New education secretary meets WorldSkills UK in first college visit

The education secretary, Gavin Williamson, has met Team UK representatives during his first visit to a further education college in his new role.

On what the Department for Education described as a unofficial private visit, Westminster Kingsway College hosted a meeting between Williamson and representatives of WorldSkills UK, including chief executive Dr Neil Bentley-Gockmann.

The minister also met several Team UK members, including: Jack Goodrum, who will be competing in carpentry; Owen Aldous, cabinet making; Collette Gorvett, restaurant service; Tonicha Roberts, chemical laboratory technician; Ross Megahy, mechanical engineering CAD.

His visit coincided with Vocational Results Day, when learners sitting qualifications such as BTECs receive their externally assessed results.

While he was there, Williamson also got the chance to try his hand at some of the skills himself including hospitality cocktail making and carpentry.

“It was fantastic to meet members of Team UK and see them all in action,” Williamson said.

“There is no greater honour than representing your country on a global platform like this, and I wish them all the very best of luck as they head out to Kazan next week.”

Williamson, who has taken on personal responsbility for the FE and skills brief, also told all those receiving vocational results that today is the “culmination of years of hard work for thousands of young people”.

“It is right that their efforts are celebrated across the country as well as on the front pages – but getting a good set of A levels and then a degree is only half the story.

“As the first education secretary to personally take charge of further education and skills, I’m going to make sure that those people who opt to take a technical or vocational qualification are given the proper recognition for their hard work.”

He added that while some people will be getting their technical and vocational results today, from next year, students finishing their GCSEs will be able to take “one of our new T-levels as a high-quality technical course that will carry the same UCAS points equivalent to three of our world-class A levels”.

“Young people and their parents can be confident that T-levels will be just as stretching as their academic equivalents and will offer progression to the next level whether that is landing a great job, an apprenticeship or going on to do a degree,” he said.

“As the technical ‘gold standard’ option for young people post-16, T-level results will be also be published on the same day as A-levels from 2022.”

“Technical and vocational educational has played second fiddle to traditional academic options for too long. 

“In three years’ time the look and feel of results day will be very different, with students getting their T-level results celebrating their hard work alongside those getting their A-levels.”

This year’s Vocational Results Day comes as the future of thousands of applied general qualifications, including BTECs, hangs in the balance. A government review of those at level 3 and below was launched earlier this, and any that are deemed to overlap with A-levels and T-levels will have their funding removed.

Team UK will travel to Russia on Monday before four days of intense competition start on 23 August, where they’ll battle it out with 65 other nations in a range of disciplines, from mechatronics to cooking.

FE Week is the exclusive media partner of WorldSkills UK and will be reporting live from Kazan.

 

Why Boris needs more than bobbies on the beat

In response to a knife attack in London on August 8, 2019, Boris Johnson said he is going to put more police on the streets. 

Of course he is right to suggest people will feel safer as a result.

However, he couldn’t be more wrong if he had thought that more police would solve the underlying issues that are causing this resurgence in knife crime. This needs to be understood in the context of what is driving young people to seek a life of crime and gangs. Many are themselves vulnerable and need help.

Further education colleges should be at centre of the debate as we seek solutions.

The PM is no doubt aware that more police won’t solve the knife crime problem

In particular, two things need to be addressed – the reduction in college funding and the lack of emphasis on personal development as we focus on qualifications and job readiness.

Funding cuts have meant that colleges are no longer able to offer a broad enough curriculum. This narrowing of the curriculum, to maintain financial viability, comes at the expense of losing provision which would be better suited to engaging some of our more vulnerable young people.

The relentless focus on employability and job readiness, in policy, regulation and funding for FE has neglected that other essential quality of education – the development of character.

Johnson should understand this. His alma mater, Eton, includes among its aims “fostering self-confidence, enthusiasm, perseverance, tolerance and integrity”.

The question is whether these noble qualities should be fostered in the few or the many.

The PM is no doubt aware that more police won’t solve the knife crime problem.

I would argue that cuts in college funding coupled with an education system that is focussed primarily on employability is at best naively dangerous.

One way to chart a more purposeful course would be to promote and regulate FE as a sector with the dual purpose of encouraging employability and job readiness as well as citizenship and community cohesion.

There are multiple approaches to combining the two and this agenda is very much part of the fabric of the FE sector.

To augment a young persons’ educational programme of study with work around purposeful citizenship to help them contribute meaningfully to their local community is relatively straight forward.

