Who is Luke Hall? 11 facts about the new skills, apprenticeships and HE minister

Luke Hall was appointed as a Department for Education minister last week following the sudden resignation of Robert Halfon. 

The DfE has now confirmed that Hall will take over all of Halfon’s responsibilities for skills, apprenticeships, and higher education.

Here’s what we know about the incumbent minister:

  1. Aged 37, Hall was born in South Gloucestershire and worked in supermarket chain Lidl from age 18. He became the manager of the supermarket branch in Yate and then progressed to area manager for Farmfoods.
  2. Hall was first elected as a Conservative MP for Thornbury and Yate in the 2015 general election. 
  3. Since then, he has voted in parliament for schools to become academies and has pushed for the construction of a SEND school in his constituency. He also spoke in 2021 about his work with DfE to carry out the ambitions of the skills for jobs white paper, including the devolution of the adult education budget.
  4. He was one of the MPs implicated in the battlebus expenses scandal in 2015 for reportedly spending more than the constituency cap during the election campaign. The Crown Prosecution Service ultimately did not press charges on any MPs despite finding evidence of inaccurate spending, according to reports at the time.
  5. He has sat on several House of Commons committees, including for work and pensions, petitions, and environmental audit.
  6. Hall has also served in junior government roles as minister for rough sleeping and housing and was a parliamentary private secretary to the ministerial team at DfE in 2017.
  7. In 2017, Hall was re-elected as MP with a 55.3 per cent majority compared to 14.2 per cent in 2015.
  8. Luke Hall originally campaigned to remain in the European Union. Since then, he has stayed on the side of the government, voting to trigger Article 50 – the treaty to begin Brexit. 
    “Prior to the referendum, I personally advocated and campaigned for a remain vote, so I can completely understand the concerns that many people have,” he told local reporters.
    “However, both South Gloucestershire and the country voted to leave the European Union, and I am respecting that result.”
  9. The MP was also minister for regional growth at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government from September 2020 until September 2021. During that period, he came under fire from the opposition for advising rough sleepers to “where appropriate and possible, to return to friends and family”.
  10. He has also held the post of Conservative Party deputy chair until he resigned in July 2022 ahead of Boris Johnson’s resignation as prime minister. Current prime minister Rishi Sunak reappointed Hall as deputy chair last February.
  11. Hall has accepted donations from companies and private individuals alike over the years. Most recently, he received £5,000 from the Bristol Port Company. Hall has also received a total of £18,396.66 from Andrew Godson since 2019. Godson appears to be the CEO of an investment firm in London named Aptimus Capital Partners. He has also received donations from Henry Somerset, an English peer and landowner in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.

Ofsted upgrades ‘resilient’ emergency care provider from ‘inadequate’ to ‘good’

An emergency care training provider that struggled to support hundreds of apprentices it took on at short notice has seen its Ofsted grade jump from ‘inadequate’ to ‘good’.

In 2022, the education watchdog criticised Medipro for a lack of resources and infrastructure to support 537 ambulance worker apprentices that it took on in addition to its own 700 apprentices.

The Stockton-on-Tees based provider stepped in to help the additional apprentices a year earlier at the request of the government after their previous provider, the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust, lost its contract due to “inappropriate behaviour” of some staff.

Following a full inspection last month, Ofsted said Medipro has been “proactive” in improving on previous criticisms that it had failed to act “quickly or effectively enough” to ensure a smooth transition for the apprentices.

Leaders and managers now have “effective quality assurance processes” in place to ensure apprentices achieve their qualification.

They have effective oversight of their apprenticeship programmes and a “detailed understanding” of their learners’ progress and support.

The provider is also in the process of setting up an advisory board, the watchdog reported.

Inspectors praised the way tutors, who are all serving paramedics, “skillfully link theory to practical application” in their teaching.

The report, which scored Medipro as ‘good’ across the board, said apprentices “rapidly acquire significant new knowledge, skills and behaviours” and are well prepared for future job roles.

‘Demotivated’ apprentices show ‘determination’

Medipro – which also has branches in the east of England and Bristol – added the 537 apprentices from the NHS ambulance trust to its own 700 apprentices in 2021.

Many of the new learners had reportedly already reached their planned end date, but 230 were yet to qualify when Ofsted inspectors arrived a year later, in November 2022.

Ofsted said “too many” of the transferred apprentices were “demotivated” and “frustrated” by a lack of guidance and clarity about their progress. 

Inspectors 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 was a relatively new apprenticeship training provider, having only started this type of teaching in April 2020.

However, the Education and Skills Funding Agency took the rare decision of retaining Medipro’s funding agreement despite the ‘inadequate’ grading in recognition of the way the provider had stepped in at short notice.

At the time, Medipro’s managing director Brian English said he was “disappointed” given the size of the group of transferred apprentices, the short timeframe for taking them on, and the fact that their portfolios were paper-based.

Two short Ofsted monitoring reports in 2023 showed the training provider soon made improvements including giving learners a dedicated tutor, offering drop-in support and an online portfolio to receive feedback from their tutor.

