DfE reprimanded after student data used by gambling firms – but avoids £10m fine

The Department for Education has been reprimanded over a “serious breach” of data protection law which allowed a firm providing age-verification for gambling companies access to the personal information of millions young people.

But the department has avoided a fine of over £10 million from the information watchdog, despite a warning over “woeful” data protection practices.

An Information Commissioner’s Office investigation into data shared from the learning record service (LRS) found “prolonged misuse of the personal information of up to 28 million children”.

The LRS holds data on pupils and learners over 14 for 66 years, and is only supposed to be accessed for education purposes.

But the Sunday Times revealed in 2020 that employment screening firm Trustopia had used the data to provide age verification serves to the GB Group, to help gambling companies confirm customers were over 18.

The ICO launched its investigation after it was notified by the DfE, which only became aware of the breach because of the national news story.

Screening firm looked up 22k learners

According to the watchdog, Trustopia had access to the LRS database for over a year from September 2018 to January 2020, and carried out searches on 22,000 learners.

The ICO ruled today that the data was shared “without appropriate control or oversight”, and that the DfE “failed to protect against the unauthorised processing by third parties of data held on the LRS database for reasons other than the provision of educational services”.

Data subjects were also “unaware of the processing and could not object or otherwise withdraw from this processing”. The DfE “failed to process personal data fairly, lawfully and transparently”, breaching the general data protection regulations (GDPR).

“No-one needs persuading that a database of pupils’ learning records being used to help gambling companies is unacceptable,” said information commissioner John Edwards.

“Our investigation found that the processes put in place by the Department for Education were woeful.”

DfE dodges £10m fine for data failures

The ICO said it “considered” issuing a fine of just over £10 million, which would have been “effective, proportionate and dissuasive”.

However, due to a “revised approach” by the ICO to public sector organisations, the watchdog settled for a formal reprimand.

“This was a serious breach of the law, and one that would have warranted a £10 million fine in this specific case,” said Edwards. But he chose “not to issue that fine, as any money paid in fines is returned to government, and so the impact would have been minimal”.

“But that should not detract from how serious the errors we have highlighted were.”

The DfE had continued to grant Trustopia access to the database after it advised officials it was the new trading name for Edududes Ltd, which had been a training provider.

But Trustopia “was in fact a screening company and used the database for age verification, a service they offered to companies including GB Group, which helped gambling companies confirm customers were over 18”.

“This data sharing meant the information was not being used for its original purpose. This is against data protection law.”

DfE revokes access for a fifth of organisations

The ICO said that at the time of the breach, 12,600 organisations had access to the LRS database, “including schools, colleges, higher education institutions, and other education providers”.

These organisations get access so they can “verify a number of functions including the academic qualifications of potential students or check if they are eligible for funding”.

Since the incident, the DfE has removed access from 2,600 organisations.

It follows a damning audit of the DfE’s broader data processing activities by the ICO in 2020, which also found the DfE broke data protection laws in how it handled pupil data.

The DfE still hasn’t met its pledge to publish the full audit report, and now also faces potential legal action from data privacy campaign group Defend Digital Me over the way it handles data.

A DfE spokesperson said the department takes the security of data “we hold extremely seriously”, adding that it will publish a full response to the ICO’s letter by the end of the year, setting out “detailed progress in respect of all the actions identified”.

No regulation for dissolved firm Trustopia

The ICO said today that it had conducted a simultaneous investigation into Trustopia, “during which the company confirmed it no longer had access to the database and the cache of data held in temporary files had been deleted”.

The firm has since been dissolved, meaning regulatory action was “not available”.

It comes after FE Week revealed in 2020 that Trustopia co-founder Ronan Smith had previously run a private provider called Edudo, which was investigated by the Education and Skills Funding Agency in 2017.

The agency subsequently terminated the firm’s contracts, which were used to deliver courses funded through advanced learner loans.

Smith then transferred Edudo’s assets to a new company called Learning Republic and went bust. Hundreds of learners were subsequently left thousands of pounds in debt with no qualifications to show for it.

Smith was approached for comment, as was the GB Group.

