College defends appointment of principal who jumped ship before financial failings exposed

A principal who jumped ship before the financial failings of his former college were uncovered has the backing of the board at the college he moved onto.

The confirmation came in a reply, seen by FE Week, to University and College Union officials at City College Plymouth in response to their letter demanding answers about the appointment of Garry Phillips as principal.

Mr Phillips’ leadership of Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College, where he was principal until taking up his current role in July, was slammed by the FE commissioner in a damning report published last week.

“I can say that the corporation is confident in the recruitment process it followed to appoint its CEO and it continues to have confidence in his ability to lead the college’s executive function,” the letter, from college chair Pauline Odulinksi, said.

FE Week’s own enquiries to the college, asking whether it is backing its beleaguered principal, have remained unanswered since Friday.

As previously reported by FE Week, the UCU’s letter raised a number of concerns about Mr Phillips’ recruitment – including whether the process was “safe and robust” and whether governors had the “full facts regarding his previous position”.

“City College Plymouth is also in a precarious financial position and UCU are under the impression that Garry was recruited by governors on the basis that he had the experience to reverse this and build both income and quality,” it said.

Philippa Davey, the UCU regional official, said she was “absolutely stunned” by the response.

She told FE Week that the letter didn’t fully answer the union’s questions, which included the opportunity to meet with the chair to discuss their concerns.

“We are not satisfied that the recruitment procedure was robust enough,” she said.

“The governors have said yes it was, but they haven’t answered any of our questions or agreed to meet without Garry being there.”

She said the union would be “polling members to ask if they have any confidence in Garry Phillips and the governors to continue to lead the college”, with voting closing at 11am on Friday

The FE commissioner’s report into EHWLC, published on Friday, revealed a total failure of leadership and governance at the college.

The college is now in such a precarious financial state that it is dependent on government bailouts for its survival.

“The relationship between clerk, chair and principal / CEO, those holding power, was over supportive and referred to it as being ‘cosy’, with little challenge and feeling a difficulty in asking questions,” the report said.

As a consequence of these failing, the college had an “immediate need for external cash flow support” and would be “unable to meet its commitments from early October without support”.

According to the college’s published accounts, it went from a £5.7 million surplus in 2015/16, to an £8 million deficit in 2016/17.

“It is recommended that, given prevailing financial concerns and historic financial performance over a number of years, further consideration be given to conducting an external review to test whether there is a sustainable financial position for the college going forward,” the report said.

 

Broker offered 3aaa staff £200 for apprentice referrals – but admits it was a ‘bad idea’

A broker has admitted it was a “bad idea” to offer cash to former staff of Aspire Achieve Advance in exchange for referrals of apprentices affected by the collapse.

The now-defunct apprenticeship giant, better known as 3aaa, ceased trading on October 11 when the government pulled its skills contracts following a second investigation into success-rate inflation – the findings of which have now been passed to the police.

Shortly after the demise, a recruitment firm called 360 Apprenticeships, based in Manchester, contacted a handful of staff who lost their jobs to offer a payment of up to £200 per apprentice referral.

It was not our proudest hour as a business start-up

“If you know of any learners that need assistance moving to a grade one training provider – please let me know,” one message, seen by FE Week said.

“Let me know if you feel this quick fix would be beneficial?”

However, 360 Apprenticeships, which incorporated in March 2016 and currently has four employees, claimed to quickly realised this was inappropriate.

“That shouldn’t have gone out,” said Aaron Rochford, the firm’s owner.

“It was done in haste really a couple of days after it all came out. We brainstormed it, contacted three people, but then we got our head bitten off by one ex-3aaa guy and realised this was not a bright idea.”

He added that his company didn’t “gain anything” from the offers and admitted it was a “bad idea” and “not our proudest hour as a business start-up”.

360 Apprenticeships is an apprenticeship recruitment firm working with various training providers, but is not regulated by the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

Mr Rochford said the company has “over 10 years of recruitment experience between the team” and with “30 plus five star reviews, the small amount of people who have used the service only have fantastic praise”.

The broker’s website claims it is “not for profit” even though it charges providers for employer and apprentice referrals. When FE Week raised this with Mr Rochford he claimed this was a “mistake” and said the website would be fixed to reflect it is a for profit organisation.

