The government has said the names of colleges receiving emergency cash support must be kept a secret so as to avoid “disadvantaged learners” missing out on being educated.

The Department for Education included this claim in a host of reasons why it will not name five colleges that received emergency funding earlier this year, in response to an FE Week freedom of information request.

The response to the request said identifying the colleges could lead to a “loss of confidence in their ability to provide sustained education, and this would be likely to result in fewer students applying to the college for their courses.

“Given the additional travel required to study elsewhere, some disadvantaged learners would be likely to choose not to undertake any education at all.”

Essentially, the DfE is conceding that disadvantaged learners would have no alternative education provider were the college to stop delivering courses.

Despite their reticence in publishing the names of colleges that receive bailouts, the DfE regularly publishes the FE commissioner’s intervention reports and Education and Skills Funding Agency financial notices to improve for individual colleges, which include details of their financial situations alongside recommendations.

The DfE also claimed, in the response to the FOI request, that revealing the colleges’ names “might jeopardise any negotiations of upcoming contracts with their suppliers” and “would likely result in significant additional burdens being placed upon their resources, with the need to manage media attention, parental concerns and the potential loss of/difficulties in recruiting staff.

“This would limit their ability to effectively provide further education, harming the outcomes of learners, which would not be in the public interest.”

FE Week submitted the FOI after skills minister Gillian Keegan told parliament in September that five colleges had needed “financial assistance”. In its response, the DfE did reveal that the colleges had been handed a total of £9.6 million between April and August, with one college receiving £5.3 million over June and July (see table below).

The ESFA’s director of provider market oversight, Matthew Atkinson, told the Commons’ Public Accounts Committee last month that 64 colleges were currently at risk of running out of cash, and the government was likely to spend £70 million on emergency funding for colleges in total this year – which he said was “more than we thought”.

College leaders were themselves “staggered” when another FE Week FOI request revealed in January how four colleges had spent £111 million they had received as part of secretive “Fresh Start’ deals with the government, with money going towards IT equipment and writing off government loans.

An increasing number of college bailouts have been handed out in recent years and have ultimately led to the introduction of the college insolvency regime, which was used for the first time when the Hadlow Group of colleges collapsed last year.

But Atkinson admitted to the education committee these insolvencies will still cost the taxpayer over £60 million, with £6 million going to accountants alone – a figure DfE permanent secretary Susan Acland-Hood called “gut wrenching”.

Yet the government has actively worked to stop the names of colleges that receive bailouts coming to light, changing its oversight policy in October so colleges that apply for emergency funding will not automatically fall into formal intervention.

The DfE withheld the information under section 43 (commercial interest) and section 36(2) (c) (would be likely otherwise to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

FE Week will be referring the decision to withhold the college names to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

A former exams company chief executive is set to replace Dame Glenys Stacey as the chief regulator at Ofqual, FE Week understands.

Simon Lebus is being lined up to take over the top position at the exams regulator as Stacey’s interim period comes to end on December 31.

Lebus served as the group chief executive at Cambridge Assessment, which runs exam board OCR, for 15 years before leaving in 2018.

FE Week understands the appointment is set to be another interim role, though, and has yet to be fully ratified.

Stacey, who previously served as chief regulator from 2011 to 2016, took up the role in August after Sally Collier left following the exams fiasco.

It was announced this week that she is the preferred candidate for chair of the Office for Environmental Protection.

Asked by the education select committee on Tuesday what advice she would give her successor, Stacey said they should make sure they’ve “got the stamina for it” and should “really get into the technical detail”.

She urged the successor to “learn from 2020”, adding: “For example, I don’t think Ofqual was particularly visible in 2020. It had a rather established way of sort of communicating.

“We need to be much more visible and much more interested in listening to others’ ideas and working them through with them… they may be valuable, they may not… but really listening and engaging.”

Lebus was said to have driven Cambridge Assessment through “major organisational and industry change”, including technology advances such as the introduction of on-screen marking and computer-based testing.

His roles since include becoming a non-executive chairman at Sparx, an AI online platform for secondary school maths teaching, and a visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School, according to his LinkedIn page.

The decision to make another interim appointment is likely to be controversial, particularly given the huge task ahead of ensuring next year’s exam series doesn’t become another fiasco.

The Department for Education said a replacement for Stacey will be announced in due course.

The awarding body that runs BTECs has launched a campaign to encourage students to respond to the government’s level 3 and below technical qualifications consultation.

Backed by former skills minister Anne Milton, “Your Future, Your Choice” has gone live today on Pearson’s website, aiming to give young and adult learners the “opportunity to voice their opinions on what they want for their future education”.

It comes amid a Department for Education review that plans to limit funding for applied general qualifications, such as BTECs, that compete with T Levels and A-levels by 2023.

