AQA has been fined £350,000 – the largest ever handed out by Ofqual – and will compensate schools and colleges by £740,000 after “serious breaches” of rules over re-marks.
The exam board failed to ensure re-marks and moderation were not carried out by the original marker, or by someone with no personal interest in the outcome.
Ofqual said around 50,000 re-marks or moderations were affected, equating to around 7 per cent of all re-marks carried out by the exam board each year.
AQA said around 3,000 centres were affected and will receive between £110 and £440 in compensation. AQA could not provide a numbers breakdown by schools, sixth form colleges and general FE colleges.
Ofqual said the issue with the re-marks were a result of “failings in AQA’s online marking system, the limited availability of reviewers in low entry qualifications and the relatively small size of some marking and review panels”. It said AQA had not ensured its workforce was of “appropriate size and competence” to manage risks.
It added there was “no evidence” to show any learners or centres had received the wrong outcome, but said the issues were “serious breaches” of conditions that are “integral to the effectiveness and purpose of the system of reviewing marking and moderation”.
“The failures therefore have the potential to seriously undermine public confidence in the review of marking, moderation and appeals system, and the qualifications system more generally”.
Ofqual said the remark issues spanned across 2016, 2017 and 2018. Although the majority of the re-marks affected (93 per cent) involved individual, anonymised answers, seven per cent involved reviews of whole exam scripts.
Mark Bedlow, AQA’s interim chief executive, said the problem was a “past technical issue” that has now been resolved, and insisted in the “vast majority of cases” in involved “one isolated, anonymised answer from a paper being reviewed by the senior examiner who originally marked it”.
“But reviews should always be carried out by a fresh pair of eyes and we’re sorry that, for a small proportion in the past, this wasn’t the case.”
The £350,000 fine is the largest ever handed out by Ofqual. The second largest fine handed out is believed to be the £175,000 exam board OCR was ordered to pay last year for its Romeo and Juliet question gaffe.
Separately, AQA has also today been handed a £50,000 penalty because its marking scheme for A-level French exam in 2018 was “not fit for purpose”.
Ofqual said the French mark scheme did not take into account all evidence or allow for the level of attainment demonstrated by some students to be reflected in their marks.
This affected “a small number” of students’ university choices, but AQA did liaise with UCAS and universities to ensure no one missed out on a place as a result.
It also said AQA missed opportunities to identify the problem and did not manage the incident appropriately at first.
Bedlow accepted the mark scheme was “too prescriptive”, and said affected learners received the “extra marks they deserved”.
At the start of September, AQA’s chief executive Toby Salt stepped down after two years in the role, citing health and family reasons.
AQA failed to spot re-mark issue
AQA’s response to the re-mark issue has also been criticised, after it emerged the exam board had been alerted to two incidents of this nature through appeals in 2016 and 2017.
Ofqual said the exam board had failed to notify them of the incidents despite having reason to believe they could result in an adverse effect.
Ofqual only discovered the problem in September 2018, when it undertook a review of AQA’s appeals process and discovered some re-marks and moderation had been carried out by the same person who conducted the initial marking or moderation, and asked AQA to investigate further. AQA formally notified it of a potential breach in November.
Rebuke for ‘nearly identical’ English question
The beleaguered exam board has also been rebuked today by Ofqual’s chief regulator, Sally Collier, for including a question in its 2018 English Literature GCSE exam that was “nearly identical” to a question it had used in practice papers.
Ofqual has not imposed a fine. The regulator said although the inclusion of the question “raised serious concerns around AQA’s systems of planning and internal controls”, the exam board had since made “significant improvements” and provided “comprehensive statistical analysis” showing there was no significant advantage or disadvantage to pupils.
Bedlow said AQA had told Ofqual they would be including the question the day before the exam, and said the question was used “because it’s important that no -one thinks a topic won’t come up if it’s already featured in a past paper.”
The HMRC has been criticised by Ofsted for keeping hundreds of apprentices on programme for the same duration.
The tax office began delivering its own apprenticeships in October 2017 and currently trains 434 apprentices on level 4 standards in professional accounting/taxation technician.