This is the latest example of unscrupulous poaching of 3aaa staff and apprentices that has been found by FE Week.

Last week this newspaper revealed that multiple training providers have been “misrepresenting their position” to people affected by the collapse.

Tactics include alleged false claims that the ESFA and 3aaa have asked the providers to take on hundreds of people affected.

Questions have been raised about how these providers were able to obtain private email addresses of staff, apprentices and employers – leading to concerns that general data protection regulation laws have been breached.

The ESFA’s director of apprenticeships, Keith Smith, is aware of the poaching and warned providers that they could have their own funding pulled because of it.

“There’s no place for people to come in and misrepresent to people who are feeling very vulnerable at this stage, employers and apprentices,” he said.

The 3aaa scandal put around 500 people out of work and left up to 4,500 apprentices without a training provider.

There is said to be £17 million of on-programme payments due for apprentices affected – a huge prize for anyone that can win transfers.

UCU raise concerns over appointment of principal who jumped ship before financial failings uncovered

The University and College Union is demanding answers from City College Plymouth about its appointment of Garry Phillips as principal, after his leadership of his former college was slammed by the FE commissioner.

The union has written to the chair of governors at Plymouth asking who approved Mr Phillips’ appointment, whether the selection process was robust and if they are still confident that it was the correct decision.

According to the letter, signed by regional UCU official Philippa Davey and Alison Chapman, branch chair at the college, the union had been “repeatedly told by Garry that he turned Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College around and brought about financial stability”, which Friday’s FE commissioner report had shown to be “untrue”.  

“City College Plymouth is also in a precarious financial position and UCU are under the impression that Garry was recruited by Governors on the basis that he had the experience to reverse this and build both income and quality,” it said.

The letter demands assurances from the eight governors who agreed Mr Phillips’ appointment earlier this year that “they are satisfied that the selection process was safe and robust” and “they are confident it was the correct decision and that they were given the full facts regarding his previous position”.

FE Week contacted the college on Friday to ask if it still backed Mr Phillips, despite the FE commissioner’s findings. We’ve yet to receive a response.

The UCU also calls for a halt to a planned restructure at Plymouth, which is likely to result in redundancies, until they have been “fully scrutinised by governors with experience in finance, quality, curriculum, estates and apprenticeships”.

They also call into question the appointment of a financial consultant, Martin Smith, who worked with Mr Phillips at his former college.

The FE commissioner’s report into EHWLC, published on Friday, revealed a total failure of leadership and governance at the college which Mr Phillips ran until he left in July this year.

The college is now in such a precarious financial state that it is dependent on government bailouts for its survival.

“The relationship between clerk, chair and principal / CEO, those holding power, was over supportive and referred to it as being ‘cosy’, with little challenge and feeling a difficulty in asking questions,” the report said.

As a consequence of these failing, the college had an “immediate need for external cash flow support” and would be “unable to meet its commitments from early October without support”.

According to the college’s published accounts, it went from a £5.7 million surplus in 2015/16, to an £8 million deficit in 2016/17.

“It is recommended that, given prevailing financial concerns and historic financial performance over a number of years, further consideration be given to conducting an external review to test whether there is a sustainable financial position for the college going forward,” the report said.

“This extraordinary report rubbishes claims from Garry Phillips that he turned round his former college,” said Ms Davey

“The governors at City College must take us through the processes that saw him and Martin Smith appointed,” she said.

As principal of EHWLC Mr Phillips was one of the most highly-paid principals in the country. His 31 per cent pay rise in 2016/17, despite the college’s financial difficulties, prompted fury from the UCU earlier this year.

 

 

 

IfA undecided on Dame Asha board replacement

The Institute for Apprenticeships still doesn’t know when – or if – it will fill the place left vacant on its board following the departure of Dame Asha Khemka.

Her resignation on October 19, three weeks after she stepped down from crisis-hit West Nottinghamshire College, left the IfA with just one serving college principal on its board.

But when FE Week asked the IfA for an update on plans to replace her, and whether it would recruit another college leader in her place, a spokesperson told us that “the chair will decide in due course”.

