Major parts of the economy will see level 3 qualifications in their sector excluded from the new Lifetime Skills Guarantee, FE Week can reveal.

Sectors deemed a low priority with low wages include hospitality, leisure, travel, retail, media and arts, while sectors such as IT, construction and engineering will get the green light.

When the all-age first full level 3 (equivalent to two full A-levels) policy announcement was made in September by prime minister Boris Johnson the government said it would give “adults the chance to take free college courses valued by employers, supporting people to train into better jobs”.

Since then the Education and Skills Funding Agency has been working on developing a list of those qualifications that would be “valuable in the workplace” to be funded from the national skills fund, from April 2021.

It is understood, based on accounts from those involved in the process, that the ESFA has determined priority based on the 50 “sub-sector subject area” categories already assigned to the nearly 1,200 full level 3 qualifications currently eligible for legal entitlement funding for those aged 19-to-23 from the adult education budget until the end of this year.

This has led them to exclude nearly 30 (see full list right) of the 50 sector areas, accounting for around half the qualifications, as well as several hundred Access to HE qualifications, on the basis that learners who take out loans can already get them written off if they go on to complete a degree.

As a result, the full level 3 Lifetime Skills Guarantee qualifications are expected to number less than 400 – around a quarter of those 1,200 available from the adult education budget or funded from advanced learner loans.

Exclusion has prompted exasperation from sector bodies, with the chief executive for trade body UK Hospitality, Kate Nicholls, saying how “incredibly disappointing” it is to see her area barred from the guarantee, especially after hospitality has been “hammered harder than any other by the crisis and needs support to get back up to full strength and contribute to rebuilding the economy”.

She expressed hope the government would “open every possible avenue to people looking to join” the sector, adding: “It could be crucial if we want to see hospitality, and the economy, bounce back.”

Reacting to our analysis, Federation of Awarding Bodies chief executive Tom Bewick criticised the DfE for coming up with a qualifications list “without any meaningful consultation with the occupational sectors concerned.

“It is pretty shocking, and takes the idea of ‘Whitehall knows best’ to a whole new level. I can’t see how policymakers are any better at second guessing the future of the labour market than those who actually work in it.”

He said the Lifetime Skills Guarantee is “increasingly looking like a con trick”, and instead of putting “genuine lifelong learning and choice at the centre the new entitlement for adults, the government seems determined to massively limit the choices people can make by prescribing only a very few occupational routes for people to re-train in”.

Ofqual data on certificates at all levels awarded between July and September 2020, published this week, shows several of the excluded sector subject areas were in the top ten for number of certificates awarded, including sport, leisure and recreation, performing arts and media and communication.

Apprenticeships and skills minister Gillian Keegan told an FE Week roundtable last month the qualifications that will be delivered under the guarantee would have to be high quality, have the respect of business and address a “wide range” of labour shortages.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson told the Association of Colleges’ FE summit on Wednesday the guarantee would mean teaching skills “that are highly in demand”.

Sector organisations to whom FE Week have spoken have protested that their skills are much-needed. General manager of the Institute of Administrative Management Andrew Jardine said that at first they had been “delighted” about the announcement of the new level 3 entitlement. “We were, therefore, deeply saddened and frustrated, although not necessarily surprised, to learn that the government has not included administration qualifications in the new scheme,” he added.

“Administrative roles may not get the headlines in many organisations, but I don’t know of any organisation that can function efficiently and effectively without them.”

Institute of Travel and Tourism director Peter Robinson said his sector contributes around £60 billion to the economy annually, and the decision to exclude the subjects “highlights once again the failure to understand the high-level skills and knowledge attained through tourism qualifications and the long-term value that these qualified professionals add to the industry and make to the wider economy”.

Creative & Cultural Skills, which advises the arts sector on technical education, has said it is “disappointed specific creative qualifications have been omitted from the Lifetime Skills Guarantee”, but hopes the approved qualifications will help them address their need for business operational skills.

They urged the DfE to “give thought to how they’ll support adults to retrain for the many roles the creative sector will continue to need in a post-Covid world, so as to avoid further perpetuating the perception that careers across the creative industries aren’t valid”.

