue grant funding for mayoral combined authorities for local programmes, and will negotiate with the new devolved authority for future bootcamp funding based on demand.

In addition, the government guidance said it was “committed to providing the investment that is needed into further education colleges, subject to affordability,” targeted at areas most in need.

It said that specifically includes decisions already made on the FE capital transformation programme to Tyne Coast College Group in developing a “globally significant maritime capability”, as well as work with Education Partnership North East and the Housing Innovation and Construction Skills Academy for a new facility in advanced manufacturing and electric vehicle training.

North of Tyne metro mayor Jamie Driscoll said that the existing authority had already proved that bringing more power to local people worked, and said the new deal means “billions to invest in jobs, homes, skills training and much more”.

The deal is the latest in a string of devolution announcements by the government since the summer.

That included a deal for York and North Yorkshire, an East Midlands deal covering Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and individual county deals for Cornwall, Norfolk and Suffolk.

New year honours 2023: Who got what in FE and skills?

Chief executives, governors and a sixth form college estates manager are among those being honoured in the 2023 new year honours list. 

Included on this year’s list are two damehoods, one knighthood, five CBEs, six OBEs, seven MBEs and three British Empire Medals for individuals from the further education, skills and training sectors.

The former chief executive of Activate Learning, Sally Dicketts, has been made a dame for services to education. 

Dicketts, who completed a two year term as president of the Association of Colleges in October, told FE Week she was “truly humbled” by the honour:

Sally Dicketts who has been made a dame in the 2023 new year honours
Sally Dicketts

“This honour is recognition of all further education, and the people I’ve been lucky enough to work with in my 45 year (and counting!) long career. I need to say a huge thank you to all my colleagues who have helped shape me over the years.” 

Having served for 18 and a half years at Activate, Dicketts retired in March and now holds a number of non-executive roles.

Also receiving top honours this year is Nicola Dandridge, the former chief executive of the Office for Students, who has been made a dame for services to higher education. Ian Bauckham, the chair of Ofqual, has been knighted. 

Three serving college principals have been made Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). 

Jat Sharma is one of the principals receiving a CBE in the 2023 new year honours
Jat Sharma

Jatinder Sharma and Bev Robinson were both promoted from OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) to CBE for services to further education. And Peter McGhee, principal of St John Rigby Sixth Form College in Greater Manchester joins the ranks, also for services to FE.

Sharma, principal and chief executive at Walsall College and member of the FE Commissioner’s principals reference group, said: “While this remains a challenging time for FE, I can’t help but be proud of the way my colleagues, peers and the college’s employer and sector body partners are making every effort to support our learners and serve our wider communities”.

Robinson, principal and chief executive at Blackpool and The Fylde College, is a member of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s board and was a member of both the Augar review of post 18 education funding and the Sainsbury review on technical education.

Also being promoted from OBE to CBE is Lesley Davies. 

Davies, now chair designate of Cheshire College – South & West, has held a number of high-profile roles in the sector. She was brought in to help turn around Hull College Group in January 2021 as interim chair, is a former principal of Trafford College Group and held several senior posts at Pearson.

“I am absolutely delighted to receive this honour.  It has been a privilege to have worked with so many amazing staff who make a difference to the students and the communities they serve every day” Davies told FE Week. 

And Sue Higginson, who retires in July as principal and chief executive of Wirral Metropolitan College, said on receiving an OBE: “The privilege of being principal of a wonderful college has been a vocation that I will always cherish. I am very touched, humbled, and grateful for receiving this honour and thank everyone who has supported our college and played a part in my journey.”

Sue Pittock

In the training provider sector, Remit Training’s chief executive Sue Pittock has been made an OBE. 

Pittock, who has been at the helm at Remit for nearly ten years, said: “It’s a real pleasure to be part of such a great sector that makes a difference to so many. Thank you Remit colleagues for everything you do!”

Receiving Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) honours are Arit Eminue, founder of DiVA Apprenticeships for services to education in the creative industries, and Anne Gornall, executive director of the Greater Manchester Learning Provider Network.

Also picking up MBEs for services to education is Shaid Mahmood, chair of Luminate Education Group and the Association of Colleges, and Teresa McLaughlin, student voice lead at Trafford College Group. 

There were three recipients British Empire Medals from the FE and skills sector this year. They are Christopher Ashworth, estates manager at Ashton Sixth Form College, Anne Reese, deputy CEO of EKC Group and Peter Nicol, chair of Bury College.