There are multiple examples of this kind of work in colleges, including an enquiry-based philosophical approach called AskIt which is promoted by the Helen Hamlyn Trust and adapted to a vocational education setting here at Central Bedfordshire College.

AskIt enables young people to learn to debate, to accept difference, to air their views and to vent any anger in an enlightened and purposeful manner.

AskIt is a methodical approach to learning. It is about how to think, how to question and how to articulate arguments. The college uses AskIt to help young people learn and hone important skills beyond the technical discipline in which they train and work, alongside training to become plumbers, carpenters, hairdressers, social workers, computer programmers, nurses and the many other careers which they can look forward to.

I call upon the Prime Minister to engage with the FE sector in a meaningful way so that we are better able to support community cohesion as much skills. Both are urgent priorities with the advent of Brexit.

Cyber crime advice put out by ESFA following college email hacks

Firewalls, data back-ups and training staff to verify email senders are some of the actions colleges should take to protect themselves against cyber attacks, according to new government guidance.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has published the advice today after colleges fell victim to phishing scams earlier this year, where genuine-looking emails were sent by fraudsters to trick people into sending money or private information.

As well as the tips, the ESFA release warns providers that they “retain responsibility to be aware of the risk of fraud, theft and irregularity and address it by putting in place proportionate controls”.

Phishing scams and malvertising – when malicious code is downloaded onto a victim’s computer after they click on, or even just hover over an advert online – are two traps the ESFA has warned providers of.

The release lists five strategic questions that education providers should use as a “starting point to consider cyber risk in their organisation”.

They include: Does the organisation have a clear and common understanding of the range of information assets it holds? Does the organisation have a clear understanding of cyber threats and their vulnerabilities? Is the organisation proactively managing cyber risks? Does the organisation have a balanced approach to managing cyber risk? Does the education provider have sound governance processes to ensure actions to mitigate threats are effective?

It goes on to list 10 “cyber security tests”, which are based on the National Cyber Security Centre’s ‘10 steps to cyber security’ guide.

As well as verifying email senders before sending payment or data, college staff should be trained to ensure they “understand the risks of using public Wi-Fi” and “understand the risks of not following payment checks and measures”, according to the ESFA.

One education provider that was a victim of a cyber attack earlier this year was Lakes College in Cumbria.

Fraudsters, perpetrating a phishing scam, hacked into the email account of principal Chris Nattress and sent a link to his contacts to “review and sign”.

When Nattress’s contacts replied to check if the email was genuine, the fraudster replied saying that it was.

They also changed the college’s phone number in the email signature by one digit, and made up a mobile number, so contacts could not check in that way.

The college’s digital team identified the issue before staff received any reports of a problem.

Education providers were first warned about phishing in an ESFA update in June, which said some had suffered “financial losses” after falling for this type of scheme, but it is unclear how many.

This is not the first time education providers have been targeted in such a manner: in 2014, emails purportedly from the Skills Funding Agency were sent to providers, asking them to send details that would allow the fraudster to take money from the provider’s bank account.

Highbury College loses FOI battle to keep the principal’s expenses a secret

The UK’s data watchdog has sided with FE Week in our long-running freedom of information battle with Highbury College to obtain expense claims made on the principal’s corporate card.

A request for this information spanning the past five academic years was put in 10 months ago, but the college refused to comply and cited section 14(1) of the FOI Act on the basis it was “vexatious”.

The Information Commissioner’s Office has today finally ruled the college is not “entitled” to rely on this exemption, and must now issue a “fresh response” to FE Week.

These are legitimate interests to have and the request does have serious purpose and value

In her preliminary assessment of the case, Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said: “The complainant has an interest in the finances of college, how it is being managed and how public funds are being spent both by the principal and other members of staff.

“These are legitimate interests to have and the request does have serious purpose and value.”

Highbury College must now provide a new response within 35 days and failure to comply “may result in the commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court”.

The material is expected to show the college’s spending on international flights. From a previous FOI, FE Week found that Highbury principal Stella Mbubaegbu used college cash to pay for a first-class return flight from London to Dallas at a cost of £4,132.

The college will have paid out for a lot more flights over the past five years, considering its various ventures in other countries including Nigeria – where the college’s lawyers are trying to recover a long-running £1.4 million debt – and Saudi Arabia, where the college runs Jeddah College. 

Local Portsmouth newspaper, The News, received an FOI back from the college last month which listed some expense claims over the past four years.

The information shows how the principal had racked up a £5,000 phone and data bill, which included calls and expense claims made to Abu Dhabi, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and the Netherlands.

