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.

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.”

5. Not enough great leaders
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.

— Jon Yates (@jonpayates) August 9, 2019

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.”

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)

— David Harbourne (@davidharbourne) August 9, 2019

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.

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.”

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

 

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”.

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.

Three quarters of training providers cannot meet the demands by small and medium sized employers for training apprentices, because the apprenticeship levy is running out of cash.

That’s according to a new Association of Employment and Learning Providers survey, which also revealed a quarter of providers have had to turn away a prospective new SME apprentice employer.

One unnamed surveyed provider said they had “never known a worse time than this” after 25 years of delivering apprenticeships and the “disastrous” situation could bankrupt them in as little as six months, while another said it was “all madness”.

Unless urgent action is taken, there is a real danger of apprenticeships becoming unaffordable for smaller businesses

A third of providers said they would need an extra 25 per cent of funding to meet current demand by SMEs for apprentices, and some have even stopped recruiting apprentices altogether for new and existing SME employer customers.

But in the meantime, around a third also said they will focus more on delivering apprenticeship training for levy-paying employers in future.

This could disadvantage 16 to 18 school leavers, of which the SME sector has traditionally been the main recruiter, at a time when starts by that age group has dropped by 23 per cent since before the levy was introduced, according to the AELP.

SMEs don’t pay the apprenticeship levy and they rely on funding being left over from it for their programmes after levy-paying employers have first taken back their entitlement.

FE Week was the first to report in February that providers were turning away apprentices from small businesses because there was little money left for non-levy provision.

The severity of the apprenticeship funding shortage has not escaped the attention of the Department for Education, with permanent secretary Jonathan Slater telling the education select committee in March the levy pot could be “significantly overspent” by 2020-21 if current spending trends continue.

Nor has the shortage of starts escaped the attention of new prime minister Boris Johnson, who said there is “a desperate shortage in this country of people with the right skills” and his government would “properly fund” apprenticeships.

AELP chief executive Mark Dawe said “the damage is already being done” by the lack of funding for apprenticeships.

“The clear message from apprenticeship providers is the shortage will quickly become much worse unless the government delivers quickly on Boris Johnson’s funding promise.”

A Department for Education spokesperson highlighted how apprenticeship funding in England has, in 2019-20, risen to double what was spent in 2010-2011 in cash terms.

But, they said, to help smaller employers manage their own apprenticeships more effectively, they are being brought onto the Apprenticeship Service and large businesses can now transfer up to 25 per cent of their levy funds to smaller employers.

“We will continue to work with employers to enable them to take advantage of the benefits apprentices can bring to their business, and are looking carefully at the future priorities for the apprenticeship programme,” the spokesperson added.

FE Week was first to report that the budget could soon go bust, after finding out the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education estimated the budget could be overspent by £0.5 billion this year, rising to £1.5 billion during 2021/22.

Then in February, the AELP revealed it had estimated around £500 million had been allocated by the ESFA for delivering apprenticeships for SMEs for between January 2018 and March 2019 – which would be a massive decrease from the £1 billion available for this provision in the previous 12-month period.

The Federation of Small Businesses’ policy and advocacy chair Martin McTague said properly-funded apprenticeships are “vital in tackling the chronic skills shortages affecting many small businesses”, which was why many SMEs champion them.

But, he warned “unless urgent action is taken, there is a real danger of apprenticeships becoming unaffordable for smaller businesses”.

“AELP’s research puts in clear focus the looming black hole, which unaddressed will exacerbate skills shortages and deny opportunities to young people and those furthest from the jobs market.”

Meanwhile the National Audit Office has warned employers are “developing and choosing more expensive standards at higher levels than was expected”.

As a means of rebalancing spending by levy payers and non-levy payers, the AELP has suggested stopping public funding for level 6 and 7 apprenticeships, often among the most expensive programmes.

The AELP surveyed 235 providers, 148 of which had ESFA funding contracts in 2018-19.

Trying to achieve parity of esteem between technical and academic education is “totally pointless and impossible”, a former special adviser to the education secretary has said.

Damian Hinds made striving for parity between the two routes one his top priorities while heading up the Department for Education from January 2018 to July 2019.

He said in a speech in December this was the department’s “ultimate goal” and tried to achieve it mainly by pushing through T-levels – dubbed the biggest reform of technical qualifications for a decade.

We don’t need parity of esteem. Germany doesn’t

But Jon Yates (pictured), who advised Hinds during his 18 month tenure, has branded this ambition as “madness”.

In a Twitter thread today, entitled “why is the UK crap at technical education?”, he said attempting to attain parity of esteem is “totally pointless and impossible.

“Lots of countries have great technical education. None of them have parity of esteem. Including Germany.

“I asked Germans what the big problem with their education system was. ‘Today, everyone wants to go to university. There is no parity of esteem.’ Same in the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Singapore. Everywhere.

