NHS apprenticeship starts in the north west fell by nearly half last year, new figures reveal

The north west was the region where NHS apprenticeships saw their biggest fall last year, as they dramatically dropped by nearly half, new figures have revealed.

As previously reported by FE Week, the health service had a total of 19,820 apprenticeship starts in the 2015/16 academic year, but this fell by 22 per cent to 15,532 in 2016/17.

Health minister Stephen Barclay has now divulged the regional figures in an answer to a parliamentary question tabled by shadow skills minister Angela Rayner.

Numbers for the north west show apprenticeship starts fell by 49 per cent between the two years, from 3,451 to 1,747.

The second largest drop was in neighbouring region the north east, which went from 1,239 to 750 (a 39 per cent fall), followed closely by the east midlands, which saw its apprenticeship figures decrease by 38 per cent, from 1,890 to 1,167.

Going in the other direction however was north, central and east London which increased its starts by a whopping 34 per cent, from 814 in 2015/16 to 1,087 in 2016/17.

The only other region to go up was Yorkshire and Humber, which rose 9 per cent, from 1,421 to 1,545 starts.

The release comes ahead of the next oral evidence session on nursing apprenticeships, being held by the education select committee on July 17.

Witnesses will include skills minister Anne Milton, as well as Mr Barclay – whose new boss is former skills minister Matt Hancock, who took over from Jeremy Hunt as health secretary following a recent government mini-reshuffle.

Also set to appear is Jane Belfour, deputy director for routes into apprenticeships and work at the Department for Education, and professor Ian Cumming, chief executive of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Increasing the amount of NHS apprentices has been an important government goal since 2016, when Mr Hunt pledged to create a further 100,000 starts in the sector by 2020.

The government hopes that degree apprenticeships will help solve nursing shortages across the country. It is hoped that more trainees will be encouraged into nursing, as they receive wages while they train rather than having to pay towards the traditional degree route.

But NHS leaders have warned that its starts target will be missed without urgent reform the apprenticeship levy.

As revealed by FE Week last month, the number of people starting an apprenticeship with the NHS has fallen by more than third over the last two financial years.

The health service is subject to a public-sector target, and needs to ensure at least 2.3 per cent of its workforce starts an apprenticeship every year.

It had to achieve 27,500 starts in 2017-18 alone to meet this.

But things have not gone to plan, with just 12,611 apprenticeship starts last year.

Let FE colleges deliver nursing apprenticeships!

FE has vast expertise in delivering healthcare apprenticeships, but those trying to solve the nursing shortage fail to see the larger role it could play, says Laira Pearson

Apprentice numbers in the NHS are falling and the number of nurse vacancies are increasing. The obvious question is: Why aren’t NHS employers using their large apprentice levy pots to fund nurse apprenticeships?

To those of us in further education, the solution looks simple: let FE providers get involved. The sad reality is that this option is largely being ignored. Undergraduate nurse programmes are currently being delivered only by universities in their capacity as Approved Education Institutions (AEIs) designated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council. This approach worked well enough until the bursary for the undergraduate degrees was removed and the nursing degree apprenticeship standard was published; HEIs have been trying to get up to speed with apprenticeships ever since. 

Given how much of a priority it is for the NHS to ensure there is a continuous supply of qualified nurses entering the system, why hasn’t the NMC turned to FE to leverage their vast expertise in apprenticeships and appetite for pace? Surely it’s a match made in heaven.

The NMC says it is considering awarding AEI status to FE colleges with degree-awarding powers – but there are so few FE colleges in this position that it feels somewhat tokenistic.

FE colleges such as Bridgwater & Taunton College are already successfully delivering degree-level apprenticeships in high-risk sectors such as engineering via sub-contract or franchise arrangements with HEIs. So why not nursing?

With the introduction of the level five nursing associate apprenticeship, the question has been pushed even further up the agenda by FE colleges and the Association of Colleges. Of the 35 pilot sites in England, only three FE colleges are involved: Bridgwater & Taunton College, Petroc and South Devon College. 

This is bigger than individual institutions: this is about a sustainable NHS workforce

When the pilot programme was launched as a foundation degree in January 2017, the Devon programme was developed and delivered by Petroc and South Devon College in partnership with the University of Plymouth. In Somerset, the University of the West of England (UWE) worked with us at Bridgwater & Taunton College to develop and deliver their nursing associate programme.