Dame Asha left her role at the IfA last month, two weeks after the institute said she remained a “valued member”.

“Considering I am no longer a serving principal, I have decided to step down from the board. I convey my best wishes to the institute,” she said at the time.

Dame Asha and Bev Robinson, principal of Blackpool and the Fylde College, were the only two serving college leaders named to the IfA’s board in January 2017.

A further two people were appointed in May this year, neither of whom was from a college.

The IfA’s website still lists Dame Asha as a serving board member, and as a member of its quality assurance committee, despite her resignation.

Dame Asha, who led WNC from 2006, stepped down from the top job on October 1 following a “special meeting of the board of governors” held “in light of the current challenges faced by the college”.

It was forced to go to the Education and Skills Funding Agency in July for a £2.1 million bailout, just 48 hours before it would have run out of cash, as revealed by FE Week.

A damning FE commissioner report, published on Friday, criticised “serious corporate failure”, lack of oversight and a “financial crisis” at the college.

Dame Asha was one of the most highly-paid principals in the FE sector, with a remuneration package worth £262,000 in 2016/17.

She received £15,000 a year for her role on the IfA board. Following her appointment last year, a spokesperson for WNC refused to say whether Dame Asha would keep the money herself or give it to the college.

DfE reopens £15m strategic college improvement fund before finalising first round

Colleges are being invited to bid for cash in a new round of the strategic college improvement fund – but it’s unclear how much is left in the £15 million pot.

A pilot for the SCIF was run last year in which 14 struggling colleges shared £2 million (the winners of which can be found here).

The Department for Education then reopened bidding in June for the first official round, but the winners from this haven’t been finalised yet, leaving it unclear how much of the remaining £13 million has been used up.

Despite this, the DfE has today launched another tender round for new bids. A spokesperson said this was to ensure colleges have enough time to submit their expressions of interests.

This will mean more opportunities for people to access high-quality education and training

The SCIF was created to allow struggling colleges, with the support of a stronger institution, to gain extra cash to help them improve in specific areas.

“I’m thrilled to invite even more colleges to apply for funding from the SCIF,” said skills minister Anne Milton.

“By working together with top colleges, they will get the support they need to make sure their learners get the very best education and training. This will mean more opportunities for people right across the country to access high-quality education and training.”

Applications for stage one of this second round are due by December 3.

To be eligible, FE and sixth-form colleges must be rated grade three or four either for overall effectiveness or in any of a number of headline fields, including outcomes for learners, and leadership and management, in their most recent Ofsted inspection report.

A recently merged college will be eligible to apply if at least one of the pre-merger institutions meets this criteria.

The area of improvement must have been identified during a recent Ofsted visit, a diagnostic assessment carried out by the FE commissioner, or another commissioner intervention.

They must have a “suitable approach for addressing this need” and “have the capacity and capability to deliver the improvement activities that they’re proposing”.

The college will be expected to work with a stronger partner, which will use its expertise to bring about the changes, but they do not need to have identified a partner for stage one.

Partners could be – but do not have to be – a college headed up by one of the National Leaders of FE (NLFE), which is a group of seven leaders from ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ colleges.

Colleges will be told by January 11, 2019 if they’ve made it through stage one.

Many colleges are now harnessing the best practice that exists within the sector

The DfE said it expects to launch a third round of applications in “winter 2019”.

The SCIF is one of a number of new initiatives intended to support colleges at risk of failing before they hit rock bottom.

Other measures include the NLFE programme and the FE commissioner’s diagnostic assessments which help struggling colleges identify areas where they need to improve.

Sixth Form Colleges Association chief executive Bill Watkin said: “The SCIF has already made a difference to several colleges and the students who attend them, with its focus on identifying where needs are and how those needs can best be met.

“We are delighted that round two has been launched and highly recommend that colleges take this opportunity to work with each other to raise, and sustain, standards across the sector.”

Deputy FE commissioner SCIF lead Teresa Kelly added: “It is very exciting that the SCIF has been taken up so positively by the sector and is proving to be a significant tool for quality improvement in colleges.

“Through the SCIF many colleges are now harnessing the best practice that exists within the sector and applying proven best practice in order to improve the quality of their offer and provision.”