Claims for taxi fares were also racked up in New Orleans and Orlando in America, Sao Paulo Brazil, Hong Kong, Stuttgart, and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, dating back to 2014.

The data obtained by The News only listed two flights: one from London to Texas in June 2014 costing £2,860, and another for two people in October 2017 costing a combined total of £1,050 taking them to Saudi Arabia – with a note stating the flight was an “upgrade”.

Following today’s ruling, a spokesperson for Highbury College said: “The college will continue to work with the ICO to ensure all FOI requests are handled correctly and in accordance with ICO guidelines.”

Highbury College crashed two grades from ‘outstanding’ last year. It axed its A-level provision two months ago due to financial pressures, which put 13 jobs at risk.

Its accounts for 2017/18 show a £2.48 million deficit, and board minutes from March 2019 state that the college’s last pay award to staff was “in January 2013″.

The college has been subject to widespread media attention following its decision to block FE Week’s website after we revealed its debt in Nigeria at the beginning of the year.

Its attempt to suppress the report from its staff led to the story being published to a wider audience, following articles by the Press Gazette, Private Eye, and The News.

It also attracted heavy criticism from top sector officials, including skills minister Anne Milton and Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman.

The college unblocked access to FE Week a week later.

Edexcel maths A-level leak bigger than first thought, admits Pearson

Questions from an entire Edexcel A-level maths paper were circulated on social media before the exam this year, rather than just a small extract as was originally thought, Pearson has admitted.

Edexcel’s parent company also confirmed that 78 students who sat the exam are having their results withheld while it investigates the leak, which has so far led to the arrests of two people.

Two questions from the A-level maths 3 paper were posted and circulated on Twitter before the exam was sat on June 14, but Pearson has today said its investigations team later discovered that questions from the entire paper had also been circulated within “closed social media networks”.

Although it is not clear how many students had access to these closed social media networks, Pearson’s responsible officer Derek Richardson said in a video statement today that the leak had been traced to one specific centre, which is believed to be in London.

Richardson also accepted there was “speculation that exposure was broader” across social media networks, but said Pearson must base judgements on this issue “on hard evidence rather than speculation”.

“I’d like to reassure you that we detected the breach quickly, took the appropriate action and by reviewing all the relevant exam papers in detail we have ensured that all students who took the exam according to our rules will be issued a fair grade that reflects their work.”

He said Pearson was able to examine the phones of those interviewed about the leak, and police seized equipment from two people who were subsequently arrested. He added that Pearson hopes the police enquiry “will end in a criminal prosecution” for those responsible for the leak.

Hayley White, Pearson’s UK assessment director, defended the decision not to discount the two questions that were widely circulated on Twitter.

“Through our various levels of analysis we found that student performance on these questions was as expected and it wouldn’t be fair to disadvantage everyone by removing them,” she said.

“In the limited instances where we discovered anomalies – for example students scoring particularly well on these questions versus the rest of the paper – we have taken these students out of any further statistical analysis that we used to determine the grade boundaries and we’ve had a closer look at their performance.”

This year marked the third year in a row that questions from an Edexcel maths paper have been leaked online before the exam, despite Pearson’s efforts to strengthen its security process including introducing microchips to track when schools receive the papers.

This summer, Edexcel also had to replace a further maths A-level paper after it emerged a packet containing copies of the exam had been opened at the same school which is being investigated over the maths 3 paper. Another police investigation has been opened into an alleged leak of AQA’s GCSE religious studies exam paper, sat by pupils in May.

White also responded to concerns that the Edexcel maths paper 2 was too difficult.

She said independent experts had “confirmed that paper 2 was a fair and valid exam” but admitted that “the first two questions were more challenging than we would typically expect initial questions to be”.

“Going forward, we will make adjustments to our papers to improve the experience students have when sitting our exams.”

A ‘snowflake’ with ‘vacuous’ thoughts: former sector leader hits back at policy adviser to Hinds

A former sector leader has hit back at an ex-special adviser to education secretary Damian Hinds after the latter said colleges are “too complex to run”.

David Harbourne, a former chief executive of The Edge Foundation and ex-senior official at the old Skills Funding Agency, accused Jon Yates of being a “snowflake who can’t stand having his thoughts exposed as vacuous” today on social media.

The reaction came after Yates (pictured above left), who advised Hinds until he lost his job as head of the Department for Education last month, published a Twitter thread entitled “five ways the UK is failing 50 per cent of our children”.