Fast forward to the publication of the nursing associate apprenticeship standard less than a year later, however, and all changed for our FE colleagues in Devon. Despite FE being the experts in apprenticeships, the NMC stated that AEIs needed to be the lead provider, and the University of Plymouth quickly withdrew from its FE partners to deliver the apprenticeship direct. 

Thankfully, appeals from employers in Somerset resulted in UWE committing to maintain delivery of the programme locally via Bridgwater & Taunton College. We have an impressive track record when it comes to healthcare apprenticeships. Our employer partnerships are strong, and this year alone 52 of our higher apprentices in health will graduate… did I mention we are good at this?

With no university in the county, Somerset is particularly vulnerable when it comes to nursing resource. Individuals looking to pursue a career in nursing are required to leave the area to undertake their nursing degree; employers must then invest massively in recruitment campaigns to attract them to return as qualified nurses. A ridiculous set of circumstances, and one that the apprenticeship levy was intended to solve.

What we know is that nursing resource is in crisis and the apprenticeship levy is meant to help deliver the right skills in the right place at the right time. Failing to recognise FE as leaders in apprenticeship development and employer engagement poses a risk to apprenticeships in the health sector ever working at all.

I’m sure we all agree that this is bigger than individual colleges and universities: this is about the sustainability of the NHS workforce. The sooner the NMC invites FE into the discussion to get some pace behind nursing apprenticeships, the better. 

Public sector apprenticeships on the rise, new figures suggest

New figures published today suggest that public sector apprenticeships are on the rise, after the government introduced a recruitment target of 2.3 per cent.

According to the latest provisional monthly Education and Skills Funding Agency apprenticeship statistics, 43,400 out of a total of 338,400 starts between May 2017 and April 2018 – or 13 per cent – were in the public sector.

This is the first time a breakdown of public sector vs private sector has been included in the monthly figures.

A previous estimate of 12 per cent, or 28,000 out of 242,200 starts from May 2017 until January, was based on analysis of figures provided to the Education Select Committee.

All public bodies with 250 or more employees have a target of at least 2.3 per cent apprenticeship starts relative to its overall workforce numbers.

The target came into force in April last year, and the first annual reports are due in September.

Today’s figures don’t show how well – or not – public sector bodies are progressing towards their apprenticeship target.

As previously reported by FE Week, some public bodies are making slow progress.

Just 12,611 people started an apprenticeship in the NHS in 2017-18, which equated to one per cent of the health service’s 1,205,814 workforce.

The figure represented a 36 per cent drop from the 19,820 NHS starts in 2015-16.

And an education select committee hearing in June heard that urgent reform to the levy was needed if Public Health England’s aim to get 2,400 people enrolled on a nursing apprenticeship was to be met.

There had been just 30 starts on the programme up to the end of January this year.

However, the situation may be set to improve: under the auspices of Health Education England, 62 NHS trusts have now joined the Association of Employment and Learning Providers.

The 62 trusts currently employ between 50 and 350 apprentices, and these numbers will grow, a spokesperson said.

“There is no doubt that AELP’s voice is strengthened when we are discussing the reforms with the government to have public and private sector employers united with providers on the big issues,” said boss Mark Dawe.

Today’s data, included in the monthly statistics for the first time, “does not allow us to officially monitor progress towards the public sector apprenticeship target”, but is “indicative of the expected number of starts based on an internal mapping of public bodies”.

The figures are based on an internal mapping of public sector bodies, such as NHS Trusts, local authorities and police forces, but don’t include the civil service as these figures are not yet available.

FE Week reported in June that the Department for Education had exceeded the target in 2017-18, with 178 apprenticeship starts out of a total workforce of 6,068 staff.

Jon Yates, special adviser to the Education Secretary

As the recently appointed policy adviser to the Secretary of State for Education, Jon Yates is now one of the most powerful figures in education. What makes him unique to the role is that he used to run an apprenticeship training provider. So what will he be whispering to Damian Hinds? FE Week spoke to people who have worked with him, and here’s what we found

Somewhat unusually, when Damian Hinds was selecting his special adviser on policy he didn’t pick a schools expert. Perhaps that’s because he’s married to a teacher. Or maybe it’s because FE is undergoing a major overhaul, and he wanted someone with a handle on it.

Jon Yates fits that description. While not exactly an FE specialist, he has spent the past five years designing and delivering an apprenticeship programme, and has links with employers and education providers as well as schools.

According to former co-workers, Yates is a quick thinker who comes up with lots of ideas that he’s prepared to drop quickly if they don’t work. He’s also been described to me as socially engaging, brave and good at cultivating networks.