The list of successful colleges and their partners from the first application round will be published later this month, the DfE said.

Ofsted watch: A trio of ‘inadequate’ providers

It’s been a bad week for the FE and skills sector, with a trio of reports returning ‘inadequate’ grades and a major private university found to be making ‘insufficient progress’ in its apprenticeships.

Elsewhere, two providers have seen their ratings go up from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’, while seven monitoring visit reports have been published.

Mobile Care Qualifications received a grade four overall – down from its previous grade two – in a report published October 30 and based on an inspection in early September.

Leadership and management at the provider, which offers traineeships and adult learning programmes in health and social care and child development, was deemed ‘inadequate’, while all other headline fields were rated ‘requires improvement’.

Senior leaders were criticised for being “too slow to recognise” the “declining quality of teaching, learning and assessment” since the previous inspection, in 2016.

Governance arrangements were “weak” with no “dedicated activities that could be defined as governance or the performance management of senior staff”.

Too many adult learners “make slow progress”, while teaching, learning and assessment was “not consistently good”.

Andrew Lister, MCQ’s director, told FE Week he was appealing the verdict as it “does not reflect the provision at all”.

Independent provider Active Lifestyles was rated grade four across the board in a report published November 2 and based on an inspection in early September.

“Very few” learners at the provider, which offers advanced learner loan-funded personal trainer courses, “achieve their qualifications”, while “too few” showed “sufficient commitment to their studies”.

Staff failed to “monitor the progress of learners well enough” and “do not provide them with sufficient guidance to help them improve”, the report said.

“Leaders have not made any arrangements for oversight of their own work, and the absence of challenge and support has contributed to the lack of improvement.”

The provider has been approached for a comment.

As previously reported by FE Week, employer provider Creative Support was rated ‘inadequate’ across the board in a report published October 31 and based on an inspection at the end of September.

Inspectors criticised the provider – a charity that supports people with special needs – for provision that “does not meet the objectives or requirements of apprenticeships”.

Adult and community learning provider The Voluntary and Community Sector Learning and Skills Consortium saw its grade go up from three to two in a report published October 31 and based on an inspection at the beginning of the month.

The consortium, which trades as Enable, runs apprenticeships in business administration, customer service and supporting teaching and learning, and adult learning programmes.

Senior leaders and managers have a “very good understanding” of its strengths and weaknesses, which they use “effectively to continuously review and improve the quality of provision”, the report said.

Apprentices’ progress was deemed good, but “too many” advanced learner loan-funded learners dropped out of their courses “as a result of poor initial advice and guidance”.

Independent provider Francesco Group (Holdings) Limited also saw its overall grade go up from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’, in a report published November 1 and based on an inspection in early October.

The provider, which runs hairdressing apprenticeships, “delivers a good programme through which apprentices develop outstanding work skills”.

The “large majority” of apprentices make good progress on their courses, and “most” achieve their qualifications on time, and remain in employment and gain promotions.

However, managers’ self-assessment was found to “not evaluate the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in sufficient depth”.

Marson Garages (Wolstanton) Limited, trading as Martec Training, held onto its grade three in a report published October 29, and based on inspection earlier in the month.

Leaders and governors at the provider, which runs study programmes and apprenticeships, were criticised for not having “secured the necessary improvements identified at the previous inspection”.

“Senior leaders and managers do not yet use well enough self-assessment and quality improvement processes to improve the quality of provision,” the report said.

Staff did “not ensure that learners improve their skills sufficiently” nor did they ensure that learners “know what they need to do to improve”.

Three apprenticeship early monitoring visit reports have been published this week.

As previously reported by FE Week, these included private university BPP University which was found to be making ‘insufficient progress’ – in large part because managers were unaware of the slow progress being made by apprentices.

Two further apprenticeship providers were found to be making ‘reasonable progress’ in all areas this week: Accountancy Learning Ltd, and Develop Training Limited.

A further four monitoring visit reports were published this week, for North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College, Barnfield College, The Learning and Enterprise College Bexley, and Sunderland City Metropolitan Borough Council.