Kirsty Wharton, head of apprenticeships at Medipro, said: “During the late Autumn of 2021, Medipro was approached by ESFA and Health Education England to onboard 600 apprentices who were not able to continue with their current provider.

“This was a large scale and complex task which was still being undertook when we had our Ofsted inspection.

“I’m pleased to say that over 95 per cent of these apprentices have now succeeded and are working in their greatly-needed sector, and that we have now returned to normal operational business as reflected with this grade and the previous monitoring inspections.

“I would like to thank by staff for their resilience and fortitude over this past year, and the apprentices themselves for showing perseverance and determination during the re-engagement process.”

Resilient Ricketts: How Brooklands was saved from going broke

Christine Ricketts tells FE Week how an all-or-nothing council meeting saved Brooklands College from going bust, clearing a path to a ‘bright and thriving future’

On Tuesday December 5, 2023, Christine Ricketts headed to Elmbridge Borough Council for a showdown presentation with 15 councillors that would decide whether Brooklands College would go insolvent, or survive. 

It was the culmination of four years of estates planning triggered by a subcontracting scandal that required the small college to repay the Department for Education more than £20 million.

“There were no other options on the table. It was high stakes,” the principal explains.

“I remember how emotional I felt when I presented, it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. It was crystal clear to me that we had to get that planning. I’m not a business person but I do care about students, and I’m the CEO of a college, so that’s how I approached it.”

And her approach worked. Despite one councillor – unfairly and inappropriately in Ricketts’ view – suggesting the principal was effectively blackmailing the council into approving the £45 million redevelopment to ensure the area has a college, 11 councillors voted in favour, and four opposed.

The greenlight was met with celebrations outside the council hall at around 9.30 pm from staff who went along to support their principal. But for Ricketts, there was no time to rest. Despite one weight being lifted off her shoulders, Ofsted had begun inspecting her college that very same day.

She was finally able to “take a moment” and reflect on a stressful but “fantastic” week on the Friday when the college was told it would retain its ‘good’ rating.

The journey to get to this point was one of twists, turns, survival and resilience for the Surrey-based college.

The scandal that almost broke Brooklands

Longstanding FE Week readers will remember how events unfolded in 2018 that plunged the then-financially healthy college to the brink of insolvency overnight.

To recap: The Education and Skills Funding Agency discovered how one of Brooklands College’s subcontractors, SCL Security Ltd, was using apprenticeship funding illegally including by making up “ghost” learners and using funding to pay wages.

The college handed over millions of pounds over three years with little oversight to the mysterious provider that had hardly any staff and fake locations across the country.

As Brooklands was the prime provider in the relationship, it fell on the college to repay the government when officials discovered fraudulent activity – a whopping £20 million worth.

Several other colleges also got stung by SCL Security, but nowhere near the scale of Brooklands. 

The subcontractor went bust in 2020 and its owner, Andrew Merritt, has been banned from running a company until August 15, 2029, by the Insolvency Service. He’s also had to sell his multi-million-pound home to repay some creditors. 

The SCL Security case was one of the main reasons for the government’s subcontracting crackdown that began in 2020.

Ricketts joined the college as deputy principal in 2016 and stepped up to the top job in 2019 after the former principal, who handled subcontracting and apprenticeship arrangements directly as a separate unit from other parts of the college, resigned. 

The FE Commissioner intervened and imposed an immediate ban on subcontracting – a big income stream for the college. The college saw its budget halve from £23 million in 2017 to £11 million in 2020.

Income has begun to increase in recent years and sat at £13 million in 2023, driven by increases in student numbers, particularly in its own direct apprenticeship delivery.

Andrew Baird, one of the FE Commissioner’s national leaders of governance, was parachuted into Brooklands College as chair in 2019 to aid Ricketts in the recovery mission.

It says more about a person if they step up rather than walk away

The principal says she was “shocked” at the “huge scale” of fraud, lack of integrity and debt the college was left with, but that she was “absolutely aware” of the recovery job at hand.

“It says more about a person if they step up rather than walk away in a situation like that.

“I knew what the challenges were but I also knew this was a good college with loads of potential in terms of the estate and the importance of its position in the local community.”

One of the key challenges Ricketts faced was communication about the college’s future with staff and students amid reports of potential insolvency in the trade and local press.

“It was a very difficult period. Insolvency was discussed in ESFA meetings, but my responsibility was to give continuity to the college. So, irrespective of all of the noise, I had a responsibility to ensure students had a really good experience.

“The fear definitely filters down to the staff. It’ll only filter down to the students if the staff are relaying some of those negative messages about survival. So, our comms approach and engagement with the staff was absolutely critical.

“Brooklands is very fortunate to have very committed, hard-working staff who really care about the students and that has come through.”

Staff numbers have reduced at Brooklands College from over 300 in 2018 to 231 in 2023.

Ricketts says she brought in a completely new executive team when she took on the top job after the SCL Security fiasco came to light, but claims staff have remained relatively stable.