Much of spads’ work happens in the shadows, which explains why few people were willing to go on record with their comments on Yates. A sector leader, however, said: “It really helps to have dialogue with someone senior in government who has frontline delivery experience. It means our comments are not instantly dismissed as those of vested interests, yet Jon is also ready to challenge us if he believes an argument doesn’t stack up. That’s got to be healthy for all sides.”

Both of the Education Secretary’s spads are Oxford-educated, like Hinds himself. But while his adviser in charge of media relations, Meg Powell-Chandler, has worked for the Conservative party almost continuously since she graduated in 2009, Yates took a different route into government.

After two years working for management consultancy firm McKinsey, he plunged into the world of do-gooding – starting out at the Christian charity Tearfund before studying social entrepreneurship for a year and then founding his own social enterprise, The Challenge Network, in 2008.

Anyone wanting to know what makes Yates tick could do worse than watch his TEDx talk from 2016, where he describes all of us as living in “bubbles” of people just like us. Fundamentally he is powered by a desire to get people from different backgrounds mixing – or in fancier words, promoting social integration.

For five years, with The Challenge’s co-founders Craig Morley and Doug Fraley, he pioneered a summer programme designed to get young people from different social backgrounds mixing. It provided the blueprint for the government-funded National Citizen Service, for which it is now the major provider.

In 2012, Yates left the running of the NCS to other team members, and in his role leading on strategy and public affairs began to explore new ways to fulfil the organisation’s mission.

That’s when they landed on apprenticeships. It seems a bizarre choice, as apprenticeships are about training and The Challenge was all about social integration. A Facebook post by Yates from 2016 reveals his ambitions: “We want to redesign apprenticeships. For too many young people, apprenticeships are seen as the option for those who have no option. We believe that’s not good enough.” 

His underlying vision, says Emma Jenkins, head of HeadStart and development at The Challenge, was to do more than deliver apprenticeships, which is why their Step Forward scheme did a lot of additional work on team building, developing confidence and people skills; on going into schools and recruiting from non-traditional demographics; and on integration between apprentices on all its pathways.

He fundamentally cares about there being an impact on the ground

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, given all they were trying to achieve on apprenticeship funding, Step Forward turned out to be financially unsustainable, and the programme is winding down next year. The NCS has also had criticisms from the National Audit Office regarding its governance, slow growth and high spending.

So is Yates more of an idealist than a pragmatist?

“I’d almost say it’s the opposite,” says Jenkins. “Not that he doesn’t have amazing ideas, because he absolutely does, but I think he’s the first one to robustly attack it and say, ‘is this practically possible?’ and when it’s not, ‘let’s iterate, and quickly make improvements’.”

In 2017, The Challenge won the tender to design the T-level 45-day work placement pilot, and support colleges in its delivery.

Martin Doel, professor of leadership in FE and skills at the Institute of Education, UCL and a trustee of The Challenge, thinks it won the bid because the organisation “had credibility in terms of its links with employers and education providers of all kinds. It had a combination of a delivery record of working with schools and local employers and project management expertise.”

Yates left The Challenge last summer to work on research and development for More in Common, the charity set up in memory of murdered MP Jo Cox, whose mission to make communities “more resilient to the increasing threats of polarisation and social division” seems a perfect fit for Yates. Less than six months later, he was recruited to the Hinds team.

There’s no official application process to become a special advisor to a Tory minister. You just have to know people. Or rather, be known by people close to the minister. Then party officials will generally make lots of phone calls and whittle their list down to a shortlist, which is then vetted by the Conservative Campaign Headquarters, and the minister is given the final pick.

So how was Yates known to people in government?

His first forays into the world of Westminster came in the form of the Social Integration Commission, which was convened by The Challenge in 2014 and brought together representatives from business, the third sector and policy, with the aim of identifying good practice in social integration and making recommendations. Chaired by Matthew Taylor, the head of the RSA, it produced three reports, and led to the creation of an all-party parliamentary group on social integration chaired by Chuka Umunna MP and for which The Challenge now provides the secretariat, which means that they do all the admin and logistics.

Their design principles for an integrated society have also been adopted by the government in its integrated communities strategy and the Greater London Authority’s All of Us social integration strategy.

“Jon brings a savviness and practical aspect to a policy world,” says Rebecca Carter, director of organisational strategy, planning and communications at The Challenge. “He fundamentally cares about there being an impact on the ground, on someone’s life. And if you want something to change in society, you’ve got to make sure it jolly well works.”