Full list of FE and skills honours

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Nicola Dandridge, former chief executive of the Office for Students, for services to higher education

Sally Dicketts, former chief executive of Activate Learning and past president of the Association of Colleges, for services to education

Knighthoods

Ian Bauckham, chair of Ofqual, for services to education

Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 

Lesley Davies, former chair of Hull College, for services to further education

Peter McGhee, principal of St John Rigby Sixth Form College in Greater Manchester, for services to further education

Bev Robinson, principal and chief executive of Blackpool and The Fylde College, for services to further education

Jatinder Sharma, principal and chief executive of Walsall College, for services to further education

Paula Sussex, chief executive at the Student Loans Company, for services to higher education

Officers of the Order of the British Empire

Susan Higginson, principal and chief executive, Wirral Metropolitan College, for services to further education

Alaric Horridge, chief executive of Cadet Vocational Qualification Organisation, for services to further education

Mouhssin Ismail, former principal of Newham Collegiate Sixth Form Centre, for services to education

Angela Noon, former chair of the Department for Education’s skills and productivity board, for services to further education

Sue Pittock, chief executive officer of Remit Training, for services to education and skills

Nolan Smith, director of resources and finance at the Office for Students, for services to higher education

Members of the Order of the British Empire

Arit Eminue, founder and director of DiVA Apprenticeships, for services to further education in the creative industries

Anne Gornall, executive director of Greater Manchester Learning Provider Network, for services to further education and to skills

Shaid Mahmood, chair of Leeds City College Group and chair of the Association of Colleges, for services to further education in Leeds

Teresa McLaughlin, student engagement and student voice lead at Trafford College Group, for services to education

Paul Nee, deputy director for SEND at Westminster Kingsway College, for services to further education

Bhavena Patel, senior relationship manager at the Institute of Apprenticeships and Technical Education, for services to further education

Veejaykumar Patel, founder of Business 2 Business UK Limited, for services to employment and training

Medallists of the Order of the British Empire

Christopher Ashworth, estates manager at Ashton Sixth Form College, for services to further education

Anne Reese, deputy chief executive officer of EKC Group, for services to education and to the community in East Kent

Peter Nicol, chair of governors at Bury College, for services to education

2022 review: The stories that made the headlines this year

FE Week special front page

Looking back on the milestone moments of 2022, of course the one that will stick with most of us forever was the death of the Queen.

It was a Thursday when it happened, which is press day for FE Week. The whole team was together in the newsroom to make the finishing touches to the 397th edition of the paper. It was obvious something serious was happening, so we had some decisions to make.

How do we cover the death of the monarch in our paper? Should we? Should we even have a paper this week? What’s everyone else doing? Could any of our stories this week appear inappropriate or disrespectful given the circumstances? This was all pretty unprecedented after all.

Like everyone reporting on this momentous moment for our country, the most powerful coverage came from the stories and memories of people that had met the Queen. We found examples of Her Late Majesty visiting colleges going back to 1949 even before she was Queen.

‘I feel very protected’: how the UK’s colleges welcomed students from Ukraine

Where, for many, the Queen’s reign represented a stability in our constitution, the same can’t be said for our political leaders in 2022.

We began the year with Alex Burghart in the skills minister post, having been appointed in September 2021. Perhaps Burghart’s biggest achievement was seeing the skills and post 16 education bill through parliament, which wasn’t straight forward thanks to the House of Lords.

Burghart was part of that first wave of junior ministerial resignations in July. He was then replaced by Andrea Jenkyns who was, sadly, better remembered for gaffs than graft. Her spat with West Midlands mayor Andy Street was one of my favourites, but of course everyone will remember the middle finger incident outside Number 10.

Jenkyns somehow survived the Johnson downfall while the rest of the DfE ministerial team was replaced around her.

The dismantling of a sector: Adult education in crisis

The Truss premiership is one people with mortgages won’t forget in a hurry. But her subsequent downfall led to some better-known figures return to ministerial offices at DfE. Most notably, the former skills minister Gillian Keegan become the fifth education secretary of 2022, and the return of Robert Halfon to the skills brief.

All of that Westminster drama has been great for the world of journalism. We’ve never done so many ‘top 10 facts about new minister’ stories.

But it’s not been great for policy. There hasn’t been a big new idea, let along big new funding, from DfE for some time.

All this at a time when providers were re-doing their financial forecasts in light of rocketing inflation, interest rates and energy costs.

A lot of that uncertainty will carry forward in to 2023.