Among his comments he said there are “not enough great leaders” in FE: “We have some brilliant leaders and governors. Genuinely amazing. But not enough. Colleges are complex – too complex – to run. Plus they face extreme challenges with a board of entirely voluntary trustees.”

He also spoke of a “broken market”: “We rely on FE colleges competing to raise standards. Wrong. There is no market in the world where low margins, high capital costs & competition leads to quality. Why? Because only a fool invests in capital equipment if the upside is uncertain and v small.

“The result of competition and low margins? Colleges rationally focus on low cost courses. In other words not technical courses.”

Minutes later, Harbourne produced his own thread on Yates’ “bullshit” thoughts.

“I have been blocked by @jonpayates for calling out his bullshit. I will need to ask my twitter friends what further nonsense he writes in the next few days. (thread),” he tweeted.

“He said further education colleges are ‘too complex to run’. I asked if he would say the same about universities, BAE Systems or HMRC. ‘Of course not,’ I said. ‘This is bullshit!

“He said the only purpose of technical courses at FE is to make people competent to do skilled jobs. I said full-time courses provide foundational knowledge and skills, and that competence comes later, through experience gained in the workplace.

“I said it’s the same for university graduates. A degree in English provides knowledge and opportunities to practise, but competence as (eg) an advertising copywriter comes later, after experience in the workplace.”

He went on to say that Yates “tried to blame colleges for providing only 15 hours of contact time to 16-18s” and he “pointed out that hours have fallen because of cuts to funding since 2010 and asked him politely not to blame colleges for the government’s decisions”.

However, the former special adviser had actually said: “Colleges need more money. Imagine if your local school could only afford 15 hours a week per student (incl help with Maths & English). Standard practice in colleges. Why is Europe beating us at technical education? Partly because their students learn all week.”

Harbourne concluded: “It seems that Jon, holder of a first class degree in PPE, (a) knows remarkably little about further education and (b) is a snowflake who can’t stand having his thoughts exposed as vacuous.”

Meet Team UK: Hairdressing hopeful McLavy aiming to bob above the competition

From getting her start with a Saturday job at a salon to competing in hairdressing at WorldSkills Kazan, Phoebe McLavy is an exemplar of the dedication it takes to get to the top of your game.

The 20-year-old spoke to FE Week while training for this month’s competition in Russia at Reds Hair Company in Gloucestershire, under the watchful eyes of training manager Linzi Weare and training team member Robert Rousseau.

“I’ve always wanted to be a hairdresser since I was a little girl,” she said. “My aunties both have long hair, so when I was younger, I would always be playing with it.”

Seeing the whole experience, everyone together, the crowds made me think ‘yeah, I want this’

Her career started when she got a Saturday job at Morgan Edward salon in Carmarthen, and completed an apprenticeship at Coleg Sir Gar.

Phoebe was put forward as a hopeful for Team UK after her boss, a former WorldSkills judge, and the college tutor recommended her.

Asked what qualities made her their pick, Phoebe said: “I was quite determined when I was in college.

“I liked to be the one who would do all the stuff and I like to help the others when they are struggling.

“I think that’s the main thing – I put myself forward when it came to the skills side.”

The training has been “good”, despite the sheer amount of it she has had to do: 85 days, including her time at Reds and at international competitions in locations as diverse as Thailand and Canada, not to mention popping to Kazan to view the venue as well.

The training has kept Phoebe away from her family in Wales, and put her social life “on hold”, both of which were “a little bit difficult”.

But she believes, since being part of WorldSkills, she has become more confident as a person and her skillset has completely changed.

“Last year, I was nowhere near ready and I wondered if I ever would be, but now I know enough.”

And whereas before she was quite quiet and did not like to be recognised, she is more comfortable in front of the cameras; which will serve her well in the glare of the world’s media at the competition.

“I’m more confident, definitely, and more open to speak to new people whereas before I would never.”

There will be plenty of new people to meet when she goes up against nearly 40 other competing hairdressers from other countries for a chance at a bronze, silver, or gold medal.

None of them will know what will be their exact tests, covering methods as varied as bridal hair and wet shaves; though they know they will be practising on live models as well as mannequins.

The tests are designed to reflect real-life scenarios where someone will come in wanting a specific cut, says Rob, hence the use of live models.

There is also a focus on the health and safety elements of the job: wearing a mask for certain hairdressing tasks, which is not common practice in the UK, sweeping hair up off of the floor, and cleaning brushes which fall on the floor rather than just carrying on using them on someone’s hair.

“She’s just got to get into the habit of little things like that, apart from doing all the technical stuff.”