“The academic route will always lead to certain high status – from judge, teacher, civil servant, doctor. When we create a technical route to a middle class job, we pretend it’s an academic route! Try telling your doctor friends that they took a vocational route. (They did).”

He continued: “Academic courses will always have the halo of higher esteem. That’s life. So let’s forget about it.

“Who cares? We don’t need parity of esteem. Germany doesn’t. Focus on quality, not esteem. By quality I mean: will the course get you a skilled job? If it will, enough esteem will follow. Today, too often, it doesn’t.”

Yates, who ran a training provider before becoming a political adviser, left the DfE when Hinds went to the backbenches after being sacked as education secretary by new prime minister Boris Johnson last month.

He said everyone “focuses far too much on schools and not enough on colleges”, and a “top priority by far should be to fix the UK’s constant underperformance at technical education”.

He asked why the UK has been “crap” at technical education for over 70 years, and explained it is fundamentally because people with influence, such as politicians and journalists, “don’t think about it”.

He said there are three reasons as to why this is the case: Because hardly any influential people did it, because the public don’t talk about it, and because the public “secretly think that technical education is for stupid, not very capable student”.

“This disinterest means that when the government decides (again) to ‘fix’ technical education – no one pays any attention,” Yates added.

“People would say that Damian Hinds wasn’t doing much radical reform when he was making the biggest reform of technical qualifications for a decade.

“This lack of interest means that after a year of so – when reform gets hard – the government simply gives in. And nothing changes. Bad news for the 50 per cent not doing A-levels. But there will no marches, petitions. Nothing.”

You can read Jon Yates’ Twitter thread in full here:

Having left the Department for Education time to share some thoughts. Today: “Why is the UK crap at technical education?” (a thread)

— Jon Yates (@jonpayates) August 7, 2019

The chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies has become the Brexit Party candidate for the Hastings and Rye MP seat.

Tom Bewick, a former Labour councillor, will contest work and pensions secretary Amber Rudd for the constituency at the next general election.

He told FE Week his professional duties as leader of FAB will not be impacted by his campaign, and promised his political opinions will be kept separate from his work at the body that represents hundreds of awarding organisations across England.

We support Tom Bewick in pursuing his long-standing political beliefs by standing for Parliament

The FAB board said it “accepts that employees have a right to seek public office and stand in elections”, after finding out about Bewick’s decision via an online article published yesterday.

“This is provided that the work that our staff undertake for political parties is kept separate from their professional duties and carried out in their own time,” the board’s statement added.

“We support Tom Bewick in pursuing his long-standing political beliefs by standing for Parliament.

“FAB is a non-political organisation and we are assured that Tom will continue to be a strong advocate for the issues that are put forward by the members of the Federation; and we do not believe that his political viewpoints will have any impact on his proven professionalism in this area; or on his day-to-day role and responsibilities as chief executive of FAB.”

Bewick, who became FAB chief executive in March 2018, said thousands of ordinary people stand for elections every year and he will “be able to cover those two responsibilities”.

“I think I have demonstrated throughout my career when I’ve held down multiple roles and a professional job, and a political career, I don’t think it’s ever been raised I’m not focused on the day job,” he told FE Week.

“People have all sorts of hobbies and do other things with their spare time, alas my spare time has been taken up with campaigning, but in terms of my day to day professional role, that will continue.

“I will be a strong advocate for the awarding and assessment industry and importantly, I have a 25 year record and career in education and skills, so I will continue as an expert in that field.”

Bewick chaired the Brighton and Hove city council’s education committee for the Labour Party before resigning from the party in May because he was “absolutely appalled by the antisemitism in the party”.

He was also unhappy with Labour’s position on Brexit, especially as Hastings voted to leave the European Union in 2016.

Explaining the reason behind his move to the Brexit Party, Bewick said: “I have had longstanding views about the importance of the UK leaving the European Union. I do believe Britain’s best days lie ahead as an independent, self-governing nation.

“And obviously we live in a period where, three years on from the referendum result, it hasn’t been delivered by parliament and that obvious frustration has come out in the sense that the Brexit Party has come into being. It’s a coalition of patriots across the political spectrum, from left and right.”

Bewick will continue to hold his position at FAB during his campaign, but if he is elected to parliament he will have to resign.

“My contract does not preclude me from standing for public office or being in an elected position,” he said.

“As with all organisations, you have to keep your professional role different from your political role, but I think you can see from my track record that I do that quite scrupulously and the board appreciates that and knows that.”

Bewick is co-founder of Franklin Apprenticeships in the US, and founded the Transatlantic Apprenticeship Exchange Forum in 2015 to promote opportunities for UK training providers in the US.

He led the International Skills Standards Organisation Ltd for four years, from 2011 to 2015, and prior to that was chief executive of Enterprise UK, a former government quango, from 2010 to 2011.

Other government roles include adviser to the minister for adult skills in the early 2000s.