Janet Smith, chief executive and principal of Nottingham College

Janet Smith leads one of the UK’s largest colleges, which after decades of storms is now moving into calmer waters. Jessica Hill meets the new chief executive and principal of Nottingham College

Janet Smith admits she has a “very low boredom threshold”. But rather than being a curse, it has propelled her to teach courses through her 35-year career in education at almost every level, from entry to Masters, as well as taking on tricky leadership roles including steering through the merger of New College Stamford and Peterborough Regional College. 

What makes this remarkable is that when the chief executive and principal of Nottingham College left school at 16, a careers adviser pointed her towards a career as a secretary.

Nottingham College, one of the UK’s largest, has gone through challenging times in recent years. But Smith, who joined in July, is adamant “we have well and truly put the past behind us”.

The college has just moved from its ‘requires improvement’ Ofsted rating it has held since 2020 up to ‘good’, Smith tells FE Week.

Age 15

Nottingham’s tumultuous past

The current college emerged from two decades of mergers and restructurings, whittling down from “at least seven big colleges and some smaller ones” to the 2017 merger of New College Nottingham and Central College Nottingham to form the current mega-college with more than 18,000 students.

Smith acknowledges that the turbulence has been “very hard for staff”.

During 15 days of strikes in 2019, union members passed a vote of no-confidence in the the college’s leadership. A few months later, Ofsted downgraded it from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’.

‘The college didn’t grow to keep pace with the debt’

Then the FE Commissioner intervened when it hit cashflow difficulties after completing work on its £58.5 million new city hub campus. Smith describes the swish building, where we meet for our interview, as being a “beautiful tribute to FE”. But this and other ventures has left the college facing £34 million of debt.

“The college was borrowing to buy various buildings within the city at a time when lots of colleges were doing the same, but then it didn’t grow sufficiently to keep pace with the debt,” Smith says. “It had to cut its cloth accordingly. That was very hard for staff.”

Nottingham’s position has since stabilised somewhat. Its latest staff survey is “very positive”, showing the college is “in a very different place from the difficult days post-merger in 2017”. 

Smith also points to the “helpful” exiting of a PFI contract a year earlier than planned in July 2022, with the college’s debt to income ratio dropping from 52.5 per cent in 2021-22 to around 47 per cent this year.

She does not expect the recent reclassification of colleges into the public sector to have much impact on Nottingham, at least in the short term. The college currently has £7 million of commercial debt that Smith says will have to be renegotiated at the end of 2024, and “we will need to enter dialogue with the DfE about this”.

The ‘audacious’ merger bid

Before moving to Nottingham, Smith was principal of New College Stamford where she led the 2020 merger of her college – which she felt had “lost its sense of place” – with Peterborough Regional College to create Inspire Education Group.

Smith had spent a short time as vice-principal at Peterborough, but had felt she “couldn’t thrive there” as it was “not a positive environment”.

At the time of the merger, she saw it as “a bit of a sad college” that had struggled with successive grade threes. Nonetheless, she admits her merger proposal – which she made after being approached for the principalship at Peterborough – was “a bit audacious”, Stamford being the smaller college.

She told them: “’You’re financially sound and well managed in some respects, but your quality is all over the place’.” Stamford was a “really strong grade two, heading up to outstanding”, which Smith claimed was thanks to measures she brought in learned from her time as deputy principal at then-outstanding Selby College.

But Smith’s motivations for the merger were not financial, about “career climbing” or “being the grandest” , but simply about “protecting” her college. 

“I always felt a danger that if austerity continued, Stamford could get taken over. I knew Peterborough could be a much better college and that its deficit was our strength.”

The resulting merger “really was collaborative”, she stresses, with “top notch stuff” Stamford was doing around quality “pushed into Peterborough”.

“It’s about making the good stuff even better”

But Smith admits it was “tough”; “Peterborough was an unhappy college and when staff are unhappy, a bit like here [in Nottingham] after all of the years of merger and disruption, you have to work hard to win people over.

“You’ve got to get your messaging right, to show people it’s not threatening but it’s about lifting the whole organisation up and celebrating and making the good stuff even better. That’s what we did.”

Christening photo 1963, with Mam and very proud Dad

In-built resilience

Smith came from “real working-class roots” in Darlington. Her dad was a workshop foreman building railway wagons, and she “absolutely loved” her time at the local comprehensive.