Competitors cannot afford to lose medal points by falling behind what Rob calls the measurement mark.

Phoebe McLavy speaking to FE Week reporter Fraser Whieldon

Aside from training up their skills though, Team UK members have also been training up their bodies, with the help of a bootcamp at Loughborough University led by a former Olympic athlete.

As part of the physical training, the competitors have been taught sleeping techniques, how to diet properly and each morning they are in Kazan, they have to be up at 6.30 for yoga.

The bootcamp shook Phoebe’s confidence, but she rallied and started a strict regimen of healthy eating, early starts, and exercise – little things she said were “really helping”.

Visiting EuroSkills in Budapest last year was a real turning point for her as “seeing the whole experience, everyone together, the crowds” made her think “yeah, I want this”.

Now she says she is ready for Kazan, and is looking forward to seeing her family again at the closing ceremony.

Backing Phoebe up is Linzi, who helps run Reds Hair Company and was herself a competitor at the Calgary tournament in 2009, where she picked up a medallion for excellence.

She describes the difference between competing and managing as: “Being a competitor, you have just to think about yourself. But as a training manager, you are doing everything for the competitor – you’ve got to try and control their moods.”

But she is looking forward to the event, which she says since she competed has gotten better at identifying who is the best hairdresser, rather than who has practised the hairstyle the most or who has the best equipment.

Phoebe, meanwhile is looking forward to the closing ceremony where she can celebrate with her family, adding: “It will be nice to say I’ve made it here.”

Ofsted Watch: Employer providers excel in good week for FE sector

Two employer providers have made an excellent start to their apprenticeship training careers, with five ‘significant progress’ findings from their cumulative early monitoring visits.

North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust broke a spell of bad reports for the NHS with its report finding it had made ‘significant progress’ in all three areas.

Inspectors said leaders and managers have “a clear and well-developed strategy” to use the apprenticeship levy to provide routes for apprentices on level 3 programmes towards becoming paramedics.

The 21 apprentices at the provider have access to a fully-operational ambulance and digital learning resources and develop substantial new skills and knowledge.

Helpful and supportive feedback, which learners respond to swiftly, builds on those skills and that knowledge; for example, on how to support patients to get into an ambulance safely.

Cadent Gas Limited also burned bright this week, scoring two ‘significant progress’ ratings in an early monitoring visit of its provision to 76 apprentices.

The one area which prevented it from a clean sweep was safeguarding, where it had made ‘reasonable progress’.

Apprentices spend around a third of their time on off-the-job training in training facilities that are of an “exceptional” standard.

They also receive highly effective support towards their end-point assessment, which includes completing practical mocks which accurately simulate the final exam, and apprentices who fail the practice receive a detailed action plan to improve.

These measures mean most apprentices pass their EPA on time and around a quarter who have passed achieved a distinction.

Cadent was pulled up on its English provision, however, as while maths is integrated well into the training, trainers do not develop their learners’ English writing skills sufficiently for future roles.

Moor Training Limited, an independent training provider to 43 apprentices, was found to have made ‘reasonable progress’ in safeguarding – the sole area of its monitoring visit.

This is an improvement on its earlier visit, where Moor Training was found to have made ‘insufficient progress’ in that area.

Vogal Group, an independent provider to 18 learners, had the same result as Moor Training: it was found to have made ‘reasonable progress’ in safeguarding, after earlier receiving an ‘insufficient progress’ rating.

Independent provider Keits Training Services retained its grade two in a full inspection of its provision to 554 apprentices and 15 trainees.

Inspectors reported senior leaders have “high expectations for both staff and learners”, while the “culture, ethos and teamwork within the organisation ensure adult learners and apprentices make good progress”.

“Leaders work highly effectively with employers and other stakeholders to ensure the curriculum meets the specific needs of the land-based and animal care industries,” the Ofsted report added.

At a lower point on the results table is Havilah Prospects, which scored two ‘insufficient progress’ ratings for its provision to 154 apprentices.

Inspectors found: “Managers do not ensure the programmes they offer meet the requirements of an apprenticeship.”

They do not ensure employers allow apprentices enough time to partake in high-quality training and development, and a plan to cut ties with these employers has not yet been implemented, leaving learners without the support to which they are entitled.

An apprentice’s existing knowledge, skills and behaviours is not taken into account by Havilah before they start the programme, according to inspectors.

The information assessors do collect about apprentices’ English, including English as a second or other language, and maths skills is not used to plan learning for developing their functional skills.