Reclassification of colleges to the public sector will bed in next year as new financial handbooks, guidance and approval processes are brought in to keep them compliant. Capital plans, already strained by rising cost of materials, other borrowing, salaries and severance packages will all need DfE sign off.

And rising costs with static funding could see more investors turn their back on the training market, as we saw this year with System Group.

Industrial action in our sector will only, I expect, escalate as unions in schools and universities, and elsewhere of course, escalate theirs.

There will be more devolution in 2023, putting even more pressure on DfE to keep up with funding increases being brought in by some of the mayors (see London and West Midlands).

And what of apprenticeships? A review of the levy has been looming like the sword of Damocles for some time now, and IfATE keep promising to increase funding rates but keep failing to deliver.

Whatever comes, FE Week will continue to keep decision-makers on their toes and keeping you, our readers, up to date on what’s going on.

On behalf of the FE Week team – a happy new year to all our readers and subscribers.

January

We reported on the first college to lose its ‘outstanding’ grade after Ofsted finally removed the exemption for grade 1s

College loses grade 1 after Ofsted lifts exemption

February

The levelling up white paper came out with plans for new “elite” sixth forms … which didn’t go down well with college bosses

Levelling up: Plans for ‘elite’ new sixth forms and skills ‘mission’

March

Level 2 and below qualifications were in the headlines this month as the government named the qualifications that will lose funding as part of their reform programme

DfE reveals plan to scrap thousands of level 2 and below qualifications

April

Stats out this month revealed that the drop-out rate for apprenticeships was 41.3 per cent in 2019/20 and 41.2 per cent in 2020/21. DfE blamed Covid and more challenging standards. Commentators said this was evidence of the need for reform.

Shock as half of apprentices drop out

May

In May, training providers rejoiced at the replacement of the controversial 20 per cent off the job training rule for apprenticeships with a new 6hr/week baseline

ESFA ditches 20% off-the-job requirement as part of 2022/23 apprenticeship funding rule changes

June

England’s largest training provider was downgraded from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’ in June. Inspectors said the firm was focussed on financial performance and starts over quality.

Ofsted to hit England’s largest apprenticeship provider with grade 3

July

In July we broke the news that the firm that took over Learndirect had suddenly filed for insolvency after failing to win government contracts. Also, Michelle Donelan served 35 hours as educations secretary. James Cleverly took over.

Firm that took over Learndirect goes bust

August

News in August was dominated by results delays – thousands of BTEC and Cambridge Tech students were let down triggering investigations by the regulators.

BTEC delays wreck results day for some

September

First year health and science T Level students had their grades changed after regulators found “serious issues” with exams, it was announced in September. Also, Kit Malthouse becomes the fourth education secretary of 2022.

Health and science T Level results WILL be regraded after watchdog finds ‘serious’ issues

October

In October, DfE was finally forced to reveal that £2 billion in unspent apprenticeship levy funding had been returned to Treasury since 2017. Also, Gillian Keegan becomes the fifth education secretary of 2022.

DfE forced to finally reveal true amount of apprenticeship funding returned to Treasury

November

Colleges were reclassified as public sector bodies in November and immediately had new rules to follow around borrowing, senior pay controls and how to spend to their reserves.

Colleges return to public sector, ONS announces

December

And this month, after years of low starts, the government scrapped the national traineeships programme. Providers leaders said this was a blow for social mobility.

Traineeships scrapped amid years of low starts

AEB funding rates to increase in West Midlands

The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) has announced that funding rates for its adult education budget (AEB) programmes will increase by 10 per cent this year. 

Colleges and providers will see the increase “throughout the 2022/23 academic year” the combined authority has said. 

The move, estimated to cost around £10 million, will be welcomed by colleges and training providers battling increasing running costs due to soaring inflation, sky high energy bills and staffing pressures. 

This will add to pressure on the government to increase adult education funding rates nationally, as well as other mayors with devolved budgets.

Non-devolved adult education funding rates have not increased for over a decade.

Proposals to reform adult education funding in non-devolved areas, administered by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, have been delayed to 2024/25. Those reforms promised boosting funding rates for “priority” courses.

The rise in the West Midlands is more than double the increase announced by the Mayor of London earlier this year for some adult education programmes serving Londoners. 

In a statement today, the WMCA has said it is increasing AEB funding rates to “strengthen the financial resilience of providers, ensuring they can continue to design and deliver new training programmes that help residents gain the skills needed to find a new or better job”.