But her childhood was beset by tragedy when Smith was 12 and her sister 11, and their 44-year-old mother, who had type one diabetes, died following a heart attack.

The day of our interview is the 47th anniversary of her death, which Smith recalls as “character forming”. “I see both my sister and I as real fighters and survivors. We helped each other, because my dad had to keep working. I didn’t have the sort of childhood some kids around here might have – Nottingham is a very deprived city. But I certainly got resilience.”

Despite getting an impressive ten O Levels and telling a school careers adviser she wanted to teach, Smith was “talked into” applying for a secretarial course at Darlington College after mentioning her mum had been a secretary.

She hadn’t thought about going further in education until a college lecturer pointed out she could do a degree. 

She got her first taste of teaching while she was studying office systems management at the University of Hull. She was interviewing lecturing staff at North Lindsay College as part of her dissertation on how IT was coming into the FE business curriculum.  “There was a strike on and staff were working to rule – the college was struggling to get cover for classes,” she recalls. “So I fell into my first experience of teaching and loved it.”

After lecturing at Hull College, and then the University of Hull University where she did a part-time masters in computing, Smith spent nine years at Grantham College, moving up from head of faculty to vice-principal.

She was involved in community learning there, with the college taking education out into deprived communities through Sure Start.

While funding cuts have seen much of that community work ebb away, Nottingham College is still “out there working in community venues – we don’t ask people to come into a college in a central location”. Smith says that element of the college was “highly praised” in its recent inspection, set to be published imminently.

Student Union Card, age 23

The Ofsted mandate

Smith’s “first transformation project” and the “most daunting challenge” of her career was at Hopwood Hall College in Rochdale.

When she arrived as VP curriculum and quality in 2009, it was struggling after a succession of grade threes. The principal gave her a sole mandate: to get the college up to grade two within 18 months.

There was a “huge amount” to do, and “working out where to start and how to prioritise actions was the greatest challenge, alongside getting buy-in from a very demoralised body of managers and staff”.

“I can gee people up, get them on the same page“

But Smith was full of enthusiasm. “The bit I can do is gee people up with passion and messaging and get everybody onto the same page.”

The approach worked, and Hopwood Hall moved to grade two as Smith moved on to Selby College as deputy principal two years later.

The future for Nottingham

Smith is optimistic about Nottingham’s future. She believesthe “mental health and socialisation” issues brought on by the pandemic are now “gradually petering out’. And while Nottingham, like most colleges, experienced more “low-level disruption and behavioural issues” last year, “it’s a lot calmer this year – as if we’ve recovered some of it”.

But she is concerned about the rollout of T Levels and believes it is “regrettable” the government has “not listened” to sector feedback not to de-fund BTECs.

She has heard significant criticism from the principals of colleges involved in the pilots on how the courses are “very narrow in focus”.

“They won’t suit all level three students, nor will there be enough placements for them all. That worries me.”

Smith is also critical that colleges with grade three status are unable to be involved in such pilots, which she sees as “punitive and retrograde”. “You’re blocked out of doing things and you stand still as an organisation – the things that could rescue you and help you turn a college around, you’re blocked from doing.”

She admits people in Nottingham are “a bit suspicious” of the newly signed East Midlands devolution deal, but believes it provides “real opportunities” for the city “so long as the protections are still there”.

She too was initially a “cynic” about devolution because “you’ve got to replicate the ESFA in each area to deliver the skills budget, which takes money away from the frontline”.

But she saw the benefits Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority brought to that region in her previous roles.

“It took a while for them to really flex the way they ran the budget but when they did, they started to support genuine innovation.”

Janet Smith

 “I want my colleagues to be part of the answer”

Devolution also allows colleges to be “very fleet of foot”; Peterborough got off the blocks responding to the lack of HGV drivers in less than two months with 80 people on a road haulage training programme, which “couldn’t have happened under the ESFA”.

“I want my colleagues to be part of the answer, to flex with the funding and really deliver for the people of Nottingham, because that’s what FE is about. We’re here in and of our communities.”

DfE seeks candidates for ‘pivotal’ roles in Sunak’s skills agenda

The Department for Education is looking for three new high-level directors to lead on funding, technical qualifications and skills strategy.