She admits that staff were “rightly concerned of the scale of the SCL challenge” and the sudden change in leadership caused “disruption”, but turnover “wasn’t particularly high”.

The apparent solid relationship between leadership, staff and students was evident when in late 2019 Ofsted came knocking and handed the college a ‘good’ judgment, an achievement which it repeated this year.

The £45m redevelopment rescue

While good quality education was being delivered, leadership had to work on a debt-repayment plan and chose to revisit an idea first floated in 2007 about redeveloping its large multi-site campus.

In the aftermath of Covid, the college announced a major resizing plan that involved selling off land and a historic mansion to make way for houses in a deal worth around £45 million with Cala Homes.

The project at Brooklands’ Weybridge site will build 320 new homes, including 128 “affordable homes” for local families, a new sports centre, a community hub, and public access to 12 hectares of woodland.

The new campus will also feature a new dedicated special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) building.

But, while leadership worked on the proposal the college was brought under the spotlight for the wrong reasons again – this time because its government consultant chair, Andrew Baird, became embroiled in a race row.

He shared a racist meme in a local Conservative Party WhatsApp group about Rishi Sunak after his appointment as prime minister in October 2022. The college troubleshooter was suspended by the Tory Party and resigned as chair of Brooklands. 

Ricketts said when the situation emerged, she was “initially shocked” but went straight into leadership mode to promote then-vice chair Barbara Spittle to interim chair and communicate the change to staff. 

“There was a little bit of disruption, obviously, because of the nature of Andrew leaving,” Ricketts says, “but it was absolutely right that we acted immediately”.

The college named a new permanent chair in summer 2023, bringing in former university vice-chancellor Professor Craig Mahoney, who “adds a new set of skills and expertise that actually we really needed”.

After handling the chair controversy, attention returned to securing the planning application for the redevelopment and it all boiled down to that presentation to council leaders on December 15. Work is now expected to start after the Easter break.

Resizing, not downsizing

Selling off college buildings and land for homes has often led to local outrage in various parts of the college in recent years, considering the implications of a reduced course offer.

Ricketts says the question was raised during the estates development but claims the project will actually allow the college to grow its 16-18 space, in its “buoyant” STEM offer and SEND. 

“Although we’re resizing, we’re not downsizing. We’ve got so much land that now it feels like a land-based college. So, we will consolidate the college, it will be much better environment for the students.”

Far from cutting provision, Brooklands will be introducing new courses including T Levels from September.

Student numbers have also “held up” at the college and leaders predict growth from demographic estimations in the coming years.

Ricketts expects the “vast majority” of Brooklands’ government debt to be repaid when Cala Homes transfers the money for the project this year. Final repayments will be made over the next few years.

Survival, resilience, leadership

Next steps will be exiting formal intervention. The college is still banned from subcontracting but has no desire to re-enter that market anytime soon.

Reflecting on the saga, Ricketts says it has been an “absolute privilege” despite the circumstances. “If I’m honest, I didn’t really stop at any point and think, ‘oh, this is chaotic or how are we how are we going to get through this?’

“But it has certainly developed me as a leader to come through that journey and have real positives on the redevelopment and Ofsted. It’s amazing. The team have done a fantastic job.

“How I’m not burnt out I’m not sure, but my intention is to stay and see the development through. It’s a fantastic story in FE about survival, about resilience, about strong leadership.

“We are on our way for that bright and thriving future.”

Special exam requests soar in colleges

Soaring requests for special exam access arrangements in colleges are putting a strain on staffing and causing campuses to temporarily close, an FE Week investigation has found.

Almost nine in 10 (86 per cent) of exams officers have reported the number of students needing reasonable adjustments has soared since the return of exams in 2022, according to a snap survey of 50 colleges by the Association of Colleges.

Leaders told FE Week more students are experiencing anxiety and other mental health issues stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic. In turn, increasing numbers of students are requesting extra help such as extra time or rest breaks, during exam season.

However, the increase in requests is putting pressure on staff workloads as they are required to invigilate smaller groups of students in classrooms instead of exam halls.

DfE data shows there were 556,435 approved access arrangements for GCSE, AS and A-level exams during 2022/23, up by 8.7 per cent from 2021/22. Learners asking for 25 per cent extra time was the most common request.

Nottingham College has seen a 102 per cent increase in exam support requests – from 800 learners last summer recorded as having current support needs to 1,623 learners this academic year.

Rachel Wadsworth, vice principal for curriculum and support, said this exam support requests are at a record high.

“I think there’s a variety of reasons for this – the effects on anxiety following the pandemic, but also more awareness of needs across the education sector, as well as from parents,” she said.

“Inevitably, this means more staff support is needed for arrangements such as scribes and readers. We also need to consider space, to accommodate those who need separate rooms.”

Some colleges, such as Hartlepool College, are having to shut down the entire college during exam season so all teaching and support staff can lend a hand. The college has seen a 50 per cent increase in the number of learners tested for exam access arrangements, to a total of 300.

