A learner with hearing and speech difficulties who also works as a carer for his twin sister is among the winners of the Association of Colleges’ Student of the Year Awards 2019.

The gongs, which include Young Student, Adult Student, Apprentice and Higher Education Student of the Year, were given out at the annual AoC conference gala dinner in Birmingham tonight.

They followed the introduction of the first-ever AoC President’s Award, earlier in the day, which was handed to a team of students from Brockenhurst College for their petition during the Love Our Colleges campaign.

Steve Frampton, AoC President, said: “Each year the level of applications is extremely high, and it goes to show the fantastic work that students are doing in colleges as well as the lengths colleges go to support their students.

“They have done amazingly well to win and should rightly be proud of their achievements.”

Billy Gibbons, from South Essex College, claimed the top prize for ‘Young Student of the Year’.

The student, who has profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, speech and language delay, developmental delay and an auditory processing impairment, achieved a D*D* in his 90 Credit Diploma in public services.

Gibbons, who also helps as a carer for his twin sister, obtained a distinction in every assessment.

He recently went to Buckingham Palace to receive his gold Duke of Edinburgh award and has completed training as a fire cadet within Essex County Fire and Rescue Service.

The runners-up in the category were Sibgha Amin, from Stoke on Trent College, and Macy Sheil, from Trafford College.

‘Apprentice of the Year’ was won by Tia Whelan, from Leicester College.

Whelan completed a three-year plumbing course before starting her property maintenance operative apprenticeship at UK Gas, where she is the first female in the team.

She now takes on her own work experience students and has visited 10 schools and colleges over the last six months to speak to students about the construction industry and promote the programme to female students.

Leicester College staff said Whelan, who is dyslexic, is also working at distinction level.

Lauren Polson, from London South East Colleges, and Luke Leech, from Bournemouth & Poole College, were both runners-up.

Ryan Kimber, from the Isle of Wight College, beat Roxanne Willoughby, from the Northern College and Malcolm Thwala, from Hugh Baird College, to win ‘Adult Student of the Year.’

He achieved D*D*D* in his Extended Diploma Engineering Level 3 BTEC after being diagnosed with brain and spinal cancer in 2016.

Kimber was headhunted by GKN Aerospace to design a project for their craft apprentices as a result of successful work placements.

He also volunteers for CLIC Sargent.

The college’s chair, Nicholas England, said: “It has been a privilege to see how much this young man has developed during his time at the college.”

The Higher Education Student of the Year was awarded to Benjie Kusita, from Bradford College, who is studying a BA (Hons) Media Makeup with Special Effects, ahead of Matthew Chilvers, from Loughborough College, and Henry Green, from Weston College.

Earlier in the day Frampton announced a new prize, the President’s Award, which was established to recognise those who have made a unique and lasting impact on the further education sector.

Brockenhurst College were the first ever winners, in recognition of their work in the Love Our Colleges campaign.

The college’s online petition gathered more than 70,000 signatures, which paved the way for a debate in Westminster about college funding.

The Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) has today recommended a new, more “robust approach” to subcontracting in an effort to avoid an outright ban.

Subcontracting in FE, the practice of one provider paying another to deliver the training, has never been far from scandal and controversy. It has already been banned for advanced learner loan funded courses.

In what the AELP describes as a “last chance saloon” for subcontracting apprenticeships and adult education budget funding, its chief executive, Mark Dawe, claims “by incorporating the recommendations in our submission into its rules, the agency can avoid ministers demanding a ban”.

“Examples of subcontracting malpractice do not justify at all a call for an outright ban on subcontracting”

The ESFA announced plans last month for a radical overhaul of its subcontracting rules amid high-profile cases of fraud, while Ofsted has launched research into the practice.

In its submission, the AELP said the “vast majority” of subcontracting is “high quality” and officials must not take a “damagingly blunt” approach to address the behaviours of a small number of providers.