Job adverts for the posts went out this week, stating that the roles are “pivotal” in delivering the government’s skills agenda which is a “top priority” for the prime minister.

A permanent director of funding is sought to lead a team of 300 in the DfE’s Education and Skills Funding Agency.

The successful applicant, who will earn £95,000 a year, will take over from interim director of funding Owen Jenkins who has held the post since August 2021 after John Edwards stepped up to be the ESFA’s interim chief executive.

The funding director leads a “multi-disciplinary directorate made up of teams of experts within their field”, according to the job advert.

It states that the director will approve around 500,000 funding payments totalling £67 billion to training providers in all areas of the education sector, ensuring payments are “timely and accurate”.

They will have an important part to play in the ESFA’s drive to simplify the funding system and to oversee the implementation and management of the agency’s Digital Funding Service to drive improvement across a “complex landscape”.

Applications for the director of funding close on February 6, 2023. The DfE is also hiring a director for technical qualifications who will be responsible for three “critical” pieces of work: the policy and delivery of T Levels; completion of the post-16 qualifications review; and higher technical education at levels 4 and 5.

The director will lead about 120 staff based across six sites and earn a salary of £95,000.

They will be tasked with ensuring “strategic links with other key parts of the skills strategy and other departmental policy such as the reforms to higher education, the lifelong loan entitlement, exams and awarding, and digitisation and acting a leader across the skills group”.

Applications for the director of technical qualifications close January 30.

The DfE is also seeking to appoint a new deputy director for skills strategy who will be responsible for setting “direction, objectives and workplans for the division as a whole” as well as “managing relationships with No.10, the Treasury, and across the Department for Education on the skills portfolio”.

The successful applicant, who will earn £73,000 a year, will manage a “flexible resource unit” of 10 staff who are “deployed on shortterm, high priority projects across skills group and support capability building across the group”.

Applications for the deputy director for skills strategy close on January 30.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 411

Rebecca Durber

Area Director North West, Association of Colleges AELP

Start date: January 2023

Previous Job: Director of Public Affairs,

Interesting fact: Rebecca spent 8 years as a councillor on Manchester City
Council, representing a ward in the south of the city

Ed Reza Schwitzer

Head of External Affairs, AQA

Start date: January 2023


Previous Job: Associate Director – Education Practice, Public First

Interesting fact: While hailing from Slovak Jewish ancestry on his dad’s side and
Iranian on his mum’s side, Reza is also fluent in Italian

Richard Caulfield

Senior Policy Manager, Greater Manchester Colleges Group

Start date: January 2023


Previous Job: Area Director, AoC

Interesting fact: Richard is a ‘serial volunteer’: current roles include being
a trustee of an anti-poverty charity, a parkrun marshall (when not running it),
security at a synagogue, chair of GP practice patients group and marshall at a
Covid vaccine centre

Post-16 maths cash ‘lopsided’ towards schools

Colleges are missing out on government cash aimed at bolstering the number of students studying maths after 16, analysis shared exclusively with FE Week has found.

Beneficiaries of the advanced maths premium scheme say the cash boost has been instrumental in driving up participation, particularly on core maths courses.

But those providers have hit back at changes to the baseline funding planned for August 2023 which will see their premium grant slashed.

The advanced maths premium is paid to providers for numbers of students studying level 3 maths courses – AS levels, A-levels or core maths – above a baseline figure.

To date, the baseline has been calculated as an average of level 3 maths learners in 2015/16 and 2017/18 academic years, with the payment made to institutions at £600 per student above that figure.

But analysis by the Association of Colleges has warned that the funding has not necessarily had the desired impact.

It has found that of the £56.7 million paid out in the last four years, 86 per cent has gone to schools and just 14 per cent paid to colleges, despite around 25 per cent of level 3 maths entries being in colleges.

The analysis, carried out by the AoC’s senior policy manager Eddie Playfair, found that the biggest beneficiaries of the scheme were Brampton Manor Academy with £280,800 allocated for 2023/23 and Hereford Sixth Form College with just over £250,000.

However some FE colleges and sixth form colleges with high numbers of maths students in excess of 350 failed to get a penny. They included Peter Symonds College, with more than 600 maths entries, as well as Runshaw College and Exeter College which both had about 500.