“There’s no way we’d be able to keep the college open and run courses on the days of exams,” said Sue Harris, Hartlepool’s head of school SEND and foundation studies. “There’s just far too many people involved.”

Bridgwater & Taunton College has seen a 47 per cent increase in exam access arrangement referrals in 2023/24.

A spokesperson said: “We also receive referrals for centre-delegated arrangements such as alternative rooms, with this being the most common request this academic year. We have utilised external assessors to support our internal team and are currently managing to accommodate all requests.”

Students are ‘anxious and overwhelmed’

Now’s the time to support students with revision and exam stress

The “devasting” impact of Covid-19 has caused a wave of poor mental health among young people.

The NHS recorded a 53 per cent increase in the number of children and young people referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) crisis teams since 2019/20.

Seeking professional help is a long wait, with young people having to wait on average five months, and in the worst cases, two years for CAMHS referrals from a GP, according to NHS England data.

“Obviously CAMHS can’t cope, they’ve got a two-year waiting list and so colleges, I feel that we’re trying to pick up the pieces of that,” said Suzanne Scott, assistant curriculum manager at Bury College.

“In particular, we’ve seen a massive increase in rest breaks, which used to be for medical conditions. Now it’s because people are so anxious and overwhelmed.”

In December, Sir Ian Bauckham, Ofqual’s interim chief regulator, highlighted the risk of “ineffective exam administration” due to staff capacity and capability and variations in requirements.

“The pressure to provide space in schools and colleges, to recruit and retain invigilators, and to manage the complexity of exam logistics is a challenge now and will continue to increase,” he said.

Harris also believes cases will rise for the next year or two.

“I think this peak that we’re having might be there for another year or two. If it keeps increasing, then, there’s going to be more of a demand for assessors across all establishments.”

Schools must share data

The survey asked 50 colleges in England what the main challenges are around arranging special adjustments for exams and found 25 colleges (50 per cent) said accommodation, 22 colleges (44 per cent) said staffing, and three colleges (six per cent) said lack of transition information.

FE staff have criticised schools for the delayed transfer of information of students after they progress to college. AoC’s survey found that less than half of colleges (46 per cent) are partially receiving information from secondary schools in good time, and 20 per cent said they are not at all getting the information in due time.

Schools are meant to transfer information on exam access arrangements of learners when they go to college, through documentation called Form 8. Colleges can assess learners if they need exam help if they don’t receive the data from schools.

“At the end of the day, if schools are unwilling to share, or they just don’t do it in time, then they’re putting that student through another assessment for no reason,” said Scott.

“This important data-sharing requirement urgently needs to be improved if all college students are to get the support they need,” added Eddie Playfair, Senior Policy Manager at Association of Colleges.

The court ruling that ‘cast a long shadow’ over college VAT

A court ruling that upended a long-held understanding over the VAT status of FE colleges continues to “cast a long shadow” over whether they can claim discounts on large building projects, some four years after it was issued.

The ruling by judges in the Upper Tribunal of the Tax and Chancery Chamber in late 2020 undermined an established government policy that required further education colleges to pay VAT on most of their spending.

Their decision was the conclusion of a complex dispute between Colchester Institute and HMRC over whether the college could reclaim VAT on a £100 million building project dating back to 2008.

The wide-ranging impact of the ruling – which set a precedent for similar cases – appeared to be an unintended outcome of the college’s attempt to reduce its tax bill on building expenses between 2010 and 2014.

It found that Colchester Institute’s education of 16- to 19-year-olds is an “exempt business activity”, meaning it would no longer have the right to discounts on some VAT costs that colleges and other charitable institutions have access to.

But shortly after the ruling was published, HMRC told colleges in a similar position to the Colchester Institute they should effectively ignore it. The tax authority appeared to suggest that it would overcome the ruling through a “new appeal” with another college.

However, four years later a new HMRC appeal is yet to emerge.

FE Week understands there are several other colleges that have lodged appeals against HMRC tax assessments due to similar disputes over how much VAT they owe on large capital projects, although the tax authority has claimed it is unable to confirm how many.

What did the ruling mean?

FE colleges have long called for more favourable rules on VAT, which costs them an estimated £200 million each year.

Before the 2020 ruling, colleges had a “non-business” status under VAT law, meaning they were unable to recover most of the tax they paid but could claim certain “reliefs”, or discounts.

The ruling meant colleges lost the right to reliefs, the most significant being full discounts on VAT for some building projects and five per cent on fuel and power costs.

It also called into question a special rule allowing academies and schools to recover VAT, giving them a bonus over FE colleges.

What happened this year?

Earlier this month a new ruling from the First Tier Tax Tribunal concluded an almost identical VAT dispute between the Colchester Institute and HMRC.

This time, HMRC took the college to court over a disagreement related to tax bill of £123,000 for a slightly later period to the 2020 ruling. According to the ruling, HMRC admitted it had “no basis” for mounting the claim and the judge cut Colchester Institute’s tax bill by about £99,000.

Is this year’s case the ‘new appeal’ HMRC promised?