The DfE claims there is currently a “confusing landscape” of over 12,000 courses on offer to young people at level 3 and below, with multiple qualifications in the same subject areas available – many of which are “poor quality and offer little value to students or employers”.

As well as Milton, who was in post when the DfE first announced the review in March 2019, “Your Future, Your Choice” is backed by five-time Olympic medallist gymnast Max Whitlock.

A Pearson spokesperson explained that the campaign will be giving students, educators and employers the “chance to read more about the government’s proposals for post-16 qualifications, encouraging them to respond directly to the DfE consultation running until January 15 in the case of educators and employers, and encouraging students to share their BTEC success stories with us on social media with #YourFutureYourChoice or submit longer ones on our website”.

They added that while Pearson supports the introduction of T Levels and shares the government’s vision for “outstanding outcomes for every learner”, the awarding body also thinks “offering learners a choice in what qualification suits their career aspirations best is the right way to support them and the UK economy – both now and in the future.

“BTECs have been at the heart of national need for many years and continue to transform lives and careers. We’re encouraging young or adult learners to have their say on their future education options.”

To mark the launch of their campaign, Pearson has also published research that found nine in ten young students believe it’s important for there to be a wide choice of options available to help prepare them for their futures.

A confidential document that shows the criteria the government used to choose the level 3 courses in the prime minister’s lifetime skills guarantee has been leaked to FE Week.

It shows the methodology adopted by the Department for Education involved wage outcomes, alignment with government “priorities” and the “ability to address labour market need”.

The list of nearly 400 qualifications that made the cut, which will be available to adults to study from April for free if they do not already hold a full level 3 qualification – equivalent to two A-levels – has been unveiled today but controversially excludes major economic sectors such as hospitality, tourism, media and arts.

So how did the government decide which courses were in and which were out? The documents show a two-step approach was used. Here are the details.

 

Step 1 – wage outcomes

Firstly, the DfE analysed the existing sector subject areas (SSAs) to “understand the strength of their average wage outcomes, which is the most robust source of evidence we have to indicate the labour market value of approved qualifications”.

The data sources used were as follows:

1. • “Median earnings per SSA five years after study for full level 3 achieved in 2011/12. This is our lead criterion, as this gives the most robust sense of long-term earnings potential.
   • “Median earnings per SSA three years after study for Full L3 achieved in 2013/14. This was included to sense-check earnings data five years post-achievement.
   • “Median earnings per SSA one year after study for Full L3 achieved in 2016/17. This was also included to sense-check earnings data five years post-achievement.”

The DfE says it then set a “sensible minimum threshold” for wage outcomes of £19,000, which is “broadly equivalent to the median wage for all level 3 SSAs considered when looking at wage outcomes five years after completion”.

“We then sifted through filtered qualifications data to understand which SSAs included 100 or more learning aims for certificates or diplomas amongst adult learners with prior attainment below level 3 in 2018/19,” the document continues.

“This is to ensure that the evidence base for our wage outcome data was large enough, and to ensure that will be sufficient learner demand to make delivery viable from 2021.”

 

Step 2 – expanding scope to include government priorities and areas of labour market need

The DfE says it acknowledged that wage data alone is “not an appropriate means of identifying qualifications with labour market value across the country” and that relying solely on this “may not result in a list that is inclusive enough to generate strong uptake and good labour market outcomes”.

Recognising that it may also be “appropriate” to include SSAs in which the government would like to see growth, despite low current uptake amongst adults, the department ensured qualifications with under 100 19+ learning aims in 2018/19, alongside those with potentially lower wage outcomes, were included in this evaluation.

“We have therefore taken the below steps to widen the scope of SSAs, which gave us an assessment of each SSA’s alignment with government priorities and ability to address economic need,” the document explains.

1. “We performed a qualitative evaluation of all SSAs regardless of the number of existing learning aims and wage outcomes. To do this, we assessed each SSAs’ alignment with the 2017 Industrial Strategy in the first instance (as per the existing High Value Course Premium (HVCP) methodology). 
2. “However, using the Industrial Strategy alone may not produce an inclusive list of qualifications, and is not necessarily reflective of more recent government priorities. We therefore expanded the scope of ‘government priorities’ to include sectors referenced in more recent government announcements.
3. “We then scrutinised the list of SSAs against published analysis of current and future labour market need (such as the Migration Advisory Committee’s Shortage Occupation List at RQF level 3-5), which factored in impacts of Covid-19 and Brexit. We should note that measures of labour market demand are imperfect, and difficult to predict accurately in the current economic climate.”

 

So what qualifications are included?

By carrying out both of the above steps, the DfE identified those SSAs for inclusion in the targeted level 3 entitlement (see list pictured below).