FE Week approached all three for comment, as well as the top three beneficiaries – Brampton Manor Academy, Hereford Sixth Form College and Worcester Sixth Form College.

The premium rules mean funding rewarded those which had escalated their maths students numbers on the baseline, rather than those with consistently high numbers of level 3 maths learners.

Playfair said: “The AMP has played out in a very lopsided way and probably hasn’t done what it set out to do, which was to incentivise growth. It’s a bit of a paradox to be incentivising something that is already very popular – A-level maths is the most popular A-level.

“Colleges have told us it hasn’t changed their behaviours, so the fact there is an advanced maths premium hasn’t made them promote maths any more than they already do.”

But those which have benefited from the scheme disagreed, explaining that it had been vital in boosting numbers.

Ed Senior, principal at Worcester Sixth Form College which received more than £178,000 for 2022/23, said its growth would not have happened without the premium.

“It’s been instrumental getting lots more students into level 3 maths,” he said. “The growth in A-level maths and further maths is not very big but the reason there are 300 students is it led us to introduce core maths.”

Peter Cooper, chief executive of the Heart of Mercia Trust which runs Hereford and Worcester sixth form colleges, said they deliberately encouraged the take-up of core maths because the funding incentive could facilitate it, believing it had also helped achievement in other subjects.

But from 2023/24, the baseline funding will be calculated on an average of the 2019/20 and 2020/21 data, which means the pay-outs will likely be smaller.

Cooper added: “The adjustment to a new baseline means we will get no money at all for doing the course in the future.

This now perversely forces us to do less of it as we would have to take the money from other areas. A prime example of central bureaucratic incompetence in implementing a worthy aim.”

The DfE’s advanced maths premium guidance says that its processes will ensure “only genuine increases in level 3 maths participation attract the premium,” saying it will “monitor behaviour at institution level to indicate adverse behaviour and may follow up where data gives us cause for concern”.

According to DfE data for summer 2022 exams, there were more than 89,000 A-level maths entries.

Core maths qualifications were announced in December 2014 as a means of aiding progression in maths post-16 for those not wishing to study maths at A-level. In 2022 there were 12,311 entries – the highest number since the first exams in 2016 when just under 3,000 entries were reported.

When the DfE and Treasury announced the premium in February 2018, schools minister Nick Gibb said that “this premium will open up the opportunity for even more young people to study advanced maths qualifications”.

Playfair said that “at the very least it would have been better to spend this money on volumes,” as it would reward providers for consistently delivering A-level maths. He has called for the DfE to review the allocations.

The DfE has been approached for comment.

Minimum service law would include all FE workers, union warns

New laws mandating minimum service levels for striking public sector organisations will cover further education, according to union bosses.

Business secretary Grant Shapps unveiled controversial plans in parliament on Tuesday which will include health, education, fire and rescue, transport, border security and nuclear decommissioning services.

The University and Colleges Union (UCU) said that the legislation as currently worded would cover every college and university regardless of whether they were in the public or private sector. The legislation will not affect the process of negotiating pay, the UCU said.

The bill, if passed into law, will mean minimum service levels must be provided by organisations in those sectors which are on strike to limit disruption for the public.

Guidance issued by the government on the bill did not specify what a minimum service level will be, but the Department for Education said that if regulations are taken forward in due course there will be consultation with unions, employers and other relevant parties.

Shapps told the Commons: “We hope to reach minimum service levels that mean we don’t have to use that power in the bill,” adding that it will “ensure vital public services will have to maintain a basic function”.

According to the DfE, the legislation will allow secretaries of state to bring forward regulations for their sectors, but the education secretary did not intend to do so in the short term because her preference was to proceed through agreement and guidance.

If the legislation proceeds and gains royal assent, striking workers could be sacked if regulations are not followed.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said that the right to strike was a “fundamental freedom”, adding: “Rather than help address over a decade of falling wages, this government wants to instead make withdrawing your labour a sackable offence, and force people to work even if they have a right to refuse.”

About 4,000 UCU members across 29 different colleges took part in strike action during September and October last year over pay, the union said.

The Association of Colleges had proposed a 2.5 per cent pay increase, with chief executive David Hughes explaining that “the money is simply not there” for a bigger rise.