Liverpool City Region targets over 50s for apprenticeships

A targeted campaign is being developed in Liverpool to help older learners – particularly those aged 50 and above who have been made redundant or want to change careers – into apprenticeships. 

An apprenticeship taskforce for Liverpool City Region Combined Authority put forward a series of recommendations last month, one of which is to create a campaign to target learners over 50 into apprenticeships. 

Around 9,600 over-50s are on Universal Credit while being out of work, according to the authority, yet this demographic “may be unaware that they could access relevant qualifications” such as apprenticeships. 

Following approval by the combined authority last month, work on the action plan is now in development, with ambitions for more details to be ready by February 2023. 

But the scheme could help to address some of the skills shortages in the region in sectors such as adult care, and support the hospitality and tourism sector in time for the Eurovision Song Contest to land in the city in May next year. 

Rob Tabb, policy lead for employment and skills at the combined authority, said: “I think employers here and nationally are exploring all means possible to be able to fill some of their recruitment and skills gaps. 

“People are coming to apprenticeships at different stages. It is not, if you don’t have one by 18 your chance has gone, in that respect. There is an openness for employers to consider doing this and seeing apprenticeships as an opportunity to address and meet some of their skills needs.” 

While details of what the campaign could involve are still being drawn up, it is likely to include social media and possibly regional TV, which Tabb says has proved successful in other recent campaigns. 

But one of the key issues to overcome is likely to be around levels of pay. 

Tabb said: “I think there is an understandable point about over-50s saying I need more money than the £18,000 that a level 3 apprenticeship might be offering me in that respect, but I think that is something we want to work through and understand and see where some of the added value we can bring to that.” 

He added that it would be about removing barriers to apprenticeships that the combined authority has influence over. 

Other recommendations from the task group include a broader communications plan for apprenticeships, targeted communications programmes for those who may be harder to reach (such as school leavers and those with special educational needs), and supporting colleges and training providers to access funding for equipment and facilities. 

It also wants to promote earlier engagement between large local employers and school-aged children to help inspire youngsters sooner. 

UK hosts special WorldSkills competition this week

The UK is hosting the global WorldSkills competition this week for the first time in over ten years – albeit on a smaller scale.

Competitors have travelled from around the world, including Singapore, Canada, and Zimbabwe to compete in aircraft maintenance and manufacturing in Cardiff and Wrexham from Tuesday until Friday. 

They are taking part in this year’s special edition of WorldSkills, which is being hosted by multiple countries after continuing Covid restrictions meant the whole event couldn’t go ahead in Shanghai as planned.

Despite fierce competition and rigorous training schedules, WorldSkills international competitors donned matching waterproof jackets and headed out into Wales’s lush countryside to explore the country’s cultural heritage. 

The tiny Welsh village of St Fagans, reconstructed into a museum in 1948, lies just a few miles west of Cardiff. Red, blue, pink, and white pebbledash cottages stand amongst reconstructed Iron Age farmsteads.

International competitors walking through a Welsh village

It is Coby Yong’s first time in Wales, having flown over from Singapore to compete against 13 other countries in the aircraft maintenance competition.

The 19-year-old said: “It’s a beautiful country… Singapore is highly dense and all-around Singapore there are high rise buildings. Whereas here there is a lot of flat lands, it’s very calm and chill here.”

The teams were taken further north to Blaenavon to visit an old coal mine, named Big Pit. In its heyday the mine employed up to 1,300 men. Since then, this little village’s population has dwindled down to a few thousand. 

WorldSkills competitors walked through the old mines 300ft tunnels, sensing what life would have been like for the miners in the 1800’s.

Ahmed Alkindi, from the United Arab Emirates Team, is happy to have travelled to Wales to compete. He said: “Wales is really nice. I think it’s the best because I have visited the castles and the mines. The weather is really cool compared to my country. It is 30 degrees in Dubai right now and gets up to 45 degrees in the summer.”

The finalists have been intensively training over the last three years to win medals in aircraft maintenance and manufacturing skills. Winning a medal will have a life-changing impact for them and their careers.

Ewan Payne is representing the UK in Aircraft Maintenance in Cardiff. George Denman, from Swansea, Michael Jones, from Caerphilly, and Charlie Samson, from Wrexham, are on the manufacturing UK team.  