Are apprenticeship funding bands being set deliberately low?

Are funding bands deliberately being set below cost to restrict the supply of some high-cost apprenticeship standards? Mandy Crawford-Lee weighs the evidence

The recent changes to the funding band structure and the review of funding bands for several apprenticeship standards, most notably the chartered manager degree apprenticeship, have drawn extensive media coverage. Although the Institute for Apprenticeship’s chief executive Sir Gerry Berragan has recently explained how it arrives at the final recommended funding band, it is hard for me to say anything positive about the IfA approach. In particular I’m not convinced of the exact purpose of funding bands, the robustness of the allocation process, or its transparency.

Let’s start with purpose. Does an apprenticeship funding band represent the actual cost of the external training and end-point assessment required by the apprenticeship? Or is it simply the maximum financial contribution that government is prepared to make to the cost?

Take the social worker degree apprenticeship: initially, the IfA allocated it a provisional funding band of £21,000. Few, if any, higher education institutions working with the trailblazer could deliver such a high-cost, highly regulated programme within such a band. The IfA is now recommending funding band 26 in the new structure that takes effect on 1 August. The upper limit of this band, £23,000, is still below the estimated cost of delivery submitted by the trailblazer to the IfA.

There is an important issue here: it appears that in some cases a funding band will not cover the actual cost of an apprenticeship delivery and employers must make additional payments if they want to use these apprenticeships. And yet, while the IfA states in its own advice that the funding band is not intended to be used as a funding rate, it also says it expects employers to negotiate with providers and agree a price below this band’s maximum. The message is both confusing and contradictory.

Is this a conspiracy or a failure of process? At the very least it leaves me wondering whether the IfA methodology for establishing funding bands is flawed, or, rather more likely, that bands are being established to restrict the supply of some apprenticeship standards and limit employer spend on high-cost apprenticeships. To be honest, there is evidence on both counts.

Despite employers pushing apprenticeships upwards in terms of level of skill, the IfA still relies on historic Education and Skills Funding Agency data based on the costs of apprenticeships at levels two and three to inform its funding decisions. Few would doubt that the costs of delivering a higher-level skills programme are very different to those for an intermediate or advanced apprenticeship – so why use such data in decision-making? It’s also worth noting that after 15 months of operation the IfA still hasn’t recruited staff with an understanding or background in higher education costing.

The evidence for conspiracy is equally compelling. In its guidance to trailblazers on funding bands, the IfA refers to “affordability within the wider apprenticeship programme”. Affordability should have no role in establishing cost, although of course it has a crucial role in determining how much, if any, of a commodity or service an individual or organisation will purchase or fund. The government’s manifesto commitment is three million starts this parliament. Based on the 600,000 starts a year needed to deliver this commitment (notwithstanding its current trajectory), the money expected to be raised annually through the apprenticeship levy equates to just £4,167 per apprenticeship.

Although apprenticeship numbers have fallen since the introduction of the levy, it doesn’t take a lot of analysis to work out that if employers decide to spend their levy on high-cost and high-level apprenticeships, in the long term the levy will not stretch to fund delivery at the scale set out in the manifesto commitment. Moreover, it’s impossible for the IfA to be “agnostic” about apprenticeship levels if it wants to ensure that the revenue raised through the levy can fund the delivery of anything like 600,000 apprenticeships per annum. So are funding bands being set deliberately below cost to restrict the supply of some high-cost apprenticeship standards? It would seem so.

Union warns against another ‘shoddy’ pay deal on eve of college pay talks

The University and College Union has written to Anne Milton before key pay talks, to warn it will not put up with another “shoddy” deal.

The union wrote to the skills minister today ahead of tomorrow’s sit down with the Association of Colleges, in which it is looking to secure a pay offer better than the 1 per cent increase recommended last year.

In its letter, UCU claims that FE has reached “a crisis point on pay”. After a “decade of real terms pay cuts”, senior lecturers are now earning around £9,000 a year less than they would if their pay had simply kept pace with inflation, it says.

And even in colleges that have honoured the pay recommendations from the AoC, staff have “suffered a real terms pay cut of 25 per cent since 2009”. 

The letter states that “failure to properly reward staff means that teachers in further education are now earning around £7,000 per year less on average than teachers in schools”.

It adds that the current review of post-18 education, including funding, led by Philip Augar will not report in time for next year’s pay round.

“The truth is that UCU members simply cannot afford to hear once again that there is no money for a proper pay rise,” said Sally Hunt (pictured).

