A specialist college that teaches students with autism and other complex needs has dropped two grades to ‘inadequate’ after Ofsted found “significant” safeguarding concerns.

Cambian Lufton College, based in south Somerset, received the lowest possible rating from the education watchdog today after previously receiving a grade two in July 2016.

Inspectors found that senior leaders’ actions to “maintain or improve” the quality of education have been “ineffective”, and they have not ensured that students are studying courses at the “correct level”.

Most concerning was that leaders and governors have been presiding over a culture of “ineffective” safeguarding, where they do not ensure all students “are kept safe”.

Staff have “comprehensively mismanaged” safeguarding records, according to Ofsted, and senior leaders “do not consistently respond to incidents appropriately and quickly” nor do they review incidents “thoroughly enough”.

Those caring for students with complex health needs, including epilepsy, “have not received appropriate training”, while senior leaders “do not ensure effective oversight of incidents of physical restraint”.

Senior leaders also do not review medication errors to ensure further incidents can be prevented. “When errors are made, there is a lack of follow-up discussion, training and monitoring of staff in order to minimise future risks to students,” Ofsted said.

A spokesperson for the college said it was “disappointed by the findings” as “this is not the standard that we expect”.

“We have a clear plan to address the areas where we have fallen short and return the college to its previous recognised high standards,” he added.

While safeguarding and senior leadership needs urgent improvement, Ofsted did praise Cambian Lufton College for ensuring its students make “good progress” in English, maths and information and communication technology.

Students also “enjoy their learning and the wide range of additional activities on offer to them” and they develop “useful skills to help them in their future lives, such as cooking and budgeting”.

The college currently teaches 88 students.

A wave of organisations have been added to the refreshed register of apprenticeship training providers, while nearly 20 have been removed – in its first major update in almost 12 months.

Forty three additional providers have been allowed on by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, including 25 main providers, 14 supporting and four employers.

Nineteen providers, meanwhile, have been removed from the register, most of which were main providers.

Eleven have changed from being main providers to being supporting, so they can only work as subcontractors; and two have made the opposite journey.

This update follows a year-long review, started in October 2017, that led to new “stringent and challenging entry requirements” for the register.

These requirements were brought in by the ESFA after FE Week uncovered instances where companies run by their sole director from their home address were being given access to millions in apprenticeship funding, despite having zero experience of delivering government-funded programmes.

Analysis by this publication in December found that almost a third (580) of providers on the register did not deliver any apprenticeships in 2017.

But under this stricter regime, applicants had to have been trading for 12 months at least in order to be eligible, and provide a full set of accounts to be on the register.

Subcontractors delivering less than £100,000 of provision a year also needed to register.

Additionally, the agency will throw providers off the register if they go 12 months with no delivery after joining the register.

Getting onto the register, then, will be a relief for many providers, especially after most were left hanging by the government for months following their applications in December.

This is despite the ESFA planning to tell providers if they have been successful 12 weeks after their bid.

Since October 2018, only 23 other companies have been added to the register – all of whom were supporting providers.

The full list of new providers is below:

 

The FE Commissioner’s team will visit Richmond-upon-Thames College next month after its principal went on indefinite leave for ‘personal reasons’.

Robin Ghurbhurun has been the high-profile leader of the college since 2014, on top of seven non-executive roles, including chair of the Association of Colleges’ technology portfolio group and director of JISC.

However, since at least early this month his role has been filled on an interim basis by the deputy principal, Jason Jones, who joined the college in March.

It is understood intervention from the government is connected to financial failings amid plans for an £80 million investment in a new building.

Learner outcomes are one of the success stories from Ghurbhurun’s time at the college, as achievement rates have risen from 77.3 per cent in 2013/14 to 83.5 per cent in 2017/18.

This improvement helped bring the college up from an Ofsted grade three to grade two in 2017, with inspectors praising Ghurbhurun, governors and managers for being “very successful in improving rapidly the outcomes for students” across all levels, qualifications and the majority of subject areas.

But there has not been a similar success with the college’s finances: the FE Commissioner’s visit comes after the college generated a £2.4 million deficit in 2017/18.

Between November 2016 and April 2017, the college had to make use of an overdraft facility of £750,000, which was fully paid back in May 2017.

In addition, it has seen a 47 per cent decline in 16-18 student numbers between 2014/15 and 2018/19, equating to a 38 per cent decline in funding over that period according to the ESFA allocations.

Richmond was previously in FE Commissioner-led financial intervention from November 2015 until July 2016.

Despite the college’s difficult financial straits however, work started in June last year on a new campus building costing £80 million.

Asked whether the project was still on track, contractors ISG said it is progressing exactly on schedule and on budget, and they have a “strong and positive working relationship” with the college.

A spokesperson for Richmond-upon-Thames College said: “The college confirmed today that its principal and CEO, Robin Ghurbhurun, has resigned from his post with immediate effect for personal reasons.

“Transitional arrangements are in place.  Jason Jones will act as interim principal and CEO and the college’s accounting officer pending the search for a permanent replacement.”

Ghurbhurun declined to comment.

Boris Johnson’s axing of the dedicated skills minister position has been criticised by the University and College Union.