The arts sector has previously come under criticism from Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman, who accused colleges in January of “flooding a local job market with young people with low-level arts and media qualifications”.

Prime minister Boris Johnson announced the level 3 entitlement with the Lifetime Skills Guarantee at Exeter College in September, saying the qualifications will help people “change jobs and find work in the burgeoning new sectors this country is creating”.

But the list of qualifications has suffered delays, with the DfE originally saying it would be released in October.

Keegan then told awarding organisations and sector representatives at an October roundtable her department was hoping to release the list “in the next couple of months, and hopefully by November”.

When FE Week took the sector concerns to the DfE a spokesperson said the new entitlement “is designed to help more adults to gain the skills that are valuable in the workplace and that will help them to progress.

“We are continuing to engage widely with the sector on the development of the offer and will confirm details in due course.”

An upcoming tender for the national adult education budget has been delayed – again.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency had planned to launch the re-procurement exercise, which is expected to follow the same scope as the controversial AEB tender in 2017, in July 2020 but then pushed this back until the end of the year.

But the agency has now confirmed that the tender will not get off the ground until January 2021. Contract notifications are expected to go out to successful bidders by May ahead of their start in August 2021.

The ESFA told FE Week that the budget for the procurement will be confirmed following the upcoming spending review, but the Association of Employment and Learning Providers has briefed its members that it will sit between £65 million and £70 million.

Due to the “uncertainty with devolution and the devolution white paper”, the AELP also believes the ESFA AEB contracts are likely to be an initial one-year deal with an option to extend further if required.

The last AEB procurement was run in 2017 but was significantly oversubscribed, plagued with delays and had to be completely redone after the ESFA realised it was botched.

And when the final outcomes were released most providers had their funding slashed – including one case of a 97 per cent cut.

Providers teamed up to threaten the ESFA with legal action before the agency found additional funding to top up contracts.

Those contracts have been extended several times but must now finish by the end of July 2021 and there is no provision for carry over.

The upcoming AEB tender will just be for the national budget, not for devolved combined authorities which run their own procurements.

Universities that deliver apprenticeships will be subject to Education and Skills Funding Agency funding audits for the first time from April next year.

The first audits could come the same month that Ofsted is handed new powers to inspect degree apprenticeships.

University representative organisations said their members have been preparing for ESFA audits and understand the importance of ensuring public funding is appropriately used.

Under the current regulatory regime, the ESFA has arrangements with the Office for Students to carry out “assurance” reviews of universities on their register of higher education providers.

But the OfS does not carry out specific individual learner record (ILR) apprenticeship funding audits to check compliance with the ESFA’s reporting rules.

The government is currently running a £51 million tender for audit firms to work under a new “framework” that will include expanding the scope of its funding audit work.

Documents for the procurement, seen by FE Week, state: “The current scope of the audit and assurance contract in place relate to post-16 education providers but the requirement for these services is now in a wider education provider setting and this new framework will increase the scope to include higher education providers.”

The two-year contract set to be awarded from the tender will commence from April 2021.

It follows a number of cases of FE providers falling foul of the ESFA’s apprenticeship reporting rules, which have resulted in significant amounts of clawback demands.

Dudley College, for example, had to pay back more than £500,000 to the ESFA last year after an audit exposed numerous late withdrawals of learners, non-compliance with breaks in learning, and overstated achievement rates.

The college’s former chief executive Lowell Williams said it was an honest “blunder” and called for the agency to offer greater support in navigating the government’s increasingly complex and high-stakes audit system.

Several dozen other providers were also hit with mystery audits in early 2019 after the ESFA raised concern about the reliability of their apprenticeship data.

ESFA-funded training providers can now be given as little as two weeks’ notice of a financial assurance audit and only three days to present sample files.

A spokesperson for representative body Universities UK said their members are “committed to delivering high-quality degree apprenticeships, which provide good value for money, and will work with ESFA to ensure that all processes are followed”.

Adrian Anderson, chief executive of the University Vocational Awards Council, added that his organisation “always believed” the ESFA would eventually audit universities that deliver apprenticeships. “UVAC understands the importance of ESFA ensuring public funding for the delivery of apprenticeships is appropriately used,” he told FE Week.