The department adds that they believe these SSAs have the “strongest wage outcomes, alignment with government priorities and ability to address labour market need”.

In total there are 379 qualifications on the list (click here to view in full), which includes a mix of existing vocational and technical qualifications and A-levels.

There are 76 A-levels in total, including 10 A-levels in physics which are offered by different awarding organisations.

Others, like the Advanced Certificate in Bookkeeping, are too small to be counted as a full level 3 qualification.

Meanwhile, all Access to HE qualifications have been excluded as these are eligible for advanced learner loans that are written off upon completion of an HE course and are “not primarily aimed at facilitating immediate labour market outcomes”.

The DfE concludes that they believe the qualifications in scope for the level 3 targeted entitlement extension should focus on “providing the skills that will have immediate labour market value (i.e. they should not be primarily focused on gaining access to higher qualifications)”.

 

Can the list change?

Yes. The DfE says it will keep the list under review and used its confidential briefing to ask awarding bodies to provide evidence for why other qualifications should be added, or why those included should be removed.

 

The current apprenticeships rate review is set to undergo its third consultation as the Education and Skills Funding Agency steps in to consider changes to its eligible costs policy.

The agency is expected to launch a review of its rules that decide what costs count towards apprenticeship training tomorrow – inviting 600 organisation to take part.

It comes after the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education announced last week that it would delay the outcome of its funding rate review until the agency’s work in this area is complete.

The IfATE’s funding band consultation was first launched in February and proposes a controversial new model that could see rates cut by over 40 per cent.

The institute then opened a second consultation on a revised “rates-based variable model” in August, but concerns were raised that apprenticeships would become unprofitable if current ineligible costs are excluded from the new model.

Ineligible costs for apprenticeships, under current ESFA policy, include “enrolment, induction, initial assessment, initial diagnostic testing, or similar activity”.

Writing for FE Week at the time of the IfATE’s second consultation, Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief policy officer Simon Ashworth questioned how these costs can be deemed ineligible “when these are activities mandated by the ESFA and/or an expectation of what Ofsted would expect to see during inspection”. 

He said: “It is too easy for IfATE to pass the buck to the ESFA and argue that their hands are tied by the agency’s funding rules on eligible and ineligible costs.

“Both the institute and the ESFA need to work together to develop a solution; in AELP’s view, this means ESFA reviewing their funding rules on ineligible costs and the institute properly accounting for key mandated activity in the form of a general overhead input as part of their new funding band methodology model.”

Announcing the delay to its rate consultation last week, the IfATE said: “Many respondents noted that the model did not take account of those costs associated with the delivery of an apprenticeship which are not eligible for government funding.

“It is worth reiterating that eligible costs policy is outside the scope of this consultation, and there has been no change in this policy. Nevertheless, the ESFA have agreed in parallel to review current policy on eligible costs.”

The institute added that as the ESFA’s review of eligible costs may have an impact on the final funding model, “we need to ensure we understand these outcomes before we publish the full response to the consultation.

“We plan therefore to publish a full consultation response in parallel with the outputs from the testing work and the conclusion of ESFA’s review.”

Those organisations being invited to the ESFA’s review include provider representative bodies; apprenticeship trailblazer groups; employer providers; and the “top 30 main providers” funded by ESFA.

If an organisation does do not receive a direct invite they can contact their representative body or trailblazer contact and ask for their comments to be included in their response, the agency said.

No deadline for when the eligible costs review will conclude has been provided at this stage.

Almost 400 level 3 qualifications have been chosen for the prime minister’s lifetime skills guarantee – but major sectors including hospitality, tourism and media have been excluded as FE Week previously revealed.

The Department for Education has today published the list (click here) of qualifications that will be fully funded for adults without a full qualification at level 3 – equivalent to two full A-levels.

In total there are 379 qualifications on the list, although some (such as A levels in subjects such as physics) are the same qualification simply with a different awarding organisation and others that are not A levels, like the Advanced Certificate in Bookkeeping, are too small to be counted as a full level 3 qualification.

Backed with £95 million from the National Skills Fund and available from April 2021, the sectors involved include the likes of engineering, public services, construction and nursing.

However, as FE Week exclusively reported last month, key parts of the economy have been left out. Those excluded are deemed by the DfE to be a low priority with low wages, and include hospitality, media and arts, travel and tourism, sport and retail.

The government said the courses chosen for the offer are those that are “valued by employers”, with prime minister Boris Johnson adding that the lifetime skills guarantee will give “thousands of adults across the country the chance to do exactly that – as we build back better after the pandemic”. 

But Tom Bewick, chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies, hit out at this “top-down driven list cooked up in Whitehall”, which shows the DfE has gone for a “convoluted way of trying to ration limited public funds from the get go, while dressing the whole policy up as being an absolute free learning entitlement like access to the NHS”.