Ofsted conducted an early monitoring visit of this provision last month and found HMRC to have made ‘reasonable progress’ areas across the three themes judged.
However, it was reported that “managers and assessors do not use the outcomes of the assessment of apprentices’ starting points well enough to address gaps in knowledge, skills and behaviours”.
Inspectors found that all apprentices have the same length of stay on the programme. As a result, “a few apprentices are not challenged to achieve their potential”.
An HMRC spokesperson said it “always takes on board comments made by Ofsted with respect to our educational programmes so that we can continue to offer teaching of the highest quality”.
“We are very pleased that Ofsted has found that we have made progress in all areas of our professional Tax Apprenticeship course,” they added.
In the report the employer provider was praised for responding “to the demand for taxation professionals within HMRC by providing apprenticeships that develop the relevant skills and knowledge of staff who are recruited to programmes both internally and externally”.
It was also noted that managers check apprentices’ prior knowledge effectively “to ensure that apprentices are able to complete and benefit from a level 4 apprenticeship”.
The monitoring visit found leaders made sufficient progress in ensuring that the provider is meeting all the requirements of successful apprenticeship provision.
The report said apprentices “benefit from carefully planned off-the-job training that enables them to apply and practise their newly acquired skills in the workplace” and “they accurately identify weaknesses and take prompt actions to make improvements that benefit apprentices.”
Ofsted also found that English and math skills were developed by apprentices who consequently “produce accurate reports and carry out complex tax calculations confidently”.
Inspectors concluded they also know how to check tax returns, how to undertake investigations and how to ask the most effective questions when interviewing a client.
The report said a wide range of teaching strategies are used and the curriculum enables apprentices to build on their previous experience.
Additionally, apprentices have frequent meetings with their assessors to review their progress and help them to catch up if they fall behind. “As a result, most apprentices are on target to complete their programmes within the planned timescale.”
Safeguarding mechanisms are in place and the inspectors found that when issues arise “managers take quick and clear actions to keep apprentices safe”.
But the report also stated designated safeguarding officers are not consistently communicating local risks in different parts of the country to apprentices.
Despite this, “apprentices feel safe and know how to report issues should they arise.”
A college faces “multiple, difficult and high-risk” challenges after being rocked by a £20 million subcontracting scandal which has put its future in doubt, a minister and the FE Commissioner have said.
Richard Atkins’ team was sent into Brooklands College after FE Week revealed it had passed millions of pounds over to a mysterious private provider called SCL Security Ltd, which triggered an Education and Skills Funding Agency investigation.
The FE Commissioner’s review involved intervention visits in January and May, and the college has now been placed in to “Supervised College Status” – which means the ESFA will attend all future board and finance and resources committee meetings.
The college’s response to concerns around SCL Security Ltd have not been adequate
It found that the “most critical area of work – the detailed external audit of SCL Security Ltd sub-contracting”, has “not been progressed in a timely manner”.
Governors had placed “too much trust” on assurances provided by the former principal and chief executive, Gail Walker.
“The board believed that systems and audits of the college’s sub-contracting work were robust enough to identify issues relating to sub-contracting compliance,” the report said.
Worryingly, “no thought had been given by governors to the development of a mitigation plan should the SCL Security Ltd investigation place a financial liability on the college”.
The “possible contingent liability” of a £20 million clawback was named as the most “substantial” risk facing the college.
The ESFA investigation was “ongoing” at the time of this report.
Lord Agnew, the minister for financial oversight of colleges in the Department for Education, said: “It is clear from the commissioner’s report that despite the board putting in place measures to drive forward the recommendations from the January visit, the college’s response to concerns around SCL Security Ltd have not been adequate.”
Brooklands’ wider financial position also poses a threat to its future. The FE Commissioner found that the college’s Weybridge campus requires “major investment and re-sizing to meet future needs”.
“The cost of low space utilisation, high running costs and backlog of planned maintenance adds further financial pressure and risk,” his report said.
FE Week revealed last week that Brooklands was considering selling a historic mansion that sits on its Weybridge site. Today’s report confirmed that the college’s new estate strategy involves “potential land sales”.