There are currently 27 colleges and local authorities in receipt of AEB grants through the WMCA, with a combined pre-increase total of £101.7 million. A further £21 million is allocated to 40 training providers through contracts for services. 

The mayor of the West Midlands Combined Authority, Andy Steet, is currently locked in negotiations with the government for even further devolved powers over skills. New “trailblazer” deals for the West Midlands and Greater Manchester are expected to be revealed in January 2023. 

Speaking to FE Week last month, the West Midlands Combined Authority said they were in negotiations for “greater influence over post-16 technical and vocational education and over careers, as well as joint working with DWP in shaping employment support”. 

Street said today’s announcement to increase AEB funding rates will be a boost to the region:

“By supporting our education providers in this way, we’re backing the valuable work they do to equip our residents with the skills they need to be able to access high quality employment.

“Given cost pressures providers have been facing in recent months – for materials, wages, utilities and facilities management – I’m glad that we’ve been able to extend a helping hand at this time as we continue in our efforts to build a brighter future for local people.”

The West Midlands was one of the first combined authorities to receive powers over a devolved adult education budget for its residents in August 2019.

Barber to lead region’s social mobility taskforce

Education and business chiefs in the south west of England will join a new commission being formed to drive social mobility for youngsters in the region.

The South-West Social Mobility Commission will be chaired by Sir Michael Barber, a north Devon resident himself who has advised awarding giant Pearson and led the prime minister’s delivery unit from 2001-2005. He is currently chancellor for the University of Exeter and was recently commissioned by the chancellor in the autumn statement to advise the government on skills reform plans.

Also on the commission are the university’s vice chancellor Lisa Roberts, PETROC College chief executive and principal Sean Mackney, Babcock International’s Brendan Staniforth, as well as school, council and business organisation chiefs.

It follows a report published in April on social mobility in the south west by the University of Exeter’s professor of social mobility Lee Elliot Major and Dr Anne-Marie Sim from the university’s centre for social mobility.

Both will support the commission’s work, the university confirmed.

The commission aims to boost the prospects for disadvantaged young people, after April’s research found Devon, Cornwall and Somerset were among the lowest rates of attainment in the country for disadvantaged students.

Just 40 per cent of disadvantaged pupils achieved a pass in GCSE English and maths in 2019 compared with almost 60 per cent in inner London, according to the commission.

Progression into higher education was also low, it said.

The commission will gather data and research to publish annual social mobility statistics, as well as produce advice and guidance to education, business, public sector and charitable status chiefs with the aim of boosting the prospects of students.

It will set goals for 2050 as well as each five-year period between now and then to turn around the situation.

It comes just weeks after the government confirmed Cornwall will be given adult education budget powers by 2025 under a devolution agreement, with negotiations continuing for a deal for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay.

Professor Elliot Major said the commission will “inform decision making across all quarters and irrespective of changes in politics or personnel, to obtain the long-term support needed to truly transform outcomes”.

Sir Michael Barber added that there was “strong support from those running services and businesses across the region that the facts on the ground need to change if the region is to be prosperous and successful in the decades ahead”.

The 12 commissioners are as follows:

  • Michael Barber (Chair), chancellor of the University of Exeter
  • Lisa Roberts, vice chancellor of University of Exeter
  • Kate Kennally, chief executive of Cornwall Council
  • Paul von der Heyde, chair of Somerset Integrated Care Board
  • Lisa Mannall, chief executive of Cornwall Education Learning Trust and former South-West regional schools commissioner
  • Sean Mackney, principal and CEO of PETROC College
  • Brendan Staniforth, strategy delivery director at Devonport Royal Dockyard (Babcock International)
  • Paul Crawford, chief executive of Live West
  • Karl Tucker, chair of Yeo Valley Ltd, chair of HotSW LEP and interim chair of GSW
  • Tony Rowe, chair of Exeter Chiefs
  • Alice Thomson, columnist and interviewer at The Times
  • Andrew Moreman, chief executive of Young Devon

FE financial risks “de-escalated” says DfE

The financial resilience of the further education sector is no longer a headline risk, according to the Department for Education.

The DfE this week published its annual report and accounts for the year ending March 31 2022, which featured some fresh information on its finances and Covid-19 recovery efforts.

Here are a handful of findings from the report for the FE sector.

Financial resilience concerns “de-escalated”

The DfE believes that the financial resilience of the FE sector is no longer a headline risk, according to the report.

The document said that both higher education and FE risks have been “de-escalated” after appearing in the last two years’ high-risk reports.