“UVAC has, for many years, been supporting the higher education sector to deliver higher and degree apprenticeship in accordance with funding rules and prepare for ESFA audit.”

In the same month that the ESFA could begin ILR apprenticeship funding audits of universities Ofsted will begin its oversight of all level 6 and 7 apprenticeships – taking on the responsibility from the OfS.

It means that all universities that offer apprenticeships will be subject to Ofsted inspections for the first time.

This move has proved controversial, with MillionPlus, which represents 24 “modern” universities, saying that Ofsted inspections of degree apprenticeships is “worrying and unnecessary” while questioning the inspectorate’s expertise to inspect this provision.

A new inquiry into the challenges faced in prison education has been launched by the parliamentary education select committee.

MPs on the committee said that while the Covid-19 pandemic had made delivery of education challenging across the board, provision has been “significantly impacted” for those in custody.

They will examine to what degree adults in prison and younger learners in custody can “access suitable education that meets their needs, how effective current arrangements are in ensuring prisoners continue in training and employment on release and how this reduces reoffending”.

The inquiry will also look at the education opportunities for those serving longer sentences, and consider what needs to happen to “ensure prison education delivers the skills needed by employers and the economy, and how apprenticeships can work in a custodial setting”.  

Chair of the committee, Robert Halfon, said: “Study after study has painted a bleak picture of the educational backgrounds and prospects of those in custody.

“We must make sure access to training and education is made a priority, aiding the rehabilitation process and giving prisoners the tools to improve their lives.” 

The committee pointed to a joint report by the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Education, which found prisoners involved in any sort of education have a “significantly lower reoffending rate on release compared with their peers”.

However, a briefing by The Prison Reform Trust shows a “significant decline in both the quality of education and the number of prisoners participating” – 200 people in prison achieved a level 3 qualification in the 2017/18 academic year, a 90 per cent decrease from 2011-12.  

The MPs said that where possible, they would like to hear about prisoner learners’ and former prisoners’ own perceptions of how the prison education system is working and what could be improved.

The committee is asking for submissions in the following areas:

• What is the purpose of education in prisons?
• What data exist to demonstrate the effectiveness of education and training in prisons and on prisoner attainment, and what international comparisons are available?
• How well are additional learning needs met by the prison education and youth custody systems, including SEND and language and communication needs?
• Does education in prisons deliver the skills needed by employers, and what more can be done to better align these?
• How can successful participation in education be incentivised in prisons?
• How might apprenticeships work for those in custody?
• Are current resources for prison learning meeting need?
• What should happen when prison education is assessed as not meeting standards?
• How does the variability in the prison estate and infrastructure impact on learning?
• How does provision compare in public sector and privately run prisons?
• How effective and flexible is prison education and training in dealing with different lengths of sentences and the movement of prisoners across the estate?

The deadline for submissions is 8 January 2021.

A mega-college in Nottingham has been placed in formal FE Commissioner intervention after hitting “serious cashflow pressures”.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency published a financial notice to improve for Nottingham College on Wednesday.

The ESFA letter, dated July 2020, states that there is a “need for cashflow support in November/December 2020” and there was an agreement that an independent business review (IBR) was required in order to consider the ongoing viability of the college’s finances.

A spokesperson for Nottingham College said they discovered over the summer that they were “likely to experience financial difficulties largely as a direct consequence of the coronavirus pandemic”.

“Our cashflow position was particularly exposed, not least because of adverse pressure on key income streams, including higher education income, apprenticeship and other adult income and the short-term collapse of key markets including the hospitality and tourism sectors,” they added.

“We agreed to an IBR to confirm the need for financial support.”

The spokesperson told FE Week the college has not required any emergency funding to date but anticipate a “package of support” over the coming months to “ensure the long-term financial stability of the college”.

Nottingham College, which has around 16,000 learners, was created from a merger of New College Nottingham and Central College Nottingham in 2017. It has been through a tough couple of years that saw lengthy staff strikes, votes of no confidence in the leadership, and a grade three Ofsted report.