Denman told FE Week that training has focussed on coping under pressure and being involved in WorldSkills will be a huge boost to his career. 

He added: “Being involved with WorldSkills UK … teaches us key skills that will be crucial in our careers. Things like coping under pressure, working as a team, and time management.”

Michael Jones says he thought that the Duke of Edinburgh would be the hardest thing he has done. Turns out he was wrong. He said: “This is harder, but I love it. To represent the UK is fantastic but I’m not sure that my partner, friends, and family quite realise yet how big this is. Winning a gold medal would be life changing.”

Payne, an RAF Aircraft engineer based at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire, is the only competitor representing the UK in aircraft maintenance. Payne has served in the USA, France and the Middle East and is a qualified sky diver. 

He is following in the footsteps of Hadyn Jakes, who brought home the gold medal for Team UK at the last championships in Kazan in 2019. Since competing in 2019, Haydn returned to his studies at the University of Nottingham and was awarded an MBE in 2020. He is now part of the WorldSkills UK training team and is working with Ewan in preparation for November’s final.

Jakes said: “It is like nothing you have experienced before and, as well as demonstrating you have the technical skills, you must be able to keep focus and perform under pressure.”

Payne added: “The training that I’ve been going through with my training manager has been hard. I’ve learnt a lot throughout this journey and I’m very appreciative of Jimmy, my training manager, for all the support he’s given me. It is a hard journey.”

Team UK are up against some of the world’s best talent. France’s Valentin Borkowski has been training full time for the past three years. Alkindi has also been training intensively over the past two years. 

As has Yong, who tells FE Week that he has been training full time, every day for the past three years. “My training starts at 8am and ends at 6pm Monday to Friday. Basically, it’s a job.”

Competitions will finish today, with winners announced tomorrow in the closing ceremony.

The 23-year-old Alkindi said: “We are all winners. Everyone who reached this level to make it to the WorldSkills are champions. Because I believe everyone here is a professional who worked hard for one to two years three years from their life. I think all of us are champions.”

Ofsted faces another legal challenge over lack of Covid consideration

A long-running hairdressing apprenticeship provider is legally challenging a damaging Ofsted grade, saying the “shock” report fails to consider the impact of Covid-19.

UK Training & Development Limited (UKTD Ltd), based in Hemel Hampstead and set up in 1998, was dealt an inadequate rating after an inspection with the education watchdog in July. Its funding contracts are likely to be terminated by the government as a result.

In a report published last week, Ofsted claimed that leaders are “not ambitious” for most of their near-200 apprentices, adding that too many do not secure employment following their apprenticeship and fewer than half stay at their current employer.

Inspectors also said apprentices often struggle to meet the demands of work and study because they “do not regularly receive their entitlement to time away from work” and claimed that apprentices were “frustrated” with the training and assessment provided.

But the provider is furious with Ofsted’s report. Managing director Theresa Wisniewski has sought legal advice, and is now preparing to challenge the inspectorate through the courts.

Her main issue is that inspectors allegedly failed to properly consider the impact of Covid on the hairdressing and barbering industry “despite the inspection handbook requiring that inspectors do this”.

UKTD is the third provider in recent months to complain that Ofsted is handing out grade fours without considering the part the pandemic has played on apprenticeship delivery – and to follow it up with legal action.

Wisniewski said her provider’s report was “devoid of any details about Covid”.

“The practicalities of work-based learning in a sector that had restrictions imposed for months after lockdown, which ended long after other sectors had already started the recovery phase, has not been assessed in our view,” she told FE Week.

“The impact lasted for at least two years.”

This is UKTD’s third ‘inadequate’ Ofsted inspection since 2017.

The previous two were based on safeguarding failings. It is not clear why the Education and Skills Funding Agency did not terminate the provider’s contracts following the previous grade four judgements, as is usual practice for independent training providers. The agency can, however, decide not to terminate contracts in exceptional circumstances.

The ESFA declined to comment on whether it would terminate UKTD’s contracts following its latest grade four.

UKTD received an improved ‘requires improvement’ report in 2019, and Ofsted found they had made ‘reasonable progress’ in a monitoring visit in 2021.