In a highly unusual move, the Department for Education today revealed there would be no dedicated minister for apprenticeships and skills as there has been for at least the past decade, most recently Anne Milton.

The DfE instead announced that, almost a week after he was originally appointed, education secretary Gavin Williamson would take up the brief.

This comes after the appointment of two schools’ ministers, a universities minister, and a children’s parliamentary under-secretary.

And after it was mooted that universities minister Jo Johnson, who sits in cabinet with Williamson, would take on the FE brief.

UCU acting general secretary Paul Cottrell compared the situation unfavorably with that of higher education and schools, which have kept their dedicated ministers.

“We do not believe losing the dedicated skills minister is a positive step for further education, or suggests the sector is held in high regard by the new administration,” he said.

Boris Johnson, at his first Commons outing as prime minister last Wednesday, said FE and skills would be a “priority” for his government.

During his campaign for the Conservative Party leadership, he also pledged to “do more to fund our amazing FE colleges”.

Cottrell said they shall have to wait and see if Johnson’s commitments translate into proper funding.

Response from elsewhere in the sector to the news FE will be handled by a cabinet minister has been more positive: the Association of Colleges called it a “very positive sign”; while the Association of Employment and Learning Providers said it shows Johnson is “serious” about the sector.

Colleges and training providers will now be given as little as two weeks notice of a financial assurance audit and only three days to present sample files, the ESFA has warned.

A letter from the agency, titled ‘ESFA Funding Assurance’ visits, says it plans to give providers as little as two weeks’ notice of an assurance review visit, which can take place any time of year, whereas previously providers were notified in June or July if they were to be visited in September.

And where before, providers had between five and ten days to prepare a selected sample of individual learner files, the ESFA will now give them between three and five days.

FE Week also understands that while the auditing only used to cover last year’s data and clawback from last year, this has been extended to include data from three years’ previously.

Elements of this new regime chime with the controversial mystery audits the ESFA carried out a number of providers earlier this year, where hundreds of documents from as far back as 2015/16 had to be handed over within two days.

This tightening of deadlines for providers is part of a crackdown by the ESFA on record-keeping by FE institutions.

3aaa, one of the country’s biggest apprenticeship providers, went bust in October after it was alleged employees had manipulated data to artificially inflate achievement rates by a huge amount.

In March, the principal of Dudley College, Lowell Williams, apologised after it was found the college had been late in recording the withdrawal of numerous apprentices, which also inflated the achievement rate.

An ESFA investigation also found some learners’ end dates were inaccurate.

The ESFA audit team has also been beefed up this year.

As reported by FE Week, in May, it launched a recruitment drive for a “newly created market oversight unit”, including an advert for four auditor vacancies posted on the civil service jobs website.

The education secretary Gavin Williamson has taken responsibility for the apprenticeships and skills brief.

Despite it previously being understood universities minister Jo Johnson would take on the brief in addition to his responsibilities as universities minister, after Anne Milton resigned from the role last week.

However, the Department for Education has today said the new secretary of state will instead fill in for the skills minister, with support from children’s minister Kemi Badenoch.

A spokesperson for the department said that, after five ministers were already appointed to the DfE, there would not be an individual skills minister.

“As the Prime Minister has said, further education and skills will be a priority for this government – and the Education Secretary taking the lead for this vital work is a reflection of that commitment,” the spokesperson added.

Prime minister Johnson told Milton in the Commons last Wednesday that further education and skills would be a “priority” for the government.

Williamson was appointed last Wednesday, barely two months after he was sacked as defence secretary by Theresa May.

Appointing Williamson to the skills brief shows Johnson is “serious” about apprenticeships and further education, says the Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ chief policy officer, Simon Ashworth.

The association has already written to Williamson about the funding challenges presented by the Apprenticeship Levy, especially the shortage of funds for non-levy SME employers.

Ashworth said they would also welcome dialogue with Badenoch about the funding of adult care worker apprenticeships and IfATE’s refusal to approve a level 2 standard for business administration “even though her own department is employing apprentices on the framework at the same level”.

The Association of Colleges’ chief executive David Hughes said they are taking Williamson’s appointment as a “very positive sign” of new and significant investment in policy and relationships and funding for colleges.

 

Boris Johnson has said it is “vital” the government invests “now” in further education and skills, and has promised to make this a “priority”.

He made the statement in answer to a question from ex-skills minister Anne Milton during his first appearance in the Commons as prime minister this afternoon.

Milton asked Johnson: “Would my right honourable friend agree with me that while money for schools is very welcomed, further education and apprenticeships are probably the best enabler of social mobility, giving people a second or third chance?

“And will he make sure that both apprenticeships and further education have the cash that they desperately need?”

Johnson replied: “I want to pay tribute to the right honourable lady for all the work she has done in her career.

“She is absolutely right to raise the issue of further education and skills. Indeed I had a long discussion on that very theme last night with the new education secretary and that is going to be a priority for this government.

“Yes it is a great thing that 50 per cent of our country, 50 per cent of our kids should have the ambition to go to university, but of course it is equally, equally important that the other kids should acquire the skills they need which can be just as valuable, can lead to just as fantastic careers.