Last month the college completed a major £58.5 million build – funded in part by a £3.2 million loan from the Department for Education’s transaction unit. Plans are in motion to sell four of its properties to help balance the books.

The college’s 2018/19 accounts show a £6 million deficit.

The FE Commissioner has now intervened at the college to assess its “capability and capacity to make the required changes and improvements”.

The college has been told to prepare a financial recovery and quality improvement plan, which explores “further staff savings” for 2020/21 and 2021/22.

The education secretary has promised that the imminent FE white paper will bring an “end to getting a qualification for its own sake” and ensure that training reflects the “changing needs” of employers.

Gavin Williamson said further education will “no longer be hiding its vast potential under a bushel” following the reforms, while making a keynote address at Association of College’s FE summit this afternoon.

He added that the white paper, due for publication before the end of 2020, is a “vital opportunity for us all to collaborate further, so that FE delivers for all those it serves, its students, its local employers and for its communities”.

Here is his speech in full:

 

“Good afternoon. Thank you David for that kind introduction and for inviting me to this Summit. Although Covid has taken a wrecking ball to so many planned events this year, it’s great that we are all able to be here in spite of it.

In fact, these virtual conferences and meetings have been among the unexpected success stories of a very difficult year.

Minister Keegan was only telling me the other day that she continues to be astonished by the innovation you are showing on a daily basis to blend both online and face-to-face tuition and to keep students learning.   

There’s been a tremendous response on the part of the entire sector and I want to congratulate you and thank you for everything you’ve done, and what you continue to do, to make sure young people get the best opportunities to build and shape their futures.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone, and it certainly doesn’t surprise me, that you have been so resourceful in finding a way through the many challenges that Covid has presented.

This is what you in the FE community do so well… adapting what you do to meet local social and economic needs…

We will be hearing more about how important colleges are to their local communities later this afternoon, when the Commission on the College of the Future launches its report for England. Before we do, I would like to talk about our ambitious plans for the sector.

As I’m sure many of you are aware, reforming our further education sector has been a particular passion of mine. Ever since I was appointed Education Secretary, I have been determined to raise its status and earlier in the summer I set out a broad vision for bringing Further Education in from the cold. It was a fairly long speech but don’t worry, I’m not going to talk for quite so long today.

In that speech I explained how we intend to end the outdated perception that anyone who goes down the further education route has somehow come up short.

I’m not alone in this crusade. It is a mission that is shared by the Prime Minister. As you know, he launched his game-changing Lifetime Skills Guarantee in September, and I will look at how that is going to help reset the post-16 landscape in just a minute.

Young people really need to know there is more than one route to success. They must be given a real choice. At the moment too many of them feel that the only worthwhile choice is studying for a degree.  

I want further education and higher education to be thought of as two sides of the same coin, both as highly regarded and as well-resourced as the other.

But I know I’m preaching to the converted here. Of course you’re the last people I need to convince that this sector has so much more to offer.  

A word you often hear in relation to education is ‘potential’. We’ve all got it, although some may have more of it than others. But potential is not just a human asset, it’s a social one, it’s an economic one and it’s certainly a business one. Potential is what can turn base metal into gold.

What we have with further education is a classic example of a sector that is failing to reach its potential.

I am as determined as you are to reverse that. To make sure it realises its true potential that it has to offer the whole country.

We have already taken steps to strengthen further and technical education… We are rolling out T Levels; we have transformed apprenticeships by working directly with businesses; we have made a massive investment in our FE colleges and are investing £290 million for our flagship Institutes of Technology…

We have announced £1.5 billion package over five years in capital spending to refurbish further education colleges. This level of investment will enable colleges to give their facilities a much-needed makeover.

In the last spending review I secured an extra £400m for 16-19 further education to make sure people don’t have to move for high quality education and that employers will have skilled people right on their doorsteps.

Our network of Institutes of Technology will lead the way on delivering higher technical skills in science, technology, engineering and maths – skills that will give this country a competitive edge not just in the industries of today, but, more importantly, those of tomorrow.

These are radical, long-term changes and they are going to transform the life chances for every young person and adult in the country.

This is not merely a response to the pandemic, this is a continuation of our whole-hearted commitment to level up every inch of the country.

