Sector bodies have hit back at Ofsted’s chief inspector for “encouraging government” to restrict course choices made by colleges and employers.

One leader said putting restrictions on how firms can spend their cash risks “further reducing training opportunities in lots of workplaces”, while another warned that Whitehall “choosing winners” has a “very chequered history”.

The education watchdog’s 2019 annual report, published this morning, urged for the “mismatch” between apprenticeships currently being delivered and the industrial strategy to be “urgently addressed”.

Whitehall ‘choosing winners’ has a very chequered history

Amanda Spielman then said during her speech she is still “not happy” with some colleges “flooding” the economy with students on “superficially attractive” arts and media courses where there are limited job opportunities.

Speaking to FE Week after the event, the chief inspector said it is “very important to have a level of local autonomy in decision making” but there should be a “strategic and tactical alignment” to post-16 funding.

“I am encouraging government to make use of the powers that it has to decide where and how to channel money to help make sure that overall we do the best job we can for young people,” she added.

Paul Joyce, Ofsted’s lead on FE and skills, added: “Government needs to think, does it need to have more of a role in prioritising provision through its leavers, through funding for example, about what courses are funded, what sectors are funded and more about prioristing exactly what is needed.”

David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, insisted that colleges are “experts at offering people the chance to succeed, no matter their circumstance or background” and any intervention by officials “must not come at the expense of this”.

“The relationship between course subject and employment outcomes is a complex one, as we know from the numbers of students who learn broad-based skills, confidence and self-esteem which support their careers in a variety of sectors,” he told FE Week.

“It would be wrong to suggest that we can simply match every student into a course which leads directly to a job, not least because the labour market changes rapidly, requiring skills and the ability to learn new things and to adapt.”

Hughes added that colleges would “welcome” discussions about what success looks like, but the “purpose and role of colleges is not static and cannot be defined purely by how many students in a discipline go directly into jobs in that sector.

“Many will study further, at higher levels or will use their skills transferable in other sectors and be very successful as a result.”

Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said the government “already uses two major levers” to incentivise education providers to follow a preferred policy pathway: accountability and funding.

He added: “As the majority of their [sixth form colleges] students go on to higher education, colleges consider the long term prospects of their students alongside the immediate needs of the local labour market to ensure they are on the right courses with the right career plan.”

Encouragement and incentivising is one thing; curtailing choice is quite another

Defending apprenticeship choices, Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said: “If the transition of small and medium-sized employers on to the digital apprenticeship service goes smoothly and is supported by additional and urgently needed funding from the government, we believe that government should not be interfering in employers’ choice of apprenticeships.

“Whitehall ‘choosing winners’ has a very chequered history and at a time when business is already facing uncertainty over which way Brexit will land, the last thing employers need across different regions is being told how to spend the levy.

“Encouragement and incentivising is one thing; curtailing choice is quite another.”

And Matthew Percival, the Confederation of British Industry’s director for people and skills policy, said: “It’s important to every business that they are able to invest in training their workforce. The apprenticeship levy was supposed to help, but it has forced firms to focus on one form of training above all others.

“Putting more restrictions on how firms can spend their funds risks further reducing training opportunities in lots of workplaces.

“That’s why it’s vital that the government starts a consultation on the future of the system in the budget, including turning it into a flexible skills levy that will support higher levels of investment in training.”

The Social Mobility Commission has urged government to create a “what works” centre to advise on where the FE sector needs extra investment.

The plan would cost £20 million over the next five years and the centre would be embedded within an existing organisation.

It would “translate the best available evidence and test a variety of approaches to ensure resources for poorer students, who make up the bulk of students in FE, are targeted more effectively”.

There’s a good case for a more sustained effort to research what works in FE

The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) is the latest organisation to call for such a body: the City and Guilds Group last year said an independent Skills Policy Institute should be created, which would be similar Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) – a research organisation established with £120 million of public money.

The SMC said its recommendation has been put forward because of the “complexity” and “poor” evidence base in FE.

A new evidence review into the attainment of disadvantaged students, led by the Learning and Work Institute for the SMC, reported that FE “lacks a structured approach to boosting research, experimentation and evaluation to fill the evidence gaps” compared to other policy areas.