But last week’s ‘inadequate’ report said leaders and managers “have not rectified many of the weaknesses identified at previous Ofsted inspections. “Leaders accept modest improvements too readily and have an unrealistic picture of their current position … As a result, persistent weaknesses remain.”

Although the watchdog noted that safeguarding arrangements are effective, and apprentices feel valued by staff in their learning environments.

Wisniewski said: “We are naturally very disappointed with the Ofsted inspection findings, and we have instructed solicitors to assist us challenge the findings in the report. Only a year ago we were found to be making ‘reasonable progress’ in all areas for improvement inspected by Ofsted so the current findings have come as a shock.

“It is very frustrating for any provider when outcomes lack consistency and seem to be dependent on which inspection team arrives on the day.”

Angela Sandhal of Duncan Lewis Solicitors, who will be assisting the provider with legal action, said: “My client is concerned that the current inspection findings are part of a pattern of grade four inspections at a time when providers are still in the Covid recovery phase.

“We have asked Ofsted to provide us with the raw data gathered during the inspection process but so far they have failed to do this.”

New ESFA chief plans financial handbook ‘bible’ for ITPs

The Education and Skills Funding Agency’s (ESFA) new chief has voiced plans to introduce a financial handbook for independent training providers, as part of a pledge to improve partnership working between the agency and the sector. 

David Withey, who became ESFA chief executive in August, said the handbook will be an equivalent of the academies trust handbook, and hoped it would aid ITPs in their understanding of funding rules and procedures – essentially acting as their “bible”. 

Speaking in Manchester on Tuesday at the Association of Employment and Learning Provider’s autumn conference, Withey said: “One of the things we have been thinking about recently is an ITP handbook, based on the model we have for academies – a financial handbook intended to be the bible that sets out how everything should work in one place. 

“That isn’t perfect, but it does bring things together in a single place to be a bit clearer.” 

“We have been working with AELP and a number of individual ITPs to work out how we can make that happen because it is probably more complicated in this space.” 

Academy trusts must comply with the rules in the academy trust handbook as part of their funding agreements, and contains guidance on the main financial requirements for trusts, scrutiny checks, annual accounts and external audits, and regulation and intervention. 

In addition, Withey said he wanted to ensure the funding rules were simpler to understand for providers. 

He said he finds some of the frameworks “pretty complex” and added: “A handbook or rules only can truly help people if the rules, frameworks and procedures it encompasses are appropriately simple to understand.” 

Furthermore, the ESFA is planning to release an online version of its data analysis tool this month to act as a “data self-assessment toolkit” to help ITPs identify potential data anomalies. 

During his speech, Withey voiced ambitions for a better balance between its regulatory work and guidance for providers. “I think it is probably fair to say we are not getting that balance right all of the time,” he said. 

“Because, if this is working well, if that balance is balanced, then it means you might discover a funding issue or you might be a bit uncertain about an approach to funding rules, and feel able to come and talk to us about it without fear of consequences.” 

He added: “What I ultimately want to achieve is a shift in perspective of the agency to a greater, more supportive partnership.” 

The ‘galling’ pay-offs for DfE ministers on political merry-go-round

Nineteen politicians have held office at the Department for Education in just over a year – with those resigning or booted out in reshuffles entitled to more than £100,000 in severance pay. 

Analysis by the Institute for Government shows education had more secretaries of state (four) this year than any other department. Five other departments had three.   

FE Week analysis reveals 19 ministers have held one of what was six ministerial posts, reduced to five since September last year.  

Ministers are entitled to severance pay no matter how long they serve – providing they don’t get another government position within three weeks. 

Our study shows that 10 ministers who resigned or were sacked are due nearly £110,000 in pay-offs. 

‘Schools and colleges would be admonished for this’ 

Ed Reza Schwitzer, associate director at Public First, said: “All the talk from politicians is about civil servants being more efficient and squeezing value out of every pound of taxpayers’ money.   

“And yet the government is doing something they would admonish schools and colleges for. A school or college firing senior staff willy nilly, paying them severance, and then doing the same all over again – it would be slapped with a financial notice to improve.” 