This country is bursting with potential… this is how we are going to unlock it.

As the Prime Minister announced, from next April we will introduce a new funding promise as part of our Lifetime Skills Guarantee. We will now fund technical courses for adults as a equivalent to A level, and which will teach skills that are highly in demand.

They’ll give anyone who left school without an A-Level or equivalent, the qualifications they need, when they need them. They will help people to change jobs and to find work in some of the exciting new sectors that this country is developing.

The guarantee will give every student a flexible, lifelong loan which entitles them to four years of post-18 education. The measures will embed greater flexibility in the technical education and skills system to support not just young people but adults who need to retrain and upskill at any point in their working lives.

The Prime Minister spelt out how we are going to build a skills economy, one that that’s going to drive productivity and help us recover from the pandemic. He outlined plans to bring closer alignment between further and higher education to end the outdated distinction that one is better than the other. 

These are the foundations on which we are going to build a new higher technical education offer.  

So how are we going to start to make these plans a reality?

I’m so pleased to say that the Independent Commission on the College of the Future has echoed many of these ambitions and I was very interested to read its report on the United Kingdom and will be equally interested to study its report on England in more depth.  My Department really values the discussions we have had over the past year with the Commissioners.

With its focus on people, productivity and place, the Commission has set out how it sees colleges delivering lifelong learning and the kind of support that learners, employers and communities will need to survive  but also, and more importantly, thrive in the future.

It’s worth reminding ourselves that according to the CBI, this is a future in which nine in 10 people are going to need new skills by 2030…That’s only a short time away and we have to act, and we have to act quickly.

Everyone is going to need access to part-time, adult and technical education as the economy and jobs change.  Training isn’t something that you do once and then forget about. Training is something that everyone is going to need to do at various points in their lives, to upskill or acquire new skills. 

The colleges of the future will have an absolutely key role in making sure we can do this by working with employers to ensure that education and training reflect changing needs, and to help drive business – help them change and help them innovate.

As a signal of our commitment to FE we will very shortly be delivering a White Paper which will build on our vision of a world class skills system in England.

This will be centred on high-quality courses which are based on employer-led standards. There has been far too much training for jobs that don’t exist, so we will bring an end to getting a qualification for its own sake.

In its place there will be a wholesale re-balancing of academic and technical education. There will be a stronger alignment with what our country and the economy needs.

We will look to colleges to play a leading role in developing skills in their areas, in responding to local economic need and acting as centres for business development.

I would like to say at this point how much I value, really value, the discussions we have already had and how much I am looking forward to working closely with you to see all our aspirations for FE come to fruition. The White Paper is a vital opportunity for us all to collaborate further, so that FE delivers for all those it serves, its students, its local employers and for its communities.

I spoke earlier of potential and its power to transform lives. I can promise that FE will no longer be hiding its vast potential under a bushel…

Instead we will see it for it is: a pathway to a career that brings job satisfaction and fulfilment; a skills revolution that will enable businesses to thrive and finally, as we emerge from this awful pandemic, a clear route to a dynamic and prosperous new future.

We do not have a second to waste this potential any longer and I am determined that we will not do so.

And together, by working with you, we will deliver this revolution in further education that we all so want, we all so desire, and we have all so long waited for.

Thank you.”

 

 

 

 

 

New legislation should force all colleges to be part of “networks” that could follow similar accountability structures as multi-academy trusts, a commission of leading FE figures has said.

Authors of the Independent Commission on the College of the Future report for England say the imminent FE white paper and subsequent legislation should define the principles of a college network that would “have ‘teeth’ – ensuring that funding and accountability ultimately sits at the network level rather than individual college level”.

The networks would develop their own strategies to meet each area’s skills priorities based on the needs of employers, elected mayors and local government.

David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said colleges were keen on the proposal and the commission had reached “a consensus with employers, government, students and colleges about the system needed to get the most out of colleges over the coming years”.

A three-wave approach to introducing the networks would start with existing college groups, then those who volunteer and the final wave might need a chair to be appointed to mandate membership, with the “process to be completed by 2023/24”.

During the waves the Department for Education would need to develop and agree “a map of appropriate geographies across England” for the networks.