“It is vital that we invest now in further education and skills.”

His words come a day after Theresa May used her last appearance at the dispatch box as prime minister to plead with Johnson to invest more in FE.

Today was the first time Milton has asked a question from the backbenches since she resigned on Tuesday.

Her replacement is yet to be appointed.

 

FE providers have shown great promise in Ofsted inspections this week, except for one national waste disposal employer which made ‘insufficient progress’ in two areas.

Biffa Waste Services, which currently has 21 apprentices, had not ensured it met the requirements of successful apprenticeship provision in its first monitoring visit since it won a direct contract with the ESFA.

Inspectors wrote their implementation of their sole standard, the level 2 large goods vehicle programme, was “weak”, and Biffa does not ensure apprentices all over the country receive their full entitlement to off-the-job training.

“At too many depots, local managers allow the operational demands of the business to take precedence over the apprentices’ need to have time to train and study,” which has led just over a third of learners to withdraw, the report reads.

Their slow progress was further delayed when a subcontractor delivering functional skills went bust, so learners were not being prepared for their tests.

Biffa used to have 40 apprentices on a customer service practitioner standard, but these were withdrawn from the programme in November 2018.

A spokesperson told FE Week the company was “disappointed” with the outcome.

“We will be taking Ofsted’s recommendations on board and will review our training procedures to ensure that our schemes are delivered in line with Ofsted’s guidelines.”

An almost completely opposite result was made by fellow employer provider Leonardo MW, an Italian manufacturer of goods such as helicopters and electronic military systems, which has 75 apprentices and made ‘significant progress’ in all three areas of the inspection.

Inspectors praised the provider for setting very high standards for apprentices to meet the exacting standards of the aviation industry.

Thanks to high-quality on-the-job support provided by highly-skilled trainers and work supervisors, apprentices make rapid progress and are well-prepared for their end-point assessment because managers with considerable engineering experience assist awarding organisations to develop the engineering standards and assessments.

HCUC (Harrow College & Uxbridge College) had its first monitoring visit since it was formed from a merger of the grade one Uxbridge College and the grade three Harrow College.

Happily, Ofsted found it to be making ‘significant progress’ in two areas and ‘reasonable progress’ in three.

Its leaders are “ambitious” for the future of the general FE college, and are updating one of its estates to ensure all sites are of a high-quality, and have upgraded technology resources – a priority for one of the sites.

Staff across both colleges have developed a set of agreed and “essential” shared values, which “include a commitment to excellence and to having high expectations for their learners”, according to inspectors.

Another provider that has shown signs of progress from a previous grade three is Buckinghamshire UTC.

Since that inspection, there have been some changes to the governing body, the senior leadership team has been restructured and a high number of teachers have left and have joined the college.

In a letter to principal Sarah Valentine after a monitoring visit, inspectors said she knows the 14 to 19 provider well and, with the governors’ help, is “determined to make it as effective as you can to improve the life chances of the young people”.

Specialists from a teaching school have been working with the UTC to improve the quality of teaching and learning to a consistent level, and there is evidence of emerging success.

While learners passed comment on some variances in the quality of teaching, the watchdog told Valentine it had found they are “positive about the differences you have made as principal during their time at the school”.

Specialist college Royal Mencap Society, however, scored a grade three at its very first inspection.

The inspectorate found the college, which provides to learners with a learning difficulty, disabilities or an autism spectrum disorder, does not collate attendance data and staff do not have accurate information about apprentices’ and learners’ progress.

The report also says leaders and managers “have not ensured teachers have the qualifications and knowledge to help apprentices and learners to develop their English and mathematics skills”.

Elsewhere, a number of providers were found to have made ‘reasonable progress’ in all areas: Cornwall Marine Network, Freshfield Training Associates Ltd, Hct Group, Jag Training Limited, Phx Training, SR Supply Chain Consultants, Oxford University Hospitals Nhs Foundation Trust, Anglia Ruskin University, and Canterbury Christ Church University.

Independent Learning Providers	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Cornwall Marine Network	04/07/2019	24/07/2019	M	N/A
Freshfield Training Associates Ltd	27/06/2019	23/07/2019	M	N/A
Hct Group	27/06/2019	25/07/2019	M	N/A
Jag Training Limited	04/07/2019	24/07/2019	M	N/A
Phx Training	27/06/2019	25/07/2019	M	N/A
SR Supply Chain Consultants	29/06/2019	23/07/2019	M	N/A

 

Employer providers	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Biffa Waste Services Ltd	11/07/2019	24/07/2019	M	2
Leonardo MW Ltd	28/06/2019	26/07/2019	M	N/A
Oxford University Hospitals Nhs Foundation Trust	20/06/2019	22/07/2019	M	N/A

 

Other (including UTCs)	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Anglia Ruskin University	27/06/2019	26/07/2019	M	N/A
Canterbury Christ Church University	27/06/2019	23/07/2019	M	N/A
Buckinghamshire UTC	09/07/2019	26/07/2019	M	3

 

GFE Colleges	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
HCUC (Harrow College and Uxbridge College)	05/06/2019	23/07/2019	M	1