But union bosses called the offer “totally unacceptable”, demanding a 10 per cent rise with a minimum uplift of £2,000.

College confirms cyber attack brought down IT systems

CityLit has confirmed that a ransomware attack was responsible for a month-long IT outage, causing major disruption to online classes and enrolment.  

In a message sent to students on Wednesday, seen by FE Week, the college apologised for ongoing disruption but it couldn’t yet confirm whether any student data has been compromised.  

Regulators, including the Information Commissioner’s Office, have been informed.  

FE Week reported in early December that online lessons had been cancelled for the rest of the year and enrolment had to be paused due to “IT disruption”. The college couldn’t confirm the cause of the disruption with FE Week at the time as investigations were still ongoing. 

However the 800 word explanation sent to students this week doesn’t offer answers for students concerned about their data, as this is still being investigated.  

“Last year we became aware of some suspicious activity on part of our network which impacted a range of our IT systems. As soon as this was identified, we started to investigate alongside external specialists. 

“We have since confirmed this was a ransomware incident where an unauthorised third-party gained access to our systems and copied some information from our network. We successfully contained the incident by shutting down the network and began the process of getting our system back up and running.” 

Ransomware attacks have been a common tactic by cyber criminals targeting colleges and other institutions. Typically, attackers gain access to an institution’s systems and delete or encrypt files and data. A ransom note is then issued demanding payment in return for release of the stolen data.  

Further education colleges are particularly vulnerable to cyber-attacks.  

Survey evidence from the National Cyber Security Centre, an arm of GCHQ, last year showed that 88 per cent of further education colleges had identified a breach or attack in the preceeding 12 months.  

This compares to 92 per cent of higher education institutions, but 70 per cent of secondary schools, 41 per cent of primary schools and 39 per cent of all UK businesses. 

It is believed that weak defences and the quantity of data stored makes colleges attractive to cyber-criminals. 

The attack on CityLit brought online classes and enrolment to halt, as well as bringing down the college’s website and phone systems. In-person classes however were able to continue.  

Students affected by class cancellations have been contacted about claiming refunds.  

CityLit believes they have identified the group responsible for the attack through a post online which “names us [the college] and purports to contain files copied from our system.” 

The college confirmed to students that “paying a ransom to these criminals would not align with our values as an ethical organisation and would simply further fund criminal activity.” 

“There is no reason to believe anyone’s information was specifically targeted by this incident” the statement adds.  

However the college cannot yet say whether any students’ data was compromised in the attack.  

“These investigations are time-consuming, and it is important that we do them properly so that we can accurately inform you if there is any impact on your data. 

“Once our investigation is complete, we will be in touch directly with anyone who needs to take any particular action with more details and some guidance about the steps they should take.” 

A City Lit spokesperson said: “Last year we identified some suspicious activity on part of our network which we have since confirmed was a ransomware incident. Our team are working hard to resolve any disruption while in parallel our investigation is ongoing into the affected information.  

“We have updated our staff and students as well as reporting the incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office, law enforcement and other relevant regulators.” 

Ofsted admits complaints policy ‘isn’t working’

Ofsted’s senior leaders have admitted their complaints policy “is not working” and is under review.   

Officials have been told to make the process more human and less bureaucratic, FE Week’s sister publication Schools Week understands, following backlash from the sector.   

During an invite-only briefing to academy trust leaders this week, the watchdog also revealed that its inspectors have been sent on “seeing the big picture” training after complaints about inconsistent grades.   

Trust and training provider bosses have complained that some officials reached “over-zealous” judgements based on students’ remarks during inspections.   

The rare admission from Ofsted has been praised in private by some education leaders, who feel it shows the watchdog is listening and taking action.   

The percentage of complaints about inspections that were at least partially upheld fell to its lowest level in eight years last year.

Just 17 per cent of 718 complaints closed in the 2021/22 academic year had aspects upheld. This followed a record high of 26 per cent out of 320 complaints closed in the previous year, but this was heavily impacted by Covid.   

The comments were made during a meeting with members of the Confederation of School Trusts. Large trust leaders heard from Ofsted officials Chris Jones and Lee Owston on Tuesday before the pair spoke again to about 400 CST members at meeting on Wednesday.   

Trust leaders were told that the complaints process “is not working”, both for education providers and the inspectorate itself.   