Whether the new court ruling will result in an appeal to the Upper Tribunal remains unclear.

When asked whether it plans to appeal, an HMRC spokesperson would only say it is “carefully considering” the tribunal’s recent decision.

The college told FE Week: “Colchester Institute does not comment on matters where there is an ongoing legal implication”.

In a briefing on the latest ruling, accountancy giant Deloitte said HMRC chose to challenge Colchester Institute despite appearing to recognise that the outcome was a “foregone conclusion”.

The briefing added: “However, the fact that HMRC pursued the appeal anyway means that it is likely that they will apply for permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal.

“If so, any decision ultimately in favour of the college may adversely affect the further education sector’s ability to access VAT reliefs, such as the zero rate on the construction of relevant charitable buildings and the reduced rate on supplies of fuel and power.”

The ruling cast a ‘long shadow’ over colleges’ VAT claims

Audrey Fearing, a partner at tax advisory consultancy RSM UK, said the 2020 ruling on Colchester Institute’s tax claim “continues to cast a long shadow” over HMRC’s stance on colleges’ VAT exemptions.

She added that colleges are faced with a “weighing up exercise” between claiming charitable relief in line with HMRC’s policy or following the Colchester Institute in claiming its spending falls “within the scope of the VAT system.”

She said: “What [the recent ruling] means is as of today, FE colleges have a choice; they can either make claims to HMRC and avail themselves of the charitable reliefs that are available, such as construction and building work … or they can treat their income as wholly within the scope of the VAT.

“Colleges have really got to weigh up what the benefit is, if they’ve not got big capital projects coming up then why would you [challenge HMRC]?

Linda Skilbeck, a director at accountancy firm Buzzacott, said the 2020 ruling “called into question” VAT refunds given to colleges and potentially academy schools.

She added: “The consequence has been that a long-held policy of HMRC, that central government funding is outside the scope of VAT, has been undermined.”

Exit interview: Why Robert Halfon quit ‘the best job in government’

The sector was rocked on Tuesday by the sudden resignation of skills, apprenticeships, and higher education minister Robert Halfon.

The lifelong Tolkien fan signed off on fourteen years championing further education, particularly apprenticeships, in parliament invoking the wizard Gandalf: “My time is over: it is no longer my task to set things to rights, nor to help folk to do so. And as for you, my dear friends, you will need no help … among the great you are, and I have no longer any fear at all for any of you.”

Unlike Gandalf though, Halfon has no intention of disappearing across the sea, never to be seen again.

“My first political speech in 2010 was about apprenticeships, and my last political speech – whatever day that may be – will be on apprenticeships and skills. I’m actually determined that’s the case,” Halfon told FE Week the day after resigning.

Politicians often go to great lengths to avoid answering questions about their future career ambitions. But Halfon is clear: “I want to work in education and skills when I leave. I don’t know what that will be, but it’s been my great passion in life.”

Tributes from national FE leaders were uniform in their praise and gratitude when the news broke.

Sue Pember, policy director at Holex, who Halfon described as “a difficult woman to defy”, said his departure from government “will leave a void that will be keenly felt”.

Pember is not alone in attributing the increased political profile of skills and apprenticeships to Halfon’s unapologetic and relentless advocacy from the back and front benches. 

But, for him, his time was up.

“I’ve been thinking about leaving parliament for a few months. I had early discussions with the chief whip earlier in the year, but nothing had been finalised. I also wanted the government and the prime minister to know. But it’s not an easy decision.”

Between now and whenever the general election takes place, he will dedicate his time to his beloved Harlow constituency free from the pressures of ministerial office.

‘I did everything I could’

He won the seat in 2010 from the Labour Party’s Bill Rammell, a former further education minister, on his third attempt, increasing his majority since then from 4,925 to 14,063 in 2019.

In his 14-year stint in the House of Commons, he’s almost always had a parliamentary, party or government job on top of his responsibilities as an MP. He appears enthused about being able to speak his mind without having to conform to government collective responsibility.

“I’ve done this job now for 18 months, and it’s something I’m very proud of. I did everything I could do in the run-up to an election. As a minister, you obviously do work hard in your constituency. You’re not able to do as much as you can, particularly publicly, and there are things I want to do for the people of Harlow before I leave office.

“That’s why I had to make the very tough decision to step down from a job that I love and wanted to do and felt that I was able to hopefully do some good while I was there.”

The 2010 maiden speech in the House of Commons had him call for “root-and-branch cultural change” so apprenticeships are “held in the same regard as higher education by secondary teachers”.

Reforms to the Baker clause, requiring schools to host employers, colleges, and training providers to promote technical education and apprenticeships for “encounters” to their pupils, were led through parliament by Halfon.

Robert Halfon

“One of the reasons why I thought it was okay to go at this time was because a lot of the work that we were doing is on its way,” he said.

The frontbencher has become well-known for his “ladder of opportunity” catchphrase and has been influential over policies including the apprenticeship levy, T Levels, adult education budget devolution, the lifelong learning entitlement and level 3 qualification reforms.