But it stressed that “these continue to be discussed at both performance and risk committee and leadership team on a regular basis”.

It comes as funding arrangements remain high on the list of concerns for college leaders as inflation continues to consume budgets, with Association of Colleges chief David Hughes only last week warning that “the funding picture now after more than a decade of austerity is unsustainable and it is obvious action is needed”.

Earlier this month, the Public Accounts Committee concluded that the £4 billion annual spend on 19+ education and training was failing to deliver the skills needed for the economy.

Across the wider education sector, teacher workforce delivery and early years sufficiency were two others in last year’s DfE annual report and accounts which no longer feature in the top risks, after both issues “stabilised”.

Its top six risks on the risk register now are loss of public confidence in exams; education recovery efforts; school buildings; vulnerable children attendance and attainment; high needs cost pressures; and cyber security.

More woe for national retraining campaign

The Get Help to Retrain digital scheme launched in July 2019 aimed to help those aged 24 and above with qualifications below degree level into training courses to progress into skilled careers.

Acting as the centrepiece to the £100 million National Retraining Scheme, it instead turned out to be a damp squib with the announcement just a year later that it would be integrated into the new £2.5 billion national skills fund.

The government at the time said it was to “reduce complexity in the system” but it also emerged that a number of regional mayors opted not to take part.

The DfE accounts now reveal that it lost £2.3 million on work for the online system that was “still under development at the time the government shifted priority to a much larger, more comprehensive national skills fund programme of initiatives”.

It added: “Alternative skills initiatives led to the decision to discontinue further work on this programme leading to the disposal of the intangible asset under construction”.

Six-figure loss on college plans

Another loss recorded in the DfE’s accounts was for £665,000 for a project at Milton Keynes College, specifically around the South Central Institute of Technology.

The write-off related to professional fees, the DfE said, adding: “The project was abandoned due to value for money concerns beyond a level acceptable for public funding”.

Students repeating a year

As part of Covid-19 recovery measures, the DfE allowed 16-to-19 providers to offer Year 13 students (or equivalent in FE settings) the chance to repeat a year if they had been badly hit by the pandemic.

DfE figures revealed 1,459 students opted to do so last year.

“This low take up of the programme shows that the repeat year has operated as we intended, being used by a small number of the most affected students,” the report said.

Missing FOI targets

The department failed to respond to more than one in four Freedom of Information requests in time – the second year in a row it has declined performance despite a lower number of requests.

Public organisations, including government departments, have a statutory duty to respond to FOI requests within 20 working days.

But for 2021/22 it only responded to 73 per cent in time across the 2,237 requests it received.

That represents a 5 percentage point fall on the year before, when there were 2,330 requests, and a significant fall on the 88 per cent 20-day response rate in 2019/20 when there were 3,133 requests – 800 more than 2021/22.

New ‘simpler’ skills funding model delayed

Plans to merge several adult skills budgets into a single skills fund have been delayed for a year. 

The Department for Education had intended to issue allocations for the skills fund for the 2023/24 academic year. The new fund brings together the adult education budget, free courses for jobs and community learning under a single heading. 

The move is part of the government’s reforms to simplify the skills funding system and make providers more accountable to government priorities. 

Other reforms include the introduction of a needs-based funding formula, moving away from historic performance, new employment related objectives for community learning and a promised rise in funding rates for priority courses.

Enhanced skills inspections, where colleges receive an extra judgement from Ofsted on how well they are meeting local skills needs, are another part of the government’s reform plans. These began in inspections this September and a number of reports have already been published.

But responses to the government’s latest consultation on the proposals, which closed in October, indicated widespread concern on the timing of the introduction of the new skills fund. 

DfE has said a “significant” proportion of its 249 responses to the consultation flagged concerns about introducing the new skills fund in 2023/24 with calls for a longer lead-in period. 

The government had now said the skills fund will be implemented in time for 2024/25.

Attached to the skills fund were proposals to increase funding rates for priority courses and plans to “re-orientate” community learning provision towards a controversial set of objectives. 

Under the skills fund, courses that are “non-qualification” based must achieve at least one of three set objectives; achieving employment, progression to further learning that brings learners close to employment and helping learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities to access independent living.

These new objectives have been met with strong opposition from adult education and local authority leaders who have argued that removing objectives relating to families, communities and health could displace thousands of vulnerable learners. 

A delay in the introduction to the skills fund also means the rate rise and new objectives for community learning have also been put back to 2024/25.

A full response to the second stage consultation is expected early in 2023.