It found just 63 studies that met the “minimum standard of quality”, which is in stark contrast to the schools sector: it is anticipated that over 3,000 studies will be included in EEF’s new teaching and learning toolkit.

Despite “increased efforts” to build the evidence base across other policy areas there are “still comparatively few trials run in the FE sector”.

The report went on to claim that the current evidence base on what works in FE and adult learning is “fragmented”.

It said there are mechanisms for sharing best practice, such as the Education and Training Foundation’s Professional Exchange Networks, but these “tend to be limited to particular approaches or parts of the sector”.

Julian Gravatt, deputy chief executiveat the Association of Colleges, said there’s a “good case” for a more sustained effort to research what works in FE.

He added that a “what works centre might be a good idea because it would involve funding on a slightly longer term basis to an organisation that would then be able to work out what it needs to do”.

Fay Sadro, head of evidence at Learning and Work Institute said: “Against the backdrop of continued funding pressures on further education and adult learning, there is an urgent need to share knowledge across the sector, improve judgments about investments through the use of evidence and support an increase in research and experimentation.”

The Social Mobility Commission said the “what works” centre would have greatest impact if it develops as a consortium model, working with other organisations active in FE and adult learning research, policy and practice.

It would “collaborate with others to support the translation, dissemination and implementation of existing evidence about what works”.

Activities would fall into six core areas: synthesising evidence; translating evidence; disseminating and implementing evidence; evaluating and improving practice; and producing primary evidence.

In years one and two, the SMC said the centre should have an annual budget of £2 million to focus on synthesis and dissemination, building strategic partnerships, coordinating the sector, gaining access to data sets, and agreeing research priorities.

In years three to five, it should have a budget of £5 million to begin trials to generate new evidence.

The Department for Education was approached for comment.

An investigation has been launched after betting companies were “wrongly provided access” to an education database containing the information of 28 million children.

The massive breach was revealed through a Sunday Times investigation which found the Learning Records Service had been accessed by data intelligence firm GB Group – whose clients include 32Red and Betfair among other gambling companies.

The data contains names, ages and addresses of children aged 14 and over in schools and colleges across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Department for Education (DfE) has referred the breach to data regulators the Information Commissioner’s Office and disabled the database.

An ICO spokesperson said: “We have received a report from the Department for Education and we will be making enquiries.”

Education secretary Gavin Williamson reportedly told the department to “leave no stone unturned” during its investigation.

A DfE spokesperson said: “We have not shared any data with GBG.

“An education training provider wrongly provided access to this data and broke their agreement with us. This was completely unacceptable and we have immediately stopped the firm’s access and ended our agreement with them. We will be taking the strongest possible action.”

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has since begun a full investigation of access to the data “to make sure this doesn’t happen again”.

The spokesperson said any provider found to be in breach of their contracts will “have their agreements terminated”.

According to the Sunday Times report GB Group had a confidential contract through another company to access the database.

The group then used this information for age and identity verification services for its clients.

The Sunday Times reported the government had provided access to the Learning Records Service to employment screening company Trust Systems Software (UK) – which trades as Trustopia.

It is now investigating whether this firm provided access to GB Group.

Steven Hewitt, a management information system expert, explained the LRG is primarily a data checking tool “for colleges to work out what GCSE grades people are turning up with”.

He said: “It’s clearly personal information and information collected for an entirely different purpose than that for which it is being used.

“This is definitely something the ICO should be investigating.”

Trustopia has denied providing the GB Group with access to the database and founder Ronan Smith said it “placed the highest possible premium” on the lawful handing of data.

A GB Group spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we use the Learning Records Service dataset via a third party. We take claims of this nature very seriously and, depending on the results of our review, we will take appropriate action.”

A 32Red spokesperson said: “Allegations that 32Red, among other betting companies, has access to the Learning Records Service database are untrue and unfounded.

“As a responsible betting operator we have zero tolerance on under-age gambling. We are legally required to verify a number of criteria, including the age of people who wish to enjoy our services to ensure that they are over the age of 18.

“The only information 32Red has access to is confirmation or rejection that the person requesting to open an account with us is over the age of 18, and not specific details about that person.”

Tributes have been paid to college lecturer and University and College Union president-elect Nita Sanghera, after she died last week.

The union said Sanghera passed away following a short illness on 16 January, adding that it was a “tragedy that we have lost her”.