The report makes it clear that membership would be compulsory as “alignment between network and institutional strategies is not a matter of voluntarism” and goes on to propose that colleges should only be given funding if there is “alignment of network and institutional strategies.”

The chair of a network could act as single point contact with the DfE and funding bodies – similar to regional schools commissioners, which act on behalf of the secretary of state for education to manage academies.

The networks would have “significant implications” for governance, according to the report. It says the model must give governors an “explicit duty” to go beyond individual colleges to ensure that each institutional strategy is “aligned with an overarching strategy for the network of colleges within their relevant economic geography”.

Today’s report, titled The English College of the Future, states: “A networked approach is critical to colleges delivering in a coherent and connected manner on their core public purpose, particularly if they work with other partners.

“They can maximise value from public funds, can ensure that specialist provision is protected and can provide clear choices for employers and learners.”

The commission is not a legal entity in its own right and was set up by the Association of Colleges, which has provided staff, facilities and the use of infrastructure, including IT servers.

The call for college networks follows a recommendation put forward by the think tank EDSK in September, which said local FE directors should be established and handed powers to decide which courses are run by colleges in their area.

The Independent Commission on the College of the Future’s report says that given the “need for a much more connected and holistic education and skills system”, ultimately the legal duty on colleges to develop networks “must be matched by a duty on all other post-16 education providers to ensure that provision complements the existing offer across an appropriate economic geography”.

Among the commission’s other recommendations is a call for a cross-departmental ministerial taskforce to oversee a new UK government ten-year strategy for education and skills.

There should also be the establishment of a “single post-16 education oversight and funding body” – which would seemingly involve merging the Education and Skills Funding Agency and the Office for Students.

The commission warns that colleges currently operate in a “quasi-market” and are “forced to compete with each other and with schools, universities and independent training providers – driving inefficiency and at times insufficiency of provision across a locality”.

Considering this, the report says the goal of the cross-departmental ministerial taskforce and single oversight and funding body should be to tackle the “nugatory” competition between colleges, schools, universities and independent training providers.

Responding to the report, Association of Employment and Learning Providers managing director Jane Hickie said a “great deal” of collaboration already goes on at local level and what the FE and skills system must be about is “employer and learner choice” so the “statute book has no place in trying to restrict that choice”.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson would not comment on the report’s individual recommendations but said the DfE’s “ambitious” FE White Paper, set for publication before the end of 2020, will put employers “at the heart of our plans and work closely with colleges to drive forward the long term change we need to unleash potential everywhere and that will support our economy to recover and grow”.

 

A London college which was put at “significant risk” by failures in financial management and control is seeking to join a successfully-merged neighbour.

Richmond-upon-Thames College (RuTC) has announced, as a result of an FE Commissioner-led structure and prospects appraisal, that it plans to merge with Harrow College and Uxbridge College (HCUC) by August 2021.

It comes after a torrid time for RuTC, with the resignation of multiple senior leaders, a critical FE Commissioner intervention report, the college dropping out of delivering T Level qualifications, and the government warning its future sustainability was at risk.

RuTC interim principal Elaine McMahon has said the merger would see the colleges “share and promote best practice teaching and learning to ensure consistent quality throughout every aspect of the three colleges”.

Richmond’s chair Ian Valvona added that this proposed merger is a “watershed moment” in the college’s 80-year history.

HCUC group principal Darrell DeSouza said he was “delighted” with the plan, adding: “I certainly believe that such a merger would open up collaborative opportunities and a broader vision, and strengthen sustainable provision to learners and employers alike within the west London and surrounding areas.”

HCUC, which leads on the flagship West London Institute of Technology, was formed by a merger of Harrow and Uxbridge colleges in 2017, and an Ofsted monitoring visit published in July 2019 found it was making ‘significant progress’ in two out of five areas, and ‘reasonable progress’ in the rest. Uxbridge College was rated ‘outstanding’ by the watchdog at its most recent full inspection – in 2008, while Harrow was judged ‘requires improvement’ in 2016.

The first public sign of trouble at RuTC was when principal Robin Ghurbhurun resigned in July last year “for personal reasons,” and was replaced on an interim basis the following October with accountant and experienced college leader Diane Dimond, who has subsequently been replaced by McMahon.