Ofsted officials are now reviewing their policy to see how they can improve it. One of the changes includes a new “enhanced oversight” process, Schools Week understands, which should lead to “problematic” inspections being picked up in real time, before issues arise with contentious judgments.   

FE Week understands any changes to the complaints process would be implemented across all sectors, including schools and further education.   

Caroline Derbyshire, chair of the Headteachers’ Roundtable, welcomed a  review but said this should be shared with “everyone else in the profession”.   

She said many heads believe that issues picked up during inspections can often be “dealt with”, but issues occurring post-inspection and requiring the complaints process to resolve “rarely result in a different outcome”.   

The meeting followed CST sharing concerns about inspections raised by its members to the inspectorate last year.   

One prevailing concern was about inspectors jumping to snap judgments based on what students say. Until recently, Ofsted inspectors have not had external results data to inform their judgment.   

Trust leaders said a resulting over-focus on comments made during the student voice part of inspections – particularly relating to behaviour and derogatory language issues – were being given too much weight in final judgments.   

The watchdog admitted to leaders there had been inconsistency in judgments across these areas.   

Colleges and training providers have echoed these concerns experienced in schools to FE Week in recent years.   

Academy trust leaders were told new inspector training started last week called “seeing the big picture”.   

This is to ensure inspectors know the framework should not be taken verbatim, leaders were told, and that inspectors must not leap to snap judgments that any such issues are endemic in the school or provider.   

A spokesperson for Ofsted said: “The landscape in which inspectors and leaders work is always evolving, which is why we run a continuous training programme for all our inspectors. We also make every effort to engage with people from the sectors we inspect and act on their feedback where we can.”   

They added any “formal proposals for changes to our processes, such as complaints, will always be subject to wider consultation”. 

‘Inadequate’ private provider escapes ESFA contract termination

An independent training provider will keep its government apprenticeship contract despite an ‘inadequate’ rating from Ofsted because of “unique” circumstances, FE Week understands. 

Officials at the Education and Skills Funding Agency have taken the unheard-of decision to retain the funding agreement for Medipro’s emergency care training and there will be no suspension on new starts.   

After the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust’s apprenticeship contract was terminated in late 2021 amid safeguarding concerns, the ESFA and Health Education England asked Medipro to take on 537 apprentices, in addition to its own 700 apprentices.    

In recognition of the “calamity” facing the sector and learners who would have been unable to complete their programme, Medipro agreed and spent £500,000 to open a new training school to house the apprentices.  

However the provider received the education watchdog’s lowest possible grade in a report published on Wednesday.   

Despite the report being full of praise for the training delivery, inspectors judged Medipro to be ‘inadequate’ overall because leaders had allegedly failed to act “quickly or effectively enough” to ensure a smooth transition for apprentices who the company was forced to step in and save.   

The majority of the transferred apprentices, many of whom were already past their planned end date and carried over very little allocated funding, have now completed their programme. At the time of Ofsted’s visit to Medipro in November, however, 230 of the apprentices were still on programme.   

The inspectorate said “too many” of the transferred apprentices are “demotivated” and “frustrated” by the “lack of guidance and clarity they receive about their progress”.   

Ofsted also claimed that the apprentices had experienced “long delays in the return of marked work and, in too many cases, have been without a tutor for a long period of time”.   

Medipro leaders “have not put in place the infrastructure and resources needed to support the significant growth in provision following the transfer,” the report said.   

“Leaders have not ensured that transferred apprentices have had a good learning experience. Consequently, too many of these apprentices are not making rapid enough progress.”   

The ESFA’s rules state that it will terminate an apprenticeship provider’s funding agreement if the company receives an ‘inadequate’ from Ofsted. The agency can however decide to not terminate in exceptional circumstances.   

The case highlights the risks for providers that agree to step in to complete the training for large cohorts of apprentices who unexpectedly find themselves without provision.   

Medipro told FE Week the agency has contacted them to confirm it will not cancel the apprenticeship contract but will monitor their provision.   

Brian English, managing director of Medipro, said: “Medipro is grateful to ESFA for taking the context of the report and our unique circumstances into account by deciding not to cancel our contract. This allows us to continue to support students in a much-needed sector. We will continue to engage with them whilst we are making the required improvements.”   

Medipro was given ‘requires improvement’ ratings in four of the five fields judged.   

Apart from those who have been transferred from another provider, inspectors found that apprentices are “fully attentive, motivated to learn and eager to participate in sessions”.   

The report said leaders and managers provide training that “meets the skills needs of the emergency and urgent care sector”, adding that leaders are qualified paramedics and understand the industry “extremely well”.   

Leaders and managers have also “designed a curriculum that contributes to meeting a significant skills gap in the sector” and recruit “qualified staff who are highly experienced in their field”.   

English said he was “disappointed” with Ofsted’s rating which he feels is “not a true reflection on the overall standard of training we provide”.   

“The report focused on the learners who were passed planned end date and many of them were in the group that transferred to Medipro from another provider,” he told FE Week.   

“Given the numbers of apprentices involved, the accelerated timeframe required for the transfer and that the learners were on paper-based portfolios, this process for the transfer was not straightforward but we supported it to ensure there was minimal disruption to this group of learners and to support the clinical workforce at a challenged time.”   

Phil Carver, regional director East of England at Health Education England, said: “Health Education England has fully supported Medipro as appropriate in relation to our apprentices. We will continue to work with the ESFA and other stakeholder partners to ensure our learners training pathway is not disrupted to ensure we protect the future NHS workforce.”   

An East of England Ambulance Service spokesperson said it was aware that some of its apprentices who transferred to Medipro have had “some difficulties which is reflected in the Ofsted report and we are sorry for their experiences”.   

“We are committed to working with Medipro to successfully support all apprentices through their qualification,” they added.   

The ESFA declined to comment. 

Vocational training sector mourns loss of ‘inspirational’ Steve Lawrence

Tributes have been paid to EEVT cofounder Steve Lawrence, who died at the weekend aged 71 following an illness.

Lawrence, who was managing director of EEVT, set up the business development firm in 1999 with his partner, Lisa Caley. His career in training and education spanned over 30 years and he would go on to play a leading role in the drive for diversity in apprenticeships.

Caley told FE Week that Lawrence died “after a battle bravely fought”.

“Passionate about education and training, Steve was a committed advocate for the sector and believed strongly that teaching and lifelong learning could change lives for the better. He always placed learners at the heart of everything he did, supporting many, often disadvantaged, into training and employment,” she said.

For over two decades, Lawrence and EEVT worked with businesses in vocational training and employment support sectors on bid writing, strategy development and business advice.

David Morley, director of Pitman Training Essex and Suffolk, said: “I have known Steve for over 20 years and he was always there whenever I wanted any advice or ideas to help our businesses.

“He was one of the nicest people I have met and always had time for you, no matter how busy or inconvenient it was for him. His death is a massive loss to us all and will be missed greatly.”

Meetu Madaan, managing director of Skills Provider Limited, said: “Can’t express how sad I am. He has always been by my side, ready to help, listen, support. He was true and honest inside out. I have known him for more than 10 years and he was one of the pillars of where I am now. You will always be remembered.”

Lawrence ran his own business but had also held roles at Reed In Partnership, Computer Gym UK and IC Training Centre, among others, and was the first head judge of the Multicultural Apprenticeships Awards.

Saf Ali, founder of the awards and CEO of Pathway Group, said: “The skills and employability sector has suffered a great loss with the passing of Steve Lawrence. Steve was genuinely valued for his honest talk, his knowledge, his honesty and openness to support and encourage others.”

Lawrence’s commitment to inclusion and diversity in apprenticeships was praised in a tribute from the Association of Employment and Learning Providers. Chief executive Jane Hickie said: “On behalf of AELP, I’d like to send our condolences to Steve’s family and friends. He was a strong advocate for a better skills system so this is a very sad day for our sector. In addition to his work with EEVT, Steve will be remembered fondly for his role as an ambassador at the Multicultural Apprenticeship Awards, helping to promote inclusion and diversity within apprenticeships.”

Caley added: “Steve was highly valued for knowledge, honesty and integrity, always happy to listen, help and support where he could. A mentor, inspiration, oracle, or legend, depending on who you ask. He truly was one of a kind and is a great loss to the industry.

“I would like to say thank you for everyone’s comments about Steve. He would be moved and humbled and it has been a great comfort to read them all. He will be missed more than words can say.”