The general secretary of the union also warned that FE staff will continue to strike, like they have done in droves throughout this year, if better pay is not secured.

“If the sector is to continue attracting experienced and dedicated staff to deliver for students, colleges need to make decent pay and conditions for staff a central priority,” said Ms Hunt.

“UCU members have already shown this year that they are prepared to take strike action to defend and improve their pay.

“After years of warm words, it is time for the government to step to the mark on funding for further education and for the employers to bring a sensible offer to the table.”

Trade unions wrote to the AoC last month to spell out exactly why they have resubmitted a claim for a raise of five per cent for the next academic year.

They originally made the request at a meeting at the start of May, but the AoC said it would not consider a claim while some colleges were still in dispute with the University and College Union.

Later that month the AoC, which represents college leadership, backed down.

The unions want a guaranteed minimum increase of £1,500 for the lowest-paid staff where a five-per-cent rise is lower than £1,500.

They also want colleges to pay the living wage of £8.75 (£10.20 in London) and become accredited living wage employers.

Monthly update: apprenticeship starts down 39 per cent in April

Apprenticeship starts for April are down 39 per cent, compared with the same period in 2016.

There have been 24,100 starts recorded so far in April 2018, compared with around 39,400 in April 2016 according to the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s monthly apprenticeship statistics update, published this morning.

The 2016 figures are final, whereas the 2018 figures are provisional. April 2016 is a better comparator than April 2017 given that there was a huge spike in starts prior to the introduction of the levy the following month. 

Comparing first recorded starts for April 2018 to April 2017 would give a drop of 66 per cent. 

FE Week analysis of the latest statistics reveals that starts are 389,800, or 22 per cent, down from where they need to be for the government to meet its target of 3m apprenticeship starts by 2020.

With 24 months left to go, an average of 66,241 starts are now needed per month for it to hit its target.

The Department for Education warned that “care should be taken when comparing individual months with previous years as they are unlikely to provide a meaningful year-on-year trend” as the “profile of apprenticeship starts changed significantly in the run up to the introduction of the levy and beyond”.

“This is especially the case when trying to compare starts in April 2018 to starts in April 2017, as there was an unusually large increase in starts in April 2017, and then an unusually large decrease in starts in May 2017 when compared to previous years.”

Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said: “We can only repeat what we have said before.  It’s time for the government to act, and suspending the co-investment requirement for small to medium-sized enterprises and young people is the right place to start.”

Stephen Evans, chief executive of the Learning and Work Institute, said he was “particularly that there are 50,000 fewer apprenticeships for 16- to 24-year-olds in the year so far compared to last year” and urged the government to look at “funding for apprenticeships for younger people”.

Skills minister Anne Milton said that while the “overall” number of people starting apprenticeships had decreased, “this is not unexpected”.

“There is good news in these figures and I’m pleased to see the number of people starting on new, higher-quality apprenticeships has increased by almost 1000% this year. There are also tens of thousands more people starting on higher level apprenticeships,” she said.

“Quality is more important than quantity,” she added.

 

A milestone month for the Institute for Apprenticeships!

The publication of the 300th apprenticeship standard is a sign of real change with tangible outcomes, says Sir Gerry Berragan

June was a record-breaking month for the Institute for Apprenticeships, in which we published the 300th apprenticeship standard. We have now approved 90 new standards in just six months – twice the number approved in any previous six-month period since 2014, when the apprenticeship reforms began.

The 300th standard is significant because it exceeds the number of standards in place in a mature, respected apprenticeship system such as that of Switzerland, which has approximately 250 standards. It is close to the 330 standards in place in Germany, another established and respected apprenticeship system.

With the publication of the milestone standard, the number of approved standards has exceeded the number of standards under development for the first time since the reforms began. We’re now on track to deliver 400 standards by the end of the financial year.

This is a fitting tribute to the efforts of the trailblazers, IfA staff and the route panel and board members who have worked so hard to make this happen. We’ve truly turned a corner in terms of productivity and efficiency, without compromising on quality.

To ensure that this progress continues, we have introduced simpler, more intuitive online templates for standards development, and they have been well received by trailblazer groups. We’ve also implemented a programme of intensive two-day workshops for trailblazers to assist with the rapid production of high quality, compliant occupational standards and end point assessment plans.
In addition, we’ve agreed individual timelines with trailblazer groups that will make it possible to complete an apprenticeship standard within 12 months of the group forming. So for the first time trailblazers have something concrete to work towards, and we know it can be done.