Despite being on the same page as leaders on the importance of FE and training, rifts have emerged over the years on funding. Reviews of apprenticeship funding bands have been “too slow,” some standards are chronically underfunded, teachers are underpaid, and inflation has chipped away at already stretched budgets.

“I did everything I could to get more funding for FE,” he said, highlighting: “To get any penny out of the Treasury is very hard nowadays.”

But he considers funding wins on degree apprenticeships, care leaver bursaries and more recently on SME apprenticeships as some of “the big things” he wanted to see done before stepping down.

Earlier this month, the prime minister announced the government will fully fund the training of younger apprentices in small and medium-sized businesses, adding £60 million to the apprenticeships budget.

“I was over the moon about the £60 million, as you can imagine, for apprenticeships. New money in a very difficult climate. That was on top of £50 million that came last year in the autumn statement for specialised STEM apprenticeships.

“Money is not easy to come by. But I think given what we’ve received from the chancellor, and the removing of the cap on small businesses. I think we’re doing okay. Believe me, I’d love more. But where every single government department wants more spending, I think in my area, at least while I’ve been there, I’ve been proud that we’ve had extra money.”

Halfon said defending adult education, particularly community learning, is another of his achievements.

“I love community learning. The department knew I loved it. I had five priorities for adult education, the first was community learning and to at least keep the budget for that. And we’ve done so. I’ve done everything I can to support it because I really, really believe in it.”

But with economists warning of harsh cuts to come for non-protected department budgets following the government’s recent tax cuts, should the community learning sector be worried now that Halfon won’t be at the negotiating table?

“I think the sector’s got an incredible case to make,” he said.

“What I would do is not just focus on how brilliant it is, but what makes the case is focusing on the outcomes. What is the next step these people take, or how has it improved their mental health and wellbeing? I think that helps when you’re making the case to the Treasury. It really does.”

Political trade-offs

One of the quirks of Halfon’s career is his five-year stint as chair of the education select committee in between spells as the skills minister.

He made a name for himself for interrogating ministers and officials from the chair – which he said suited his personality as a “campaigner at heart”. He was critical of government policy that he would once again find himself responsible for, like the rollout of T Levels and the effectiveness of the Careers and Enterprise Company.

“One thing I did learn is it’s a lot easier to ask the questions than answer them.”

For Halfon trading the ability to freely speak his mind as committee chair with towing the party line as minister was worth it. Returning to the DfE as minister was “a chance to do stuff and really make things happen”.

Funding widening participation projects for degree apprenticeships, increasing the care leaver bursary, and laying the groundwork for the “revolutionary” lifelong learning entitlement wouldn’t have been possible as a committee chair, he asserts.

He spent his last day at DfE with his civil service directors, who he described as “literally outstanding”.

“It was quite emotional for me. I realised I was sitting in a room with great, great people. I’m very grateful to them.”

Mayoral authorities can’t afford new national adult ed funding rates

A large mayoral authority has spurned new national adult education funding rates due to be rolled out next academic year over concerns they will lead to a drop in thousands of learners.

From 2024/25, the government will bring in bumper adult education funding rates through the “adult skills fund” for non-devolved areas of England that will see five new priority bands for subject areas.

However, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) estimates that if introduced locally next year, the new national funding rates would result in a 22 per cent drop in the volume of residents accessing courses – equivalent to about 12,000 residents.

Other combined authorities, which have devolved control over their adult education budget, have flagged affordability concerns but expect to use underspends from previous years to cover their costs.

Instead of mirroring the government’s new national funding rates from August 1, GMCA will “continue with an interim methodology for supporting the increasing cost of delivery” through a flat rate increase to individual adult skills funding rates (costs per course) of 6.5 per cent.

The combined authority will also increase grant-funded allocations by 2.2 per cent in 2024/25 to “take into account stagnant levels of funding since the start of devolution”.

For independent providers funded through procured contracts, the funding rate uplifts were “already taken into consideration as part of the procurement process and within their awarded allocation”.

What is GMCA saying?

An update on adult education spending in 2024/25, approved by the Andy Burnham-run authority last week, highlighted the “complex” new rates and “stagnant” levels of funding for GMCA since it took control of its budget in 2019.

The report added: “In recent years GMCA recognised that the cost of delivering adults skills has increased and that in particular the level of funding per course that adult skills providers drawdown, has not increased for ten years.”

Under the government’s new national funding rates, distributed by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) to providers in non-devolved areas, high priority subjects such as engineering will see their rates increase by 33 per cent to £3,456.

In contrast, GMCA’s 6.5 per cent increase would bring the local rate for the same course to £2,750 – £700 lower than the national rate.

However, despite suggesting that the government should increase the adult education budget pot – which has remained at about £96 million since 2020/21 – GMCA says it can “absorb” the cost increase using unspent funds from previous years.

In 2022, GMCA had £9 million in “unallocated” adult education funds, reportedly due to falling enrolments during the pandemic. It is also forecasting £98.9 million in financial reserves this year,
although how much of this comes from unspent FE cash is not specified.