She worked as an Access to HE lecturer at Bournville College for 11 years, and after serving on the west midlands regional committee, the black members’ standing Committee and the national executive committee, she was elected UCU vice-president for the FE sector in 2018.

The union said Sanghera would have become their first black woman president at the end of May this year.

Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, tweeted: “I was very sad to learn this evening that UCU president elect, Nita Sanghera has passed away. Nita was formidable, tenacious, a gifted orator, and impeccably stylish. She inspired others to fight against injustice, and will never be forgotten.

“Rest in power, Nita.”

UCU vice president Vicky Blake said: “Utterly devastated. So sad to say we have lost Nita Sanghera, our union’s president elect for FE.

“I last saw Nita passionately defending Dave Muritu at a demo in the pouring rain, from which she rallied troops to a meeting to plan the next phase of the campaign.”

Bournville College merged with South and City College Birmingham in August 2017. Principal Mike Hopkins said: “We are all very shocked and saddened by Nita’s passing.

“She worked at Bournville College for 11 years, making a valuable contribution as a teacher and a union representative.

“She will be missed by both staff and students at the college.”

An ex-deputy director of the government’s skills funding agency has called for a return to “supportive” contract management for providers.

Writing in FE Week, Tony Allen has criticised the way the Education and Skills Funding Agency manages funding contracts ahead of an imminent report by Dame Mary Ney (pictured) into oversight of college finances.

Ney’s review is expected to heavily criticise the ESFA for the calculations it uses to determine the financial health scoring and grading; as had it been more robust, it could have intervened in failing providers sooner.

Allen said when he worked at the then named Skills Funding Agency: “We had a much better sense of what was going on.

“We advised and supported, managed risks and dealt with issues as they were arising. Face-to-face support by individual and group methods headed off many early problems.”

Allen worked in government for 13 years in a variety of roles including director of the SFA’s Large Companies Unit, before starting his own apprenticeship consultancy in 2016.

The SFA replaced Learning Skills Councils in 2010 and handled funding for the FE and skills sector before being replaced by the ESFA in 2017.

As part of Department for Education staffing cuts in 2016, the ‘supportive’ approach was dropped in favour of what Allen summarised as “a service desk approach” that is unusual in the public sector for allowing organisations to be given millions of pounds and told to “get on with it”.

“It was made clear that giving advice and support to colleges, and especially independent training providers, was not part of a ‘funding body’s’ role,” he says.

“Nobody was interested in the positive side of contract management or the benefits that could accrue, such as promoting apprenticeship growth.”

The agency now calculates financial health with a scoring system which allows providers to self-grade themselves by inputting three measures: one based on cash, another on debt and then margin.

This set of metrics then formulates an overall financial health grade of ‘outstanding’, ‘good’, ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’.

Allen believes there is a “clear correlation” between the government’s abandoning the supportive approach and the number of high-profile financial failures among providers, including First4Skills, 3aaa and Hadlow College.

He is the latest sector leader to go public with criticism of the ESFA’s approach to overseeing college finances: Association of Colleges deputy chief executive Julian Gravatt said last week that the ESFA’s current approach was in need of change.

Aside from Ney’s report, it is also expected the National Audit Office’s value for money review on the management of colleges’ financial sustainability will be published in the summer.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The ESFA operates a risk-based approach to the oversight and monitoring of colleges, so that those at risk get regular contact with ESFA staff.

“Last year the department announced an independent review into how the government monitors colleges’ finances and financial management. Results of the review will be published in due course.”

Plans for PhD-level apprenticeships have moved a step closer, despite the government’s failing to agree a policy position on the controversial concept.

A proposal for the first ever level 8 apprenticeship – the clinical academic professional – has been approved for development.

It is not known how long the standard, for the health and science sector, will take to develop before its final programme can be put to the government and be signed off for approval and delivery.

The chair of the trailblazer group declined to comment.

FE Week revealed in April 2019 that plans for PhD-level apprenticeships had been thrown into doubt after the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) raised concerns they were not in the “spirit” of the programme.

And it appears the quango still has apprehensions about them.

Officials on the IfATE’s approval and funding committee discussed the level 8 clinical academic professional programme in September, the same month the standard was signed off for development.