GFE Colleges Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College 11/09/2018 29/10/2018 M M
Barnfield College 27/09/2018 01/11/2018 M M

 

Independent Learning Providers Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Francesco Group (Holdings) Ltd 02/10/2018 01/11/2018 2 3
Active Lifestyles 10/09/2018 02/11/2018 4
BPP University Ltd 26/09/2018 01/11/2018 M M
Accountancy Learning Ltd 24/09/2018 29/10/2018 M M
Marson Garages (Wolstanton) Ltd 09/10/2018 29/10/2018 3 3
Mobile Care Qualifications 11/09/2018 30/10/2018 4 2
Develop Training Limited 01/08/2018 31/10/2018 M M

 

Adult and Community Learning Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
The Learning and Enterprise College Bexley 03/10/2018 31/10/2018 M M
Sunderland City Metropolitan Borough Council 25/09/2018 31/10/2018 M M
The Voluntary and Community Sector Learning and Skills Consortium 02/10/2018 31/10/2018 2 3

 

Employer providers Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Creative Support 25/09/2018 31/10/2018 4

Ofqual launches consultation on regulating fully-funded digital skills training

Ofqual has launched a consultation into how best to regulate the government’s new digital skills qualifications, which will be provided for free to adults lacking in basic skills.

The exam regulator’s proposals for the new qualifications include not setting any rules on the number of assessments required and implementing a single pass/fail grading model.

All adults without basic digital skills will be able to enrol on the new qualifications free of charge from 2020, as previously reported by FE Week.

Free digital skills training for adults was first announced by the government in October 2016, and became law in April 2017 as part of the Digital Economy Act. Funding for the courses will come from the existing £1.5 billion annual adult education budget.

The Department for Education launched its own consultation into the new national standards for digital skills last month, including plans for new qualifications at ‘beginner’ and ‘essential’ levels.

The Ofqual consultation document said the DfE has “set out an expectation that flexibility and innovation should be encouraged in the development of these new qualifications” to ensure that the needs of a “diverse range of learners” can be met.

“We recognise however that the more flexibility we allow in the design of the qualifications, the less comparable the qualifications offered by different awarding organisations will be. This is an inevitable trade off.”

One of the proposals Ofqual is consulting on is the requirement to make sure that all basic digital skills qualifications comply with all the skills areas set out in the DfE’s standards once they are drawn up.

“We think that this is key to ensuring that learners gain the digital skills needed for life, work and further study, as government intends,” the consultation document said.

“We are not proposing to set any detailed rules on the number of assessments required, assessment time or availability of assessments.

“While this approach may reduce the comparability of assessments offered by different awarding organisations, we feel that it is important that awarding organisations have flexibility to design qualifications that meet the needs of various groups of adult learners, and that it is valuable to users for these qualifications to be available on demand.”

Ofqual is also consulting on whether to allow “unitisation” within the new qualifications, and is proposing that centres should be permitted to mark the beginner level qualifications, while essential level qualifications should be marked by awarding organisations.

It is also proposing to make it a condition that learners have a minimum of 45 hours guided learning time, carrying out a “technical evaluation” of all new qualifications to consider their design and proposed delivery and requiring all awarding organisations to develop an assessment strategy document to explain their approach to each qualification.

 The consultation is open for 10 weeks, and will close on January 13.

Employers start to leave reviews on ESFA’s new Trip Advisor-style feature


The government has launched its Trip Advisor-style review tool to let employers rate apprenticeship providers, and Ofsted intends to use the data to inform inspections.

The tool, called “what employers are saying”, allows employers who have registered apprentices on the apprenticeship service to feed back on specific aspects of their programmes.

Employers rate training providers on a four-point scale, ranging from ‘excellent’ to ‘very poor’. They can also identify the provider’s strengths and weaknesses from a list, but are not able to submit any written responses.

The feedback is not moderated before it appears online, and is visible to anyone searching for a  specific training provider. Apprentice feedback is also being gathered, but the Education and Skills Funding Agency says this is in a test phase and is not ready for publication yet.

A spokesperson for Ofsted confirmed it was still establishing how it will use the data. He said the inspectorate “is in discussion with the ESFA about the sharing of information”.