The college also pulled out of delivering wave two of T Levels in January, to prioritise the development of an £80 million campus at Twickenham, which partially opened in March.

The announcement about T Levels came on the same day the Education and Skills Funding Agency published a financial health notice to improve for RuTC, which highlighted “declining financial health,” a forecast of a “significant” financial deficit for 2018/19, and “weaknesses in leadership and management”.

A report from FE Commissioner Richard Atkins on his intervention in the college in October 2019 was published last March, and found college staff had been in “crisis mode” for much of 2019.

Also, there had been a “very turbulent” period where not just the principal, but also the vice principal for finance and enterprise, the clerk and the deputy principal had left.

But, the report noted, leadership had been “significantly, albeit temporarily, stabilised” with the appointment of experienced interim postholders.

The college ended up generating a £6.2 million deficit in 2018/19.

In a letter attached to the report, apprenticeships and skills minister Gillian Keegan wrote: “Significant failures in the college’s financial management and control have resulted in the college operating under serious financial pressure. 

“In the context of the increasing financial commitments required by the ongoing campus redevelopment project, I am greatly concerned that this presents significant risks to the college’s working capital and its future sustainability.” 

Following the commissioner’s intervention, the structure and prospect appraisal was launched.

New college “business centres” will be launched by the government in an effort to hand employers greater influence over skills training, FE Week can reveal.

The centres were first proposed by the Association of Colleges in the membership body’s submission to the upcoming Spending Review where they called for a £40 million pilot of such “hubs”, and have since gathered support from Conservative MP Peter Aldous.

The policy comes amid government efforts to move employers to a more central position in directing what further education and skills provision is offered by their local colleges.

The Department for Education has now given the green light to the centres but remained tight-lipped about details such as how much the centres will cost, how they will work and when and where they will launch.

But in a document for new high-level roles in the DfE, seen by FE Week, the department says they will be “developing policies to give employers greater influence over skills provision, including development and launch of a new college business centres initiative in the autumn”.

A number of national newspapers have reported over the weekend the government is looking to make announcements on new education and skills initiatives over the next week ahead of the chancellor’s spending review on 25 November. 

In its submission to the spending review, the AoC called for a pilot of “college business centres” in a small number of areas this academic year. 

These “employer hubs”, the submission published in September reads, would help “overcome the commercial barriers to small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) engaging with education”. 

The AoC says the core aims of the centres should be to: “Enhance the capabilities of FE colleges to deliver knowledge-based collaboration with SMEs; generate and disseminate new information about the practical benefits to business; and contribute to stimulating demand to engage in innovation activity.”

There is a “significant opportunity” for new business centres to capitalise on existing links between FE colleges and SMEs to “deliver economic impact quickly”, as the association says the average college already works with around 600 businesses. 

Subsequently, last month, at his parliamentary debate on colleges and skills to mark the annual Love Our Colleges Week, Peter Aldous, a member of the all-party parliamentary group on further education and lifelong learning, said the centres “should be established,” and the departments for education, and business, energy and industrial strategy should “work together to set up specific centres that support employers with expert advice”. 

Speaking for the government at the debate, skills minister Gillian Keegan called the business centres an “interesting idea,” adding there will be “much discussion between colleges, the Association of Colleges, business groups, and the government” in the lead up to the FE white paper set for publication before the end of 2020.

Exemplifying how the government wants provision to parallel employer needs, Keegan told an FE Week roundtable in October that the first, full level 3 qualifications being funded for all adults under the prime minister’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee from April would have to have the respect of business and address a wide range of labour shortages. 

FE Week also understands that the much-anticipated FE white paper could hand local chambers of commerce key powers over funding and priorities for skills provision in their area, in an attempt to replicate the German apprenticeship system much admired by ministers. 

The DfE has also already launched a Skills and Productivity Board, which they say will provide expert advice on how to make sure courses and qualifications are aligned to skills employers need. 

A DfE spokesperson said about the business centres: “We are considering  a range of initiatives designed to put employers at the heart of our ambitious FE reform plans. We will provide more details in due course.”