Effective safeguarding arrangements are in place though, and Havilah was found to be making ‘reasonable progress’ in terms of ensuring effective safeguarding measures are in place.

Other providers which had reports published this week and made ‘reasonable progress’ in all areas include: Ebenezer Community College; Groundwork, Oldham and Rochdale; Lomax Training Services Limited; Mbkb Limited; CSA (Services) Ltd; HTFT Partnership Limited; Shreeji Training Limited; Training Works (NW) Limited; Apprenticeship Learning Solutions; and Muath Trust.

Independent Learning Providers Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Ebenezer Community College 17/07/2019 06/08/2019 M N/A
Groundwork, Oldham and Rochdale 10/07/2019 06/08/2019 M N/A
Havilah Prospects Limited 12/07/2019 06/08/2019 M N/A
Lomax Training Services Limited 27/07/2019 06/08/2019 M N/A
Mbkb Limited 17/07/2019 05/08/2019 M N/A
CSA (Services) Ltd 10/07/2019 07/08/2019 M N/A
HTFT Partnership Limited 25/07/2019 08/08/2019 M N/A
Shreeji Training Limited 26/07/2019 08/08/2019 M N/A
Training Works (NW) Limited 19/07/2019 07/08/2019 M N/A
Apprenticeship Learning Solutions 12/07/2019 09/08/3029 M N/A
Keits Training Services 19/07/2019 09/08/2019 2 2
Moor Training Limited 25/07/2019 09/08/2019 M M
Vogal Group Limited 24/07/2019 09/08/2019 M M

 

Adult and Community Learning Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Muath Trust 25/07/2019 08/08/2019 M N/A

 

Employer providers Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Cadent Gas Limited 18/07/2019 06/09/2019 M N/A
North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust 12/07/2019 05/08/2019 M N/A

 

National Audit Office to investigate ‘management of colleges’ financial sustainability’

The UK’s public spending watchdog is preparing to launch a value for money review on the management of colleges’ financial sustainability.

Comptroller and auditor general Gareth Davies (pictured), who heads up the National Audit Office, revealed this in a letter to Conservative MP Margot James, who had asked him to investigate Birmingham Metropolitan College following its decision to sell off and close Stourbridge College.

James, who was the minister for digital and the creative industries until last month’s reshuffle, said the college in her constituency was “let down by the failures of management and leadership at BMet”, which she added is on the “brink of insolvency”.

BMet was, and is, on the brink of insolvency

Davies’ letter, seen by FE Week, said in response: “I was very interested to read your letter, not least because my education team is currently assessing the scope for a value for money study on the management of colleges’ financial sustainability.

“While its scope is yet to be finalised, the study may well cover several of your main concerns at a sector-wide level.”

He added that in the meantime, he has asked his education team to “engage with the Education and Skills Funding Agency in order to establish in more detail the facts of this particular case”.

BMet announced it would sell off Stourbridge College in May, just six years after it joined the group and four years after it underwent a £5 million makeover.

It’ll transfer its 900 learners to nearby Dudley College of Technology and Halesowen College next month.

James had supported the decision for BMet to takeover Stourbridge at the time, but she told FE Week in May that with hindsight, “there can be no doubt it was the wrong decision”, and described the college’s closure as “tragic”.

She told Davies how under BMet’s stewardship, the college “got into difficulties” and has had to obtain multi-million pound loans and bailouts to survive, while Ofsted has rated it ‘requires improvement’ three times in a row.

The MP added that while BMet has mismanaged its portfolio of FE colleges and is battling against the threat of insolvency, it is now “consolidating under a new, much more effective leadership team”.

Margot James

She continued to say the “prevailing feeling” in Stourbridge is that there needs to be a “proper inquiry in to how this situation unfolded, who is responsible, and what actions should be taken to prevent such an occurrence in the future somewhere else”.

Cliff Hall, principal at BMet, said his colleg group will “of course provide any information that is requested , most of which will already be in the public domain”, after finding out about the NAO review by local media reports.

“We have achieved a successful transfer of students, staff and FE provision to Dudley and Halesowen colleges and the Brierley Hill Art and Design Centre transfers were in tact to Dudley College,” he added.

BMet isn’t the only college that has run into big financial trouble following mismanagement.

Hadlow College became the first provider to fall under the new insolvency regime in May.

Investigations into financial irregularities at the college are ongoing, including the role of the principal, deputy principal and two college chairs, all of whom have now departed in disgrace.

Numerous other colleges have been told in FE Commissioner intervention reports that they are also at risk of insolvency due to deteriorating finances.