Speaking at a fringe event at the Conservative party conference earlier this month, skills minister Anne Milton said that allowing employers and apprentices to give “smiley faces” as reviews of training providers is a better indicator of quality than “tickbox” inspections, which she said “often miss the point”.

When asked if employers who train apprentices directly will be able to give feedback on themselves, a spokesperson for the ESFA said users will be told not to give feedback if there is a conflict of  interest, and the tool’s terms of reference will be updated to clarify that.

FE Week took a look at some of the reviews given to some of the country’s biggest training providers.

The largest, Bristol’s Lifetime Training Group, had 15,210 apprentices in 2016/17, according to the ESFA’s latest achievement-rate data, on a range of qualifications from hospitality to childcare.

As of October 26, it had received 76 reviews, including 24 votes for ‘excellent’ (31.5 per cent), and 44 for ‘good’ (58 per cent). Voters judged its strengths as including reporting on the progress of apprentices, communicating with employers and providing the right training at the right time.

The provider had an employer satisfaction rating of 86.4 per cent in the most recent FE Choices survey, published last week, and has been rated ‘good’ by Ofsted since July 2012.

Slough-based IT and business specialist QA, which had 2,230 apprentices in 2016/17, had the most reviews of the large providers, having received 134 appraisals from employers as of October 26.

 Of these, 14 per cent (19) rated the provider as ‘excellent’ and 58 per cent (78) said it was ‘good’. However, 27 reviews (20 per cent) judged it as ‘poor’, and 10 (7 per cent) as ‘very poor’. Employers listed QA’s strengths, including improving the skills of apprentices and its training facilities, but said it could improve on reporting on progress and communication.

According to FE Choices, QA has an employer-satisfaction rate of 85.6 per cent, and it is currently rated as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted.

 Kaplan Financial, based in Manchester with 2,530 apprentices in 2016/17 on courses including law, accounting and finance, received 119 reviews. Of these, 17 (14 per cent) were rated ‘excellent’ and 77 (65 per cent) were rated ‘good’. It also received 16 (13 per cent) ‘poor’ reviews and nine (7.5 per cent) ‘very poor’ reviews.

Employers were most impressed by the provider’s facilities and ability to get new apprentices  started and to work with small numbers of apprentices, but said it could improve on communicating and adapting to the needs of employers.

In comparison, Kaplan Financial – which is rated ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted – had a lower employer satisfaction of 74.6 per cent in the FE Choices survey.

Finally, the tool has been positive for West Sussex’s HIT Training, which specialises in hospitality and catering and had 8,460 apprentices in 2016/17.

Of the 50 reviews the provider has received, 20 (40 per cent) rated it as ‘excellent’ and 28 (56 per cent) as ‘good’. HIT Training received an  employer satisfaction rating of 94.2 per cent in the FE Choices survey, and is rated ‘good’ by Ofsted. 

MOVERS AND SHAKERS EDITION 259

Your weekly guide to who’s new and who’s leaving

Stella McManus, deputy principal curriculum and quality, Waltham Forest College

Start date: September 2018

Previous job: Director of curriculum, North Hertfordshire College

Interesting fact: After living in Italy in her youth, Stella became fluent in Italian, and developed a profound love for prosecco and eating!


Jan Richardson-Wilde, deputy managing director, NOCN

Start date: September 10 2018

Previous job: Director of quality and curriculum, Interserve Learning and Employment

Interesting fact: Jan once climbed in the Himalayas for a week for charity, and found the experience of life in Nepal fantastic.


Martin Sim, interim principal, West Notts College

Start date: October 2018

Previous Job: Interim principal and chief executive, Barnfield College (continuing to support)

Interesting fact: Martin is a life-long Bolton Wanderers F.C. fan who has been attending matches for 56 years


Kirstie Wright, director of quality, WS Training

Start date: October 8 2018

Previous job: Director of quality and curriculum, YMCA Training

Interesting fact: During an extended gap year, Kirstie spent 18 months working as a club rep in the notorious ‘Hedonism’ resort in Jamaica


 

If you want to let us know of any new faces at the top of your college, training provider or awarding organisation please let us know by emailing news@feweek.co.uk