Minutes from that meeting stated: “The committee expressed concerns about whether this occupation meets the criteria for an apprenticeship, in particular the inclusion of a PhD.

“In addition, the committee believed that it did not meet the criteria for an apprenticeship standard.

“The committee noted that further discussions were ongoing on this issue in conjunction with the Department for Education.”

A spokesperson for the IfATE would not comment on the progress of the standard’s development this week.

He would only say that: “The proposal for a level 8 clinical academic professional standard has been approved for development following consultation with the Department for Education.

This is the first stage towards full approval of the apprenticeship for use by employers and apprentices.

“Work will continue with trailblazer employers to ensure that it meets government policy and quality criteria.”

Minutes from an IfATE board meeting in January 2019 revealed a discussion concluding with an action for “the DfE to explore the concept of level 8 apprenticeships further and agree a policy position”.

FE Week asked the department this week if they had now agreed a way forward.

A spokesperson told us: “We are continuing to keep the programme under review, and we are looking carefully at what the priorities of the programme should be from 2020 onwards.”

The spokesperson would not say whether a policy position had now been agreed, despite it being more than a year since the issue was raised.

A proposal for a technical specialist in nuclear engineering, science or technology PhD-level apprenticeship has also been in development since 2018.

Last year the employers involved said they were expecting a speedy resolution, but the trailblazer group is still waiting for a decision on the proposal by the IfATE.

A spokesperson for the Nuclear Skills Strategy Group told FE Week: “The trailblazer group of nuclear sector employers is continuing to develop the level 8 nuclear technical specialist standard, and following the IfATE’s processes for applications.

“The group received confirmation from IfATE in August that they would receive submissions for level 8 standards. The occupational proposal for the standard was originally submitted in September, and the IfATE panel requested some amendments, following which the group resubmitted a revised version in December.

“We await the decision on the revised proposal, but in the meantime we have continued to work on the content of the standard itself and the assessment plan, in preparation for submission according to the IfATE deadlines.”

All colleges and schools in England will finally be able to access free sanitary products from Monday, as part of a “fully funded” government scheme to tackle period poverty.

They will be able to order a range of options, including eco-friendly items, from supplier Personnel Hygiene Services Group (PHS) by using an online portal, via email or by phone.

PHS has received £11.4 million from the government to deliver the scheme, which is much lower than what it will cost if take-up exceeds current estimates.

There are around 1.7 million eligible students but the Department for Education has projected that only 1.1 million will access it.

The anticipated maximum product cost could reach around £18 million per year, should 100 per cent of those students take-up the scheme 100 per cent of the time, the DfE said.

The DfE previously told FE Week’s sister paper FE Week that it will have to go back to the Treasury for extra funding if more than the “anticipated level” of students take up the offer.

Founder of #FreePeriods Amika George, who launched the campaign for the government-funded products, said: “We have been waiting for this day for a long time. As a grassroots, student-led movement, Free Periods has been fighting for every single child in this country to be able to go to school without worrying about their next pad or tampon.”

She asked for education establishments to “have open conversations with students about what they need and start signing up to the scheme” and said no student should “miss out”.

Findings from 2018 Omnibus Surveys conducted on behalf of the DfE found 14 per cent of female college students had been unable to access period products at some point in the previous year due to affordability.

Interim FE minister Michelle Donelan said periods are a “normal part of everyday life and we do not want young people missing out on lessons because of them”.

“We know that it is not easy for everyone to access period products where and when they need them,” she added.

“This scheme will deal with those problems so young people can go about their daily lives without getting caught out if they have come on their period unexpectedly, forgotten to bring products with them or if they can’t afford the products they need.”

Leeds City College started its own period poverty campaign in 2017. It supplied more than 7,500 sanitary products to students last year.

Andrea Cowans, director of student life at Leeds City College, said the impact was “immense, increasing attendance and the confidence and dignity of some of our students who couldn’t afford to buy these products themselves”.

She added that she was “thrilled to see this government initiative launch”.

Then chancellor Philip Hammond announced the scheme in his spring statement last year, and pledged to roll it out from September 2019.

But ministers later admitted the full implementation would be delayed until early 2020.

PHS’ contract with the DfE is due to finish at the end of this year but the government has the option to extend it up until 2022.