The clinical trials specialist standard, developed and delivered in ten months, is a sign of things to come: real change with tangible outcomes.

Further testament to the progress that has been made is that for the first time, the number of apprentices starting on standards now exceeds the number of starts on frameworks. Just over a year ago, starts on standards represented only 3 per cent of all starts. Not only are there more starts on apprenticeship standards than frameworks, but those standards better reflect the diversity of the economy in terms of occupations and skill level, and apprentices on standards receive more training than apprentices on frameworks.

So more standards are now available, developed at a faster pace, and more employers are now choosing standards over frameworks for their apprentices. This represents tremendous progress, and it is in this context that last week we issued our new strategic plan for 2018-2023. The plan explains the three strategic principles developed by the IfA board in order to shape the future development of the institute over the next five years: efficient high-quality solutions, collaborative relationships, and building credibility and transforming the landscape.

These principles are described in detail in the strategy, and a vision of what the board expects the institute to have achieved by the end of the five-year period has been detailed. In our business plan, which was also launched last week, we have derived a range of aligned objectives for the 2018-19 financial year from these strategic principles and some high-level performance indicators against which the board will monitor our progress.

We will also be placing our annual report and accounts in the Commons before recess, giving the detail of what has been achieved in our first year.

‘Preferred’ Social Mobility Commission chair wants ‘complete overhaul’ of FE

The government’s preferred candidate to chair the Social Mobility Commission has told MPs that the FE sector needs a “complete overhaul”, and reviewing vocational education would be one of her key priorities.

Dame Martina Milburn appeared before the education select committee this morning.

She made it clear that she is not impressed with the FE sector at present, and one of her top priorities in her first year in post would be to have a “real look” at vocational education.

“The whole FE sector I think needs a complete overhaul,” said Dame Martina, who is a governor for Capital City College Group.

“It’s not just about money, it’s about the leadership, it’s about the courses they are doing, it’s about the way they engage on a local level with local businesses, and finding where the jobs are.”

Her comments provoked former skills minister and committee chair Robert Halfon to jump to the sector’s defence.

“Just picking up on one thing on FE, people say it is the Cinderella sector, and I reply she became part of the Royal family. It’s important to challenge ugly sister of snobbery and intolerance,” he said.

Robert Halfon

“FE has an incredible burden. A huge amount of its students come from disadvantaged backgrounds. They are burdened with compulsory maths and English GCSE resits, sorting out the problems from schools.

“They have been starved of funding compared to other parts of the education sector.”

This is the sixth year that the funding rate for 16- to 18-year-olds has remained unchanged – meaning that FE providers have faced a huge real-terms funding cut over that time.

The Support our Sixth Formers campaign, backed by major players including the Association of Colleges and SFCA, as well as FE Week, has been calling for a £200 “SOS uplift” in 16-to-18 per-pupil funding rates.

As previously reported by FE Week, Amanda Spielman, Ofsted chief inspector, said during her speech at the launch of the Ofsted annual report in December that the “sector will continue to struggle” without an increase in the base rate funding for this age group.

“There are incredible colleges up and down our country doing incredible things,” added Mr Halfon today.

“I wouldn’t just say it’s about leadership, there are a lot of colleges that are good and we need to look at how we can support them more, we just need to learn from good leadership to help those colleges that are struggling.”

Dame Martina took on board what he said, but reflected on the mixed picture she has seen of the sector.

“We’ve all spoken to the enlightened heads who have local businesses who sit on their boards, and then you talk to others who say ‘yes we sat on their boards it was a complete disaster and no-one would listen to me’.

“We all know the good things, and you can showcase those good things and say this is the way to make it all better.”

She conceded that “funding is a big issue”. “I know from sitting on the bard of Capital City College – it something we as governors talk about all the time,” she said.

“But I don’t think just putting money in will make the difference, I think to needs to be a number of things.”

All four members of the board of the government’s Social Mobility Commission stood down last December in protest at the lack of progress towards a “fairer Britain”.

Education select committee MPs stressed the importance of Dame Martina not being a stooge for the establishment, if she takes on the top job.

She started her career as a journalist, and in 2000 became the chief executive of the BBC Children in Need Appeal, a post held for four years, before taking the top job at The Princes’ Trust.

She is still a director of Prince’s Trust Trading, and vice-chair of the Government’s Youth Action Group, which brings together national youth charities to advise ministers and officials on developing and carrying out policy for disadvantaged young people.