The requirement and expectations of main providers who subcontract out government funding should be “much more robust” in order to ensure integrity.

AELP has produced a checklist of the “minimum expectations” of the main provider, which they say is significantly above and beyond the current ESFA rules and “should be adopted across the sector”.

This includes: acceptable fees, charges and additional services, quality monitoring and quality assurance, MIS, audit and ILR services, and contracting management (read the full report here).

The association says there also needs to be clarity on the “different types of subcontracting and what is and what isn’t a subcontract to help alleviate confusion across the sector, including with employers”.

AELP has used its submission paper to again call again for fees and charges not to exceed 20 per cent of the funding – a recommendation that has been adopted by the Greater London Authority and other mayoral combined authorities with devolved adult education funding.

This maximum cap would “block the profiteering of a small number of providers who commoditise their privileged access to government funding and ensure value for money”.

AELP adds that there should be a clear policy on management fees and charges being only applicable to core funding and not additional funding “designed to support specific groups of learners or to support certain additional needs”.

ESFA should also procure funding from providers that is “continuously subcontracted out on a transitional basis”, the association’s submission said.

“Recent examples of subcontracting malpractice do not justify at all a call for an outright ban on subcontracting in the sector, but a much more robust approach on the part of the ESFA and Ofsted would make a huge difference in stopping further examples occurring,” Dawe (pictured) said.

“Over the last ten years, AELP feels that the ESFA has rather dragged its heels in making the required changes needed in its funding rules to put the issue to bed and we are probably now in the last chance saloon.”

“Let’s have no more prevarication around this issue”

He added: “Let’s have no more prevarication around this issue which has been damaging the sector’s reputation for far too long. Change the rules now.”

Eileen Milner, the chief executive of the ESFA, sent a sector-wide letter last month warning of rule changes to subcontracting and that she will take strong action against any provider that abuses the system.

She said there are currently 11 live investigations into subcontracting, with issues underpinning them ranging in seriousness from “complacency and mismanagement”, through to matters of “deliberate and systematic fraud”.

She revealed the government will review its current subcontracting rules later this year.

Ofsted’s research will mainly look at whether management fees, which have controversially grown to as much as 40 per cent on subcontract values, are having a detrimental impact on learners’ education.

There have been a number of high-profile subcontracting scandals in recent years. The most recent involved Brooklands College and resulted in the ESFA demanding a £20 million clawback.

A Labour government would train 80,000 people a year in a new climate apprenticeship programme, Jeremy Corbyn is expected to announce today.

It is part of a raft of apprenticeship reforms being unveiled; including allowing levy funds to be spent on a wider range of accredited training and extending the time allowed for employers to spend their allocation.

Labour has said it would also double the amount of money businesses are allowed to transfer to non-levy paying small and medium-sized businesses.

The climate apprenticeships programme, which is intended to help the UK pivot to a green economy, will be paid for by diverting 25 per cent of the apprenticeship levy and “by any dividends over the cap paid into Labour’s Inclusive Ownership Funds – expected to be £700 million by 2024”.

Jeremy Corbyn will tell the Confederation of British Industry conference today: “Climate apprenticeships will offer training to school leavers and workers looking to change jobs mid-career, creating the engineers, technicians and construction workers we need to transition to a green economy.”

Labour says they will deliver 320,000 apprenticeships in England during their first term in government, and by 2030, the programme will have created 886,000 apprenticeships.

Corbyn will argue only Labour “will deliver real change” as the government has “failed to deliver apprenticeships” after a 20 per cent fall in starts since the levy reforms were introduced in 2017.

Apprenticeships on the climate programme will be trained as engineers and technicians in renewable energy and transport; civil engineers and skilled tradespeople in sustainable construction; designers, welders and fabricators in low carbon industries; and sustainable agriculture and forestry specialists.

Labour said the global green economy is currently valued at $4 trillion, and is projected to grow to $9 trillion in value by 2030.

Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Mark Dawe said: “Labour have obviously given careful consideration to reforming the levy and the climate apprenticeships target for a whole term doesn’t seem unrealistic.  These apprenticeships are vital for the future and we support investment in the training of our young people and workforce for this important sector.”

Although it is not yet clear how much extra time Labour will grant, employers currently have 24 months to spend their levy allocation.

But one area Labour might run into more difficulty is widening the levy: the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has estimated the apprenticeships budget will be overspent this year and by up to £1.5 billion by 2021/22.

The National Audit Office has also warned of a “clear risk” to the financial sustainability of the apprenticeship programme, after finding the average cost of training hit double what the government had predicted.

Dawe said it is “premature to start talking about the levy being used for other forms of training” considering the levy is already being overspent on apprenticeships.

This evening the Department for Education (DfE) has said there remains “no immediate safety concerns” at a college halls of residence with cladding that has failed a safety test, despite a university student halls catching fire.

It is understood that around 100 people were evacuated and two people suffered minor injuries at a Bolton University halls of residence last night.

An investigation by FE Week in October revealed Highbury College, in Portsmouth, has requested up to £5m in financial support from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) to replace Grenfell-style cladding that had ‘failed’ a safety test.

The DfE spokesperson also said tonight that they are still considering the funding application and a decision “will be made in due course.”

A spokesperson for Highbury College confirmed The Tower, which is clad in the same aluminium composite material as the Grenfell Tower which caught fire in June 2017, has had resident students under 18-years-old since September 2016.

Students under 18-years-old in onsite residential accommodation would be in-scope for an Ofsted social care inspection.

But when FE Week asked Ofsted last month why they had not inspected the residential provision at The Tower Ofsted said the ESFA had not made them aware of it.

Highbury College also blamed the ESFA for not telling Ofsted that they had resident students under 18-years-old on the premises, because they claim they had “declared in the college Individual Learner Record from 2016/17 onwards and as such would have been accessible to the ESFA.”

The college had also been telling parents that the Tower was regulated by Ofsted.

And with Ofsted not being made aware, the college has saved around £5,000 over the past three years in what the inspectorate calls an “annual routine fee, set in regulations by the DfE, for the inspection of the college’s residential provision.”

This afternoon Ofsted told FE Week that the DfE had still not asked them to undertake an inspection of the residential provision at The Tower.

A spokesperson said: “We inspect residential provision in colleges at the request of DfE. When they inform us that a college has residential provision, we will inspect it within the timescale in our policy. But, if they want us to go in sooner, they can ask us.”

The fire at Bolton University halls, which is understood to have involved a different type of cladding, prompted the Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson, to write “to all university vice chancellors” this afternoon.

Williamson tweeted that he had asked them to “review fire safety procedures and safeguards across residential, teaching & research accommodation.” And “report back to me as swiftly as possible.”

A bitter dispute that involved extensive strikes at Nottingham College has officially ended after a deal was reached which will ensure no staff see their pay cut as a result of new contracts.

The agreement will also retain workload protections and rules out proposed cuts to sick pay and annual leave.

Staff who are members of the University and College Union walked out for 15 days in September and October and passed votes of no confidence in their chief executive and chair of governors.

They were due to strike for a further 14 days this month, but last week agreed to suspend the action after college leaders offered a new deal.

The dispute centred on what the UCU said were the college’s attempts to impose “inferior” contracts that would have cut holiday entitlement and left some staff over £1,000 worse off.

UCU head of further education Andrew Harden said the dispute should never have got to this stage and questioned why students had lost 15 days of lessons at such a crucial time of year.

“Nobody ever wants to take strike action, but this deal is a testament to members’ determination to fight threats to their pay and working conditions,” he added.

“The college has finally recognised that it needs to work with its staff and not against them and we hope this deal will now pave the way for more positive future negotiations on pay and conditions at the college.”