Since the launch of the ESFA’s investigation, Brooklands’ principal and chair have resigned.
Walker stood down in March, and was replaced by an interim principal and interim chief executive.
However, the FE Commissioner reports that “unusually”, Walker “worked through her six months’ notice period on a part time basis”.
“At the May visit, the FEC team were not aware of this unusual arrangement until arriving at the college and did not meet with Gail Walker. These unusual senior post arrangements were agreed by the board.”
The report said the interim chief executive and interim principal “work well together and are knowledgeable and competent in their roles”.
However, “due to the number of complex issues and risks, the FEC team recommendation is that the college would benefit from an experienced principal appointed on an interim basis as soon as possible”.
The college has also seen a “rapid decrease” in its turnover during recent years, mainly due to a 25 per cent drop in 16 to 19 year-old enrolments coupled with the “recent impact of the introduction of the employer levy on apprenticeship enrolments”.
Leaders still face significant challenges that put the future of the college at risk
Whilst governors and leaders have been effective in driving through change since the January 2019 diagnostic assessment, the college “still faces many significant risks”.
Staff who were interviewed by the FE Commissioner felt that the college “needed to merge to survive” and to be able to reinvest in the campus at Brooklands.
The report noted that the SCL Security Ltd scandal “could be a potential block to a merger at least until the ESFA investigation is concluded”.
Lord Agnew said: “I welcome the efforts the college has made to reduce costs. The FEC team see evidence of the progress the college has made in managing the rapid decrease in the college turnover in recent years.
“In spite of this, the board and leaders still face significant challenges that put the future of the college at risk.”
Andrew Baird, who was appointed interim chair of Brooklands College earlier this month when Terry Lazenby resigned, said: “The report makes a number of important recommendations and the college is addressing these as a matter of urgency.
“The report rightly recognises the hard work of staff and their pride in its successes, including the results of the latest Ofsted inspection.
“The inspection team also highlighted how the students it interviewed were very positive about the supportive and helpful staff who are ‘always willing to help them’, the skills they are gaining at college and the friendly atmosphere here.”
As Gavin Williamson promises to match Germany in the delivery of vocational and technical education in ten years, JL Dutaut looks back at the mismatch between vision and reality over the past twenty years.
It was an education policy announcement that grabbed the headlines. Fifty per cent of young people would access higher education. A policy announced not by a secretary of state for education, but by Tony Blair, a prime minister two years into his first administration. A vision, attached to a target.
Yet, a third element was missing: strategy. It has taken 20 years, three education department rebrandings, six prime ministers and 11 secretaries of state, but finally this month, the target has been met. In the end, it passed with little fanfare and a strong chorus of criticism.
From Aimhigher to higher-level apprenticeships, and from widening participation to broadening curriculum, it is a target that has transformed not only universities but, perhaps just as profoundly, further education.
Was it worth it? It depends where you stand on the balance between student debt and incalculable economic benefit, or between grade inflation and unknowable social capital growth.
Would any politician wish to repeat it? Under one condition: if public support could be so fixed behind the objective that to abandon it would be unthinkable.
Last week the new education secretary Gavin Williamson announced a policy for “the other 50 per cent”.
It’s the policy equivalent of an iPhone, with obsolescence built in
Set against the backdrop of a Blair success finally delivered under Boris Johnson, and a public discourse shaped by the pernicious notion of “liberal elitism”, it has the virtue, from the outset, of expressing a vision, something none of Williamson’s predecessors have done with any impact since Michael Gove.
The vision is that by 2029 England will match or better Germany in the delivery of vocational and technical education (VTE).
For now, at least, there is little flesh on the bone. It’s a vision with a backstop, the policy equivalent of an iPhone with obsolescence built in, intended to fizzle out behind the pomp of another product launch.
How will it be delivered? Apart from eight new institutes of technology, some specialist maths colleges and the promise of a skills and productivity board, there is little strategy.
How will it be measured? The Department for Education can’t tell us.
The Learning Age
To understand what shape it might take, one has to look back again to the Blair years.