The pay-outs include £36,000 to four ministers who were axed last week, three of whom only served for 50 days. 

It also includes skills minister Alex Burghart who resigned on July 6 over Boris Johnson’s handling of the Chris Pincher scandal, but was appointed minister for pensions and growth just 10 week later. He was due more than £5,500 severance. 

At least three education advisers were also due pay-offs – estimated to be nearly £19,000 each – taking the overall amount potentially paid out to nearly £150,000. 

Mary Bousted, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said it was “galling that people who have done the job with no outcomes and little evidence of success are getting pay-outs”. 

The three shortest serving education secretaries since 1941 are Michelle Donelan (1.5 days), Kit Malthouse (50 days) and James Cleverly (61 days), who all were in post this year. 

Bousted said civil servants had been unable to get ministerial direction to guide policy-making. 

“Meanwhile chronic problems are getting worse: recruitment and retention, funding, industrial action.” 

Schwitzer said civil servants spending hours bringing new ministers up to speed every few weeks was also a “really poor use of time. And then the politician can’t get anything done before they are moved out.”  

‘Payments are unjustifiable’  

Analysis by Sky News shows that a total of 71 ministers and whips who were either sacked or who resigned this year were eligible to receive up to £709,000. 

But ministers can reject pay-outs. Donelan said she turned down the nearly £17,000 severance she was entitled to, after saying earlier that she would have given it to charity if she couldn’t reject it. 

Members of the Labour group for Stoke council are urging Jonathan Gullis, the former schools minister, to refuse the payment or at least donate to “local good causes”. 

“At a time when residents in our city are hit by the cost-of-living crisis – the result of the catastrophic mini-budget introduced by your government in late September – we feel such payments are unjustifiable,” the group said in a letter. 

FE Week contacted all 10 ministers due severance. Robin Walker, a former schools minister, confirmed he was entitled to £7,920, but did not say whether he was paid. 

Gullis and Kelly Tolhurst, a former schools and children’s minister, said they had not been informed of any details relating to severance pay. The others did not respond. 

Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said he hoped short-serving ministers would turn-down pay-outs, which looked “pretty sordid at a time of a school and college funding crisis”. 

But the return of experienced campaigners Nick Gibb, likely schools minister, Rob Halfon, likely skills minister, and education secretary Gillian Keegan – a former skills minister – brought hope. 

“We now have in place an experienced team of ministers, who we hope will advocate strongly for the education sector … and provide some badly needed stability,” Barton added. 

Claire Coutinho has joined as a junior minister.  

The statistics 

19 MPs have held a DfE ministerial role since September last year 

5 Education secretaries in under four months 

840 days Average time in office of education secretaries appointed before September 2021 

101 days Average time in office of education secretaries appointed after September 2021   

1.5 days Michelle Donelan’s time as education secretary 

‘Crushed’: 1 in 3 health and science T Level students turn their backs on flagship qualification

A third of health and science T Level students switched to alternative courses or dropped out of college entirely after their first year following this summer’s exams fiasco.

An FE Week investigation has unearthed the extent of the fallout from the “diabolical” assessments, which were found to have been unfit for purpose by Ofqual following protest from more than 1,110 students.

Devastated students have spoken of how the debacle left them “crushed” and with no other choice but to turn their back on the flagship new qualification.

They faced tough calls on whether to continue with the course, re-take their employer-set project in the hope of a better grade, or switch to alternative courses like A-levels or BTECs. Some (see panel) said they were no longer pursuing their dream job, or now facing “years longer” to reach their goal.

Around 1,600 students started the health and science T Level in 2021, with 1,115 receiving a grade after the first year.

A series of Freedom of Information requests were sent by this publication to all colleges and sixth forms that delivered the course, with data received at the time of publication for just under 1,000 students.

Of those, a third switched to alternative courses or dropped out of college entirely. More than 42 per cent were resitting their employer-set projects.

By comparison, the drop out rate for BTEC health and social care diploma is less than 10 per cent, while the drop-out rate for BTEC diploma in applied science is less than 11 per cent, according to latest government data.

FE Week’s figures also shows that numbers of first year starters for the 2022/23 academic year are down more than 26 per cent on the first year of the course in 2021/22.

The data comes after the exams regulator Ofqual investigated the core exams following complaints by students in the summer who received lower grades than expected, which found that papers were not fit for purpose. The regulator found “question errors, inadequate mark schemes and questions covering areas not explicitly in the specification,” which meant the assessments “do not secure a sufficiently valid or reliable measure of student performance”.

It ruled that the 1,115 first year students should be graded entirely on their employer-set project if that was better than their overall grade, with awarding body NCFE tasked with fixing the problems in time for this year’s exams.

Problems persisting?

At least 11 colleges are not running the course this year while problems are ironed out, the data shows, with at least four of those having switched all of their first years from last year onto different courses this year too.

A spokesperson from Furness College, one of those which opted not to take first years for 2022/23, said: “We took a strategic decision based on information available at the time to pause our T Level health programme until September 2023.

“Our CEIAG [careers education, information advice and guidance] to students is the cornerstone of enrolment and must always be in the best interests of students in terms of their progression and success.”

A spokesperson from Middlesbrough College, another to pause intake for 2022, said at the time of needing to decide about this year’s courses it “did not have sufficient assurance that the problems that arose this summer around examinations would not be repeated”.

They added that the T Level brand “had suffered to the extent that our student numbers in this area were significantly below our expectations and so we felt that running classes would not have represented a prudent allocation of resources”.

The college said it was committed to supporting the qualification in future, once issues had been supported and dealt with.

Shipley College was among those to put new students on alternative level 3 qualifications instead of the T Level this year, adding that “delivery will recommence in ‘23/24 once we are confident the issues have been resolved”.

Other colleges, while continuing to run the course, have seen a big drop in numbers this year. Leeds City College had 50 first years in 2021/22, but just 16 this time around.

Gemma Simmons-Blench, deputy chief executive for curriculum with Luminate Group which runs the college, said it was a “much bigger drop than we could have potentially hoped for, it’s been really disappointing” but was directly in correlation with the problems in the exams because “our recruitment in other T Level areas is really strong”.

She added: “It’s really difficult because we have got students when they started this programme they knew they were on a flagship programme, absolutely flying-high, just feeling really disillusioned.”

Assurances offered

NCFE has signed an enforceable undertaking with Ofqual to deliver improvements in time for the next set of exams, which includes providing statements of assurances for its T Levels confirming action plan measures have been delivered and problems raised in the first-year exams do not remain.

The awarding body said it had reviewed existing processes and rolled out a package of resources to support teaching staff.

But one tutor at a college that has switched all its students on to level 3 equivalents said colleagues still delivering the qualifications at some other establishments were “completely bewildered” on whether they needed to teach their courses differently.

The tutor, who did not wish to be named, said “lecturers are becoming despondent due to the slow nature of change,” and added: “Change must happen soon to bring some confidence back to the brand, but also to the awarding bodies and organisations that have placed the future of healthcare education in massive jeopardy.”

Simmons-Blench added that there remained a “massive fear” of mistakes being repeated this year.

Bucking the trend

Despite the problems, some colleges are bucking the trend and recruiting more students for this year.

MidKent College has 55 first year enrolments this year compared to 28 last year, while Newham College of Further Education has upped its intake from eight to 28.

City College Norwich had five students last year, on the science pathway only, but this year has 45 students – 12 on science and 33 on health.

College principal Jerry White said it opted to run both the health and science T Level and continue the level 3 health and social care BTEC it was already running.

Students aiming for social care careers were directed toward the BTEC this year, while those wanting health careers were advised the T Level suited their needs more.

Jerry White

“We can see distinct pathways, we think we can see a need that isn’t met by the T Level suite as it currently exists and therefore, we want to continue the health and social care BTEC in that regard,” he said.

The college confirmed the issues with the initial exams had not impacted on retention of its first years for this year, with White adding he had confidence last year’s errors would not be repeated.

Simmons-Blench said “fundamentally they are great qualifications,” which “should offer those students really excellent transition and progression routes”.

A spokesperson from the Department for Education said: “In response to the errors in exam papers, grades were re-issued based on students’ project assessments taken as part of their course, with no student being disadvantaged though this process, and IfATE is now reviewing the content of the courses.

“Though we recognise that some students will have switched to other courses, we are working hard to make sure these issues do not happen again.”

‘I felt completely let down’

Students who opted to switch courses have spoken to FE Week of the difficulties they have faced – and continuing impacts the summer issues have had on them.

Meg Longstaff was a student at Hopwood Hall College, with plans to progress onto a mental health nursing course at university after the two-year T Level.

She opted to switch to A-levels for this year after feeling “completely let down” by the exam problems. She continues to work towards her plans to go to university, but is now a year behind her original plans.

 “After results day when we came to find the correlation of the average grades being Es and Us across the country, I realised I couldn’t get into university no matter how well I did in the second year due to how the overall grading worked,” the 17-year-old said.

“I now feel much more confident about my future [having switched] but still wish that NCFE would have owned up to the problem at the very start, in order to try and prevent people from having to drop out or swap courses.”

Another student, who did not wish to be named, studied the first year at Fareham College, but stopped after the exams to instead work as a pharmacy dispenser full time. Their original plan had been to progress to university and qualify as a paramedic, and had been encouraged to do the T Level to get there.

Now, their plan has switched to applying for an emergency care assistant role in the next couple of years which would lead to an access course and degree apprenticeship with an ambulance trust to become a paramedic.

“Due to the T Level my plans have been put on hold for a few years,” they said. “I still feel the same about my career aspirations and want to do the same thing, but I am disappointed at how it’s going to take me years longer.”

What is happening with the review?

The DfE has confirmed that the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) is continuing to review the health and science T Level content, and said that students that started in 2021 or 2022 are studying the current version of the content.

That review is to confirm the breadth and depth of the outline content and qualification specification, according to IfATE, with findings to be published in early 2023 and any resulting changes to be signposted accordingly.

College troubleshooter resigns over PM race row

A high-profile troubleshooter sent in by ministers to save failing colleges has resigned after becoming embroiled in a race row – but declared he is “not a racist”.

Andrew Baird, one of the government’s national leaders of governance who chairs two colleges, shared a meme in a Conservative WhatsApp group for the Surrey area about Rishi Sunak after his appointment as prime minister.

The image showed Larry the Downing Street cat walking away from Number 10 with a speech bubble saying “I’m off. Don’t want to risk being in a curry”, Baird told FE Week. Sunak is the first Asian prime minister of the UK.

Baird said he thought the meme was “extremely funny at the time”, but several members in the chat took offence to the message and reported him to the Conservative HQ. He was then suspended by the party.

Baird resigned as chair of the East Surrey Conservative Association on Friday and told FE Week today that he has also resigned as a national leader of governance and as chair of both Brooklands College and Orbital South Colleges.

David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said his organisation was “appalled” by Baird’s remarks. He added that the colleges were “right to distance themselves from this individual” as “discrimination has no place anywhere in the further education sector”.

I am not a racist. I guess it’s to do with age or something

But Baird believes the “extreme” reaction to his message has been “ridiculous” and the situation was “blown up out of proportion” by the “wokerati”.

“I think it’s actually quite outrageous that a jokey post on a private Whatsapp group gets put in the public domain and then it leads to all this,” he said. “It is just nonsense.”

Baird told FE Week that the group had 71 members.

He added: “I think I regret not thinking twice before posting something which I consider to be humorous. I didn’t consider it racist in any way. I am not a racist. I guess it’s to do with age or something.”

Baird said resigning from his college governance positions was the “right thing to do” so he does not bring their reputations into disrepute.

But he warned that the situation has led to the “detriment of colleges if I’m being perfectly honest”.

Baird was awarded an MBE for his services to further education in the Queen’s Birthday Honours earlier this year.

He became a governor of East Surrey College in 2008 before becoming chair in 2016. He led the college through a merger with John Ruskin College in 2019, at which point it became known as Orbital South Colleges.

In the same year he was appointed as one of the Department for Education’s national leaders of governance – a group of consultants led by the FE Commissioner who take home £350 a day if they are sent into struggling colleges to help turn them around.

He was parachuted into Hadlow College in 2019 after financial irregularities were exposed and ultimately led to it becoming the first college to ever go insolvent.

Later that year Baird was sent into chair Brooklands College after it was rocked by a £20 million apprenticeship scandal.

Orbital South Colleges and Brooklands College confirmed they have accepted Baird’s resignation.

A spokesperson for the Conservative Party said the meme was posted to a “private WhatsApp group, not an official Conservative Party WhatsApp Group”, adding that the matter is “currently under review”.

The DfE declined to comment.

Lord Blunkett backs away from Labour’s pledge to use 50% of apprenticeship levy on other training

The architect of Labour’s proposed apprenticeship reforms, Lord Blunkett, has distanced himself from the party’s pledge to use half of levy funding on other training, saying further “dialogue” is needed to get the flexibility right.

However, the party’s shadow education secretary has confirmed that major levy reform will be a manifesto pledge for the next election.

At September’s party conference following leader Keir Starmer’s keynote address, Labour announced plans to widen the levy so that it could be used more flexibly, saying more details would be published in a report by the former education secretary under Tony Blair, David Blunkett, now the party’s chair of the Council of Skills Advisers.

A press release at the time said the levy would be known as the ‘growth and skills levy’, and explained that “under this, firms will be able to spend up to 50 per cent of their levy contributions, including currently unspent money, on non-apprenticeship training, with at least 50 per cent being reserved for apprenticeships to preserve existing provision”.

Sector leaders raised concern at the time about whether this new system would leave enough funding for small and medium-sized employers to use.

But, in the Council of Skills Advisers’ report – published last week in half term and given to the party leadership to decide what measures they wish to pursue – there was no mention of the 50 per cent split.

When asked by FE Week at last week’s launch event at Lambeth College whether that figure had come from the council’s proposals, Lord Blunkett said: “No, we didn’t recommend that, we recommended that we should reshape it to provide flexibility.”

He added that “there is dialogue to be had with whoever wrote the bit that went out alongside Keir’s speech to get it right, because we have got to get that right”.

Following further questions from FE Week as to whether the 50 per cent split remained a policy commitment, Lord Blunkett later added: “There is complete unity of purpose and alignment on the need to reform the levy, to provide much greater flexibility, and to target both younger learners and those at entry level into apprenticeships.

“The statement put out separately to Keir Starmer’s conference speech was an indicative indication, not a policy commitment. The exact way in which flexibility will be applied will be part of the further policy development.”

Tom Richmond, director of think tank EDSK and a former advisor to government skills ministers, cautioned that politicians who wish to reform the levy “should be wary of arbitrary funding splits that do little to encourage employers to invest more in skills and training”.

He agreed with Lord Blunkett that levy reform offers an opportunity to rethink its purpose, but warned that “extra flexibility for levy-paying employers could easily result in more funding being spent on older and existing employees as well as further rebadging of current training provision as ‘apprenticeships’. This would mean even less funding being available in future for smaller businesses and new recruits, which would be a terrible outcome”.

Labour’s report compiled more than 20 recommendations spanning from early years to adult education, aimed at boosting economic recovery and tackling skills gaps, with the party leadership set to decide what measures it will take forward.

Among some of the other headline recommendations were proposals to bring back the education maintenance allowance (EMA) as well as individual learner accounts, further devolution of decision making and spending powers, and establishing a National Skills Taskforce (NST) bringing together key industry players to drive long-term planning and ensure devolved decisions meet national objectives too.

When asked at the launch event which of the proposals will most likely make it into the party’s next election manifesto, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson confirmed the levy reform and NST would be among those.

She said: “I think personally on early years and childcare it is clear we do need a childcare system that supports parents to work but also gives our children a great start in life. We set out the first steps towards that at the party conference around breakfast clubs for every primary school child in England.

“We are also clear that we do need to see apprenticeship levy reform, and Keir spoke about that as well, about the importance of there being great flexibility in making sure that we allow people to upskill and retrain throughout their lives.

“What David’s report says about the National Skills Taskforce we will take forward as Skills England, so bringing together government, business, trade unions, and experts working across government in order to harness that national mission that we need to see around skills.”