A spokesperson for GMCA declined to comment on the differences in local and national funding rates, or the amount of reserves it has available to cover its costs.

The authority – which has the third largest adult education budget – says an across-the-board funding increase for courses is an “interim” approach ahead of gaining increased control over its budget under ongoing “trailblazer” devolution negotiations.

It is hoped that under the future devolution deal, the government will give devolved authorities even more flexibility to spend adult education funding that is currently ringfenced, such as skills bootcamps and free courses for jobs.

Concerns at other combined authorities

Combined authorities that have published adult education spending plans for next year show diverging approaches in different parts of the country, with some following ESFA rates and others offering additional targeted uplifts for specific courses or learners with legal entitlements.

In previous years, some of the ten devolved authorities have avoided across-the-board increases and instead chosen to target funding uplifts at essential skills, English as a second language, or priority subjects such as engineering and manufacturing.

Three authorities that have published their 2024/25 spending plans are following national ESFA rates, but anticipate using unspent funds from previous years to cover cost increases.

In its adult education budget for 2024/25 published this month, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority said it will follow the “welcomed” ESFA rate increases, but warned that they will “in all probability” mean fewer enrolments due to increased costs.

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority has decided to follow the ESFA’s new rates using £5 million “carried forward” from previous years.

Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority claims it is “required” to follow the national rate because it uses the ESFA’s individualised learner record system.

However, it also voiced concerns that although the new rates will increase funding per learner, the number of people able to access courses “will reduce”. To mitigate this, CPCA warned it will need to “potentially draw down” from reserves to cover the costs.

The Greater London Authority, which had a £322 million share of the adult education budget last year – by far the largest share of devolved authorities – is yet to publish detailed funding plans for 2024/25. But earlier this month, its senior adult education team warned that the authority may not have enough funding to meet “increasing demand” in the capital.

As a result, it is likely to reduce the uplifts of previous years “in line with the available budget” and instead target funding towards “essential skills priorities”.

What does the sector think?

LTE Group, which runs several training providers including The Manchester College, has previously warned that devolved skills policy has created “multiple overlapping layers” for providers to negotiate.

Chief executive officer John Thornhill pointed out that in 2022/23, GMCA’s uplift of five per cent was “significantly lower” than to authorities such as the GLA and West Midlands Combined Authority, who increased rates by 13.5 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively.

This risks creating a “postcode lottery” of funding for providers working in different parts of England, Thornhill added.

Alex Stevenson, head of essential and life skills at the Learning and Work Institute, told FE Week that an “inherent problem” in managing adult education spending is the “pot that’s fixed”.

He added: “You’ve got the choice of having more learners on shorter, smaller or less well-resourced courses, or fewer learners doing more substantial programmes with more resources.

“Everyone has got to make decisions somewhere about those trade-offs.”

IfATE slated for apprenticeship assessment reform confusion

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has been slated for sneaking out multiple reforms to apprenticeship assessment rules without consultation.

IfATE’s ‘developing an end-point assessment plan’ guidance was quietly updated last week and appeared to remove the requirement for end-point assessment to assess every knowledge, skill and behaviour (KSB) involved in an assessment plan.

It also suggested that officials have moved from requiring a “minimum” of two assessment methods to a maximum of two.

EPAOs were left frustrated with what appeared to be sudden and significant changes especially after then-skills minister Robert Halfon told the sector that officials will “improve the assessment model”, in his letter about this year’s national apprenticeship achievement rates. 

But there was radio silence from IfATE on the reasons behind the changes, which experts say would have “significant” financial and resourcing implications, or in-depth detail on how the institute expects them to be delivered.

The institute updated the guidance yet again this Thursday after angry EPAOs and the Federation of Awarding Bodies flagged their concern. 

IfATE has now claimed that it is “not moving from a minimum of two assessment methods to a maximum of two assessment methods”. Instead, the institute is “making it clear that trailblazers should justify the requirement for more than two methods for new standards and standards under review”.

The institute also confusingly said it was “not changing our direction on which KSBs should be assessed at this time” and is “committed to working with stakeholders on whether the system should be optimised in this regard.”

Terry Fennell, chief executive of food specialist awarding body and end-point assessment organisation FDQ, said: “It is incredibly frustrating when policymakers change the rules for EPAs without prior consultation with the delivery sector. 

“This tinkering with methodologies and KSB principles has significant financial and resourcing implications for EPAOs working in a now regulated market where consistency, validity and compliance are critical for public confidence in the EPA product.

“Whilst I do appreciate the time is probably right to review certain aspects of EPA, surely it would be better to work with the EPAO market and seek our expertise as part of an improvement exercise. 

“I would also ask for any consultation to be conducted in an open and transparent way ensuring employers and apprentices have their say as in our experience satisfaction is actually very high.”

EPA specialist and consultant Jacqui Molkenthin added: “The confusion is expounded by IfATE’s failure to highlight what the changes are, it simply overwrites its existing web text. It should adopt the DfE approach of issuing a ‘summary of changes’ document when it updates key policies.”