In a 1998 green paper, The Learning Age, David Blunkett, then-secretary of state, set out two priorities to make education more responsive to a changing economy: individual learning accounts (ILAs) to subsidise people to take responsibility for their own learning, and a University for Industry (UfI), a network of providers to support people to do just that.
That green paper became the Learning to Succeed white paper, and then the Learning and Skills Act (2000).
By 2002, the ILA scheme, run in partnership with Capita, was wound up amid a fraud scandal that left the public purse lighter by £268 million.
By 2004, UfI, which ran learndirect – an online learning scheme to attract young people and adults to upskill through education and training – had cost £1 billion and was subject to a value-for-money review by the National Audit Office (NAO).
Of the 1.4 million learners the initiative was said to have supported, only 65 per cent had completed their courses and it found itself hobbled by the collapse of ILAs, its main income source.
The ILA fraud left the public purse lighter by £268 million
Its journey after that has been eventful. It has eeked out an existence on Home Office contracts to run workfare programmes, faced financial collapse, was earmarked for a “bonfire of the quangos”, and was finally sold to Lloyds Bank’s private equity arm LDC in 2011. It has since undergone an Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) investigation, an Ofsted mauling and a public inquiry that left the provider, ESFA, government and Ofsted with egg on their faces.
The apprentices, in the end, were sold off to a private provider, a far cry from Blunkett’s vision of 20 years ago, and a testament to the fact that even with a vision, a strategy and targets, the best-laid plans of politicians often go awry.
The economic turn
The transformation of UfI from publicly funded quango to publicly funded for-profit provider shouldn’t mask another development in government policy, before even the NAO investigation. It started with education secretary Charles Clarke, continued under Ruth Kelly, and found support in Gordon Brown’s Treasury.
A 2003 policy paper by Charles Clarke entitled 21st Century Skills, Realising Our Potential represented a subtle, yet major change in the political philosophy underpinning FE policy. It was a shift from Blunkett’s notion of lifelong learning – an individual entitlement and an end in itself, with associated economic and social benefits – to a strongly economic conception founded on international competitiveness.
Perhaps coincidentally, this was also the year of the second round of PISA tests, the dawn of the age of international comparison of education systems. As Gavin Williamson sets his sights on Germany and Singapore today, New Labour had set theirs on India and China.
Earlier in the year, Clarke had set out his vision in a paper called 14-19: opportunity and excellence, which included the notion of expanding the entitlement to literacy, numeracy and computer skills to level 2 standard to age 19.
Train to Gain was sacrificed to the demands of austerity
By the time Kelly took over, all that remained of substance to the FE sector was a commitment to “give employers greater choice and control over the publicly funded training they receive” and to “create a new guarantee of free tuition for any adult without […] a ‘level 2’ qualification”.
Translated into policy and announced at that year’s spending review, “choice” and “guarantees” became a public service agreement (PSA) target to “increase the proportion of 19-year-olds who achieve at least level 2 by three percentage points between 2004 and 2006”.
But it was another PSA target, aimed at over-25s, which took precedence in the funding decisions. It read: “reducing by at least 40 per cent the number of adults in the workforce who lack NVQ2 or equivalent qualifications by 2010”.
A year later, the government had made £1 billion of new money available through the Train to Gain scheme to meet that target. Under-25s were only eligible if an apprenticeship would not have been appropriate, and under-19s were not eligible under any circumstance.
In 2010, Train to Gain funding was cut by £200 million. It was then sacrificed altogether to the demands of austerity.
A third 2004 PSA target went barely noticed, because no baseline data was available against which to measure progress: to increase the proportion of young people who achieve level 3.
From PSA to PSB
If FE policy under the Conservative or Conservative-led governments since 2010 has been mostly characterised by reform of apprenticeships and compulsory GCSE resits, even this reduced ambition hasn’t been straightforward.
When it comes to apprenticeships, the DfE is investigating a 51 per cent drop in level 2 starts, and a drop of 23 per cent in uptake from 16- to 18-year-olds since May 2017, while apprenticeships for the over-25s continue to grow.