“Indeed, this is increasingly looking like neither lifetime skills or a guarantee, with some of the qualifications listed, like A-level physics, looking more like the government’s ideological obsession with science subjects rather than a focus on what a post-Covid economy many need,” he added.

The DfE has said the list will be kept under review to “ensure that it continues to respond to changing labour market needs”, and there will be a “facility” for awarding organisations and mayoral combined authorities to suggest additions to the list.  

The lifetime skills guarantee builds on a policy that has been in place since 2013, which allows adults up to the age of 23 to be fully funded for their first full level 3 qualification from the adult education budget. Those aged 24 and over have since had to take out an advanced learner loan to pay for the course.

The current entitlement for those aged 23 and below spans nearly 1,200 qualifications, which is almost four times as many as those being made available under the lifetime skills guarantee.

The DfE said any qualifications included in this new level 3 adult offer, which are not included in the existing 19 to 23 statutory entitlement, will be made available for 19 to 23 learners. Any level 3 qualifications not currently included in this offer will continue to be eligible for advanced learner loans.

Funding for the new level 3 adult offer will be delivered through the Education and Skills Funding Agency in non-devolved areas, and delivered through Mayoral Combined Authorities and the Greater London Authority through a “separate grant”, on the “strict condition that funding is used for its intended purpose”.  

FE Week asked how the funding would be dished out to providers, presumed to be through the adult education budget, but the DfE declined to comment beyond saying further information about these arrangements “will be made in due course”.

Association of Employment and Learning Providers managing director Jane Hickie said today’s announcement is a “positive step” but while the inclusion of sectors such as adult care is welcomed, “we can’t fail to hide our disappointment that hospitality and retail have been left off when these sectors are being hit so hard by the effects of the pandemic”.

“Time is short for making the required funding available to providers and colleges but we hope that the ESFA and the MCAs take care to allocate it to providers with a good track-record of delivery,” she added.

Association of Colleges chief executive David Hughes said the “breadth of courses” included in the list is “vital in supporting rural and urban economies to build back better”.

“The qualifications will help people to get the skills they need in the labour market emerging from the pandemic so it is great to see that essential services like child and social care have been included alongside engineering, agriculture, construction and many others,” he added.

Sector subject areas included:

• Accounting and Finance
• Agriculture
• Building and construction
• Business management
• Child development and well-being
• Engineering
• Environmental conservation
• Health and social care
• Horticulture and forestry
• ICT for users
• ICT Practitioners
• Manufacturing technologies
• Mathematics and statistics
• Medicine and Dentistry
• Nursing and Subjects and Vocations Allied to Medicine
• Public services
• Science
• Teaching and Lecturing
• Transportation operations and maintenance
• Warehousing and distribution

Sector subject areas excluded

• Administration
• Animal care and veterinary science
• Anthropology
• Archaeology and archaeological sciences
• Architecture
• Crafts, creative arts and design
• Direct Learning Support
• Economics
• Geography
• History
• History, Philosophy and Theology
• Hospitality and catering
• Languages, literature and culture of the British Isles
• Law and Legal Services
• Marketing and Sales
• Media and communication
• Other languages, literature and culture
• Performing arts
• Philosophy
• Politics
• Publishing and Information Services
• Service enterprises
• Social Sciences
• Sociology and Social Policy
• Sport, leisure and recreation
•  
• Theology and religious studies
• Travel and Tourism
• Urban, Rural and Regional Planning

 

Further education providers are being asked to remain “on-call” up to the day before Christmas eve to assist with contact tracing, but will be able to decide when they can be contacted.

New guidance sent out to providers by the Department for Education today, seen by FE Week, says it has agreed with Public Health England a six-day window after the final day of teaching in which FE providers and schools will be asked to remain contactable.

This is in order to help with tracing people who have been in contact with positive Covid-19 cases, with the guidance reading: “This will allow enough time for positive coronavirus cases to be identified and confirmed by a test and for relevant contacts in the education setting to be traced.”

Although providers have flexibility to set their own term dates, the department has advised them to finish face-to-face teaching on 17 December, to give a cut-off date for the six day window of 23 December.

“This change does not diminish our view that colleges should continue to maximise access to face-to-face teaching, supplemented by some remote education,” the guidance continues, adding: “If the amount of face-to-face planned hours for students are reduced before the end of term, we expect that additional face to face planned hours will be provided before the end of the study programme.”

After those six days, further education providers will not be reached by NHS Test and Trace for contact tracing.

The guidance also says that during those six days, staff are not being asked to be on-call at all times, and may set a limited period in the day to receive notification of positive cases so they can advise contacts of that case to self-isolate.