IfATE admitted to FE Week that it “felt the guidance we provided last week was not clear enough”, which led to a further update on Thursday.

A spokesperson said: “We are looking at our approach to the number of assessment methods used in plans and whether the sampling of KSBs would maintain validity whilst improving proportionality.

“We intend to explore these issues with stakeholders, including EPAOs. The primary motivation is to improve the performance and experience of EPA for the benefit of employers and apprentices.”

Any changes are expected to only apply to new standards or those going through a revision process.

Charlotte Bosworth, chief executive of large EPAO Innovate Awarding, said looking at the amount of assessment methods used and the way KSBs are assessed, whether in full or in part via sampling, are “all areas that should be looked at and reviewed as the EPA market matures”.

But she added the government needs to ensure any changes to assessment plans are applied consistently across all EPAOs and different approaches are not being taken that are “damaging to the quality of apprenticeships, risk regulatory compliance, and are damaging to end point assessment outcomes”.

Kion Ahadi, chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies, said: “It is unfortunate that guidance was updated without it being clear on the rationale for changing the guidance on the number of assessment methods and moving to a sampling approach for some KSBs.

“We all welcome positive change to make independent EPA as efficient and as high quality as possible, but we need to ensure this is communicated appropriately and that the EPAO sector is consulted and inputs into any future proposals.”

The PM’s apprenticeship reforms are a drop in the ocean

Last week, the Prime Minister announced a package of reforms to unlock a “tidal wave of opportunity” for UK apprenticeships. This included an additional £60 million, which he claims will provide up to 20,000 more apprenticeships. Sadly, this amounts not to a tidal wave but to a drop in the ocean.

The new reforms are somehow meant to work such wonders by funding college fees for small businesses. But the reality is that non-levy paying employers only pay 5 per cent of these fees as it is, amounting to a maximum of £450 – this is not the barrier to generating apprenticeships. And even if results materialise, 20,000 new apprenticeships across all sectors won’t even touch the sides when construction alone needs more than that.

This is about far more than educational opportunities for young people. This is about the foundation of our country’s social and economic fabric. The Prime Minister is not living in the real world if he genuinely believes these reforms are up to the job.

CITB forecasts the need for 225,000 extra construction workers by 2027 to achieve the government’s own house-building target of 300,000 new homes a year. This equates to 45,000 people joining the industry annually. And that’s not to mention our crumbling infrastructure, with maintenance backlogs across the public estate. But with just 26,100 people going into construction apprenticeships in the year to July 2022 – and a 50 per cent drop-out rate – it is likely we will continue to fall short.

The crux of the construction skills gap is that apprenticeships rely on employment in a largely self-employed industry. What we need is for government to simplify the process to incentivise smaller businesses and one-person-bands to take on apprentices.

Instead, the government talks about lifting 132,000 SMEs out of the levy and funding their apprentices’ college fees. But the levy itself is a broken, backwards system that requires us to hire apprentices to get our investment back. And it’s only one of two in construction, where we also pay a CITB levy.

The bedrock of our economic growth is in a dire situation

In the past, the government would fund all apprentices’ college education, while industry would pay salaries (c. £14,000 per year for each apprentice). Now we are left paying for both. It is for this reason we’ve seen contractors halve their apprentice intake. Short sighted, perhaps, but this is the reality. Meanwhile those like Seddon, who continue to invest in people, endure the additional cost.

One of the most common challenges the sector faces is the geographical spread of construction sites. Coordinating the correct work experience to suit the apprentice’s geographical location is highly complex, can lead to high levels of inactivity, and costs employers more than an apprentice’s salary.

This is particularly hard for smaller businesses and one-person bands who represent 79 per cent of the industry, a quarter of whose workers consider themselves to be neurodiverse. Unsurprisingly, just 18 per cent of these businesses choose to take on the administrative burden of employing apprentices. 

This is not helped by how specialised our industry has become. Apprentices aren’t able to reach the apprenticeship standard working within the apprenticeship programme, which is why we have such high drop-out rates. Apprenticeship standards are generally set by larger organisations with the capacity to offer a wider scope of experience. The problem is that they simply don’t employ the numbers required.

Collectively, the smaller companies do, but are excluded from the decision making. The solution is either meaningful work experience like T Levels offer across all trades, or a change in the standard, allowing apprenticeships in specialist areas.

Employment is the issue here, not interest from young people. There is no shortage of people from a range of backgrounds who wish to start their career in construction. The industry is now in the top 10 desirable jobs for teenagers. Last year, we had 480 quality applicants for 17 roles.

The Prime Minister’s lacklustre reforms and vague promise of £60 million won’t do anything to bridge that gap, meet targets or put our infrastructure right. A tax incentive or government grant to help fund employment like we saw during Covid might, but these must be linked to completions, not starts.

Our sector is the bedrock of economic growth and it is in a dire situation. This government or the next one will have to grasp the nettle – and quick.