A spokesperson from Nottingham College said: “The college is pleased to confirm that the dispute with UCU has been resolved and further strike action has been called off.

“We now have the opportunity to put the industrial action behind us, learn from the experience and work together, as one college, to deliver the excellent teaching and learning and create the outstanding college experience that our students deserve.”

Two healthcare providers have been told to get in shape while one college was found to be ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted this week.

Divad Training will likely be struck off from new apprenticeship starts after inspectors found it had made ‘insufficient progress’ in two areas.

It trains 425 learners in mostly health and social care and childcare sectors, but inspectors said leaders and managers do not ensure the apprentices, recruited by brokers, “understand they are on an apprenticeship programme”.

The inspectorate also found Divad’s tutors and managers have been adapting training and assessment from frameworks to their equivalent standards by redesigning paperwork, rather than developing high-quality training.

The independent training provider did make ‘reasonable progress’ in safeguarding.

Fairway Training (Healthcare) Ltd was also delivered some bad news this week, making the same progress as Divad.

Inspectors found most of the provider’s 14 apprentices make slow progress and “leaders and managers do not have a clear oversight of apprenticeship training”.

The report reads that although appointing a well-qualified and experienced trainer has improved this area, “for almost a year apprentices did not receive high-quality off-the-job training”.

This week marked the first grade one for a further education college – Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group – under Ofsted’s new inspection framework.

Principal Karen Dobson called the result “absolutely brilliant” and a testament to the “hard work, talent and total commitment of our staff team”.

Elsewhere, Leeds College of Building went up from a grade three to a two, with inspectors writing it is “well-led” and students and apprentices enjoy their time there and “the inclusive environment in which they study and learn”.

The curriculum meets the specific needs of the construction and the built environment sectors, and is informed and developed through “highly-effective” links with employer groups.

Birmingham Metropolitan College has recovered some ground from its grade three with a monitoring visit that found it making ‘reasonable progress’ in all areas.

A new chair has led the board to “increase its level of focus and scrutiny of the actions being taken by leaders and managers to raise standards and promote improvement across the institution”.

Specialist provider Strathmore College, which has 35 learners, received a grade two this week after previously receiving a grade three.

This was attributed to strong leadership and governance having led to rapid improvements since the previous inspection.

National College for the Creative and Cultural Industries earned a grade three this week from its first full inspection.

The report also exposed how the college, which received a £600,000 bailout in 2018, had only 24 classroom students.

Meanwhile Stoke-on-Trent College was slapped with its third consecutive grade three.

Leaders and managers have not had enough time to develop their curriculum for the 2,600 learners and 583 apprentices, so “too many courses are not sufficiently challenging for learners’ ambitions”.

But most learners enjoy their time there and inspectors noted how leaders have now created a sound financial basis to improve the quality of provision.

Several independent providers scored grade two this week, including Firebrand Training with its 558 apprentices.

Those 558 were studying IT courses and were reported as being “exemplary,” with “an appetite to learn” and “impeccable” conduct which earned their provider an ‘outstanding’ grade for behaviour and attitudes.

Ginger Nut Media, which has 180 apprentices, scored ‘good’ across the board in its first full inspection.

Many apprentices progress in their careers because of the training, the report reads, gaining greater responsibilities or promotions.

JCB Academy’s strong reputation for supplying well-trained engineering apprentices, of which it has 258, would not have been hurt by a grade two this week.

“Owing to the thorough preparation and precise delivery of theory and practical training,” inspectors wrote, the apprentices “make good progress and achieve good results”.

Another independent provider which earned a grade two this week was Skills North East.

Its 91 adult learners hone their skills in professional salon and gym environments by performing treatments on each other or paying clients.

Aside from Birmingham Metropolitan College, the other providers which received all ‘reasonable progress’ ratings in monitoring visits were Training 4 Careers (UK), Guard Business Solutions, Clifford College, Eden Training and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.