As to GCSE resits, evidence shows that the policy has contributed to a rise from 9 to 21 per cent (an extra 25,000 students) achieving a strong pass in English and maths, but even Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman is critical of the impact of repeated failure on the other 79 per cent.
Into this tableau of dysfunctional policy steps Williamson, committing himself to “the other 50 per cent” let down by Blair, rather than the ‘other 79 per cent’ let down by long-term failure to grab the bull by the horns.
As well as new institutes of technology and specialist maths colleges, the secretary of state has announced that he is setting up a new skills and productivity board (PSB) to advise him on “what the economy needs”. The DfE says Mr Williamson has yet to invite a “suitable leader from the business community” to chair the board, which will be “set up as a DfE expert committee” without “a specified timeframe at inception.” In time, an open competition will be used to recruit a panel of “expert labour market economists”.
Perhaps a comprehensive spending review is awaited to nail down the specifics. For all the talk of vision, it appears New Labour’s economic turn is yet to be undone. Perhaps that forgotten target from 2004 will be revived from inside the bowels of the Treasury – to increase the proportion of (young) people qualified to level 3.
Hindsight has the power to make any vision appear naive, yet without it policy is a firefight in which targets take the place of water buckets and strategy rises little above survival. Our college leaders know this, and they know too that vision without strategy or targets is worse.
For as long as government policy, hemmed in by international comparison, is determined primarily by Treasury memories of wasted billions, education will continue to vacillate between these two poles. The sector must surely hope Gavin Williamson has convinced them he is worth an investment of faith as well as pounds.
Funding for students progressing to college from Pupil Referral Units should more than double to £10,000, the Association of Colleges has said.
A new report, published by the organisation at the start of Colleges Week, has highlighted the barriers that colleges face when trying to re-integrate “marginalised” young people back into mainstream education.
The research, conducted via interviews with staff from four general FE colleges – Bridgwater and Taunton College, Leeds City College, Walsall College and Waltham Forest College – found that “insufficiency of funding” is the “single biggest challenge”.
It said current funding gaps between alternative provision (AP) settings – places that provide education for children who can’t go to a mainstream school, such as Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) – and college means there is a drop of on average of £6,000 per pupil.
This prevents colleges from “providing all of the necessary support and the smaller group sizes that would benefit the students”, who often have “complex” needs. It also restricts the amount of training provided to “help staff adopt the most effective practices and understand the issues the students face”.
AoC chief executive David Hughes said current funding is “simply lacking meaning that their needs cannot be fully met and causes colleges undue strain”.
It is the latest call for more college funding by the AoC, which upped its base rate plea for 16 to 18-year-olds from £4,760 to £5,000 per year in February, which it says is needed to avoid a T-levels crisis.
Colleges are able to apply for high needs funding for a student over and above the extra £6,000 they receive in AP settings. However, the AoC’s research found just one out of the four colleges received this top-up funding from their local authority.
The remainder were “reliant on Element 1 funding plus additional learning support funding (ALS)”.
The AoC’s research attempted to uncover the scale of AP students in colleges, but found there is no precise data to calculate this.
Respondents said there is a lack of a specific Individual Learning Record (ILR) categories to support data collection.
They added that “poor quality” or “lack of transition information” also prevented them from building up an accurate picture of the scale of the issue. They described transition information provided by the pre-16 provider, local authority, or other referring agency (where students were NEET) as “inadequate or patchy”.
The AoC has also called on the government to create an ILR that identifies students who were out of school during key stage 4 to help track funding and progress.
Hughes said: “We know there are growing challenges for colleges supporting the rising number of young people who were not at school during their GCSE years due to off-rolling, home schooling or exclusion. Their needs can be complex and while colleges offer safe, positive and transformative educational experiences for these young people they need sufficient funding to keep up with the demand.
“There is real risk of colleges not being able to offer this bespoke support to all those who need it.
“College leaders and staff providing this sort of provision are clear that lack of transition information also leads to difficulties. To allow colleges to have the best chance of meeting their needs, which are sometimes combined with mental health and behavioural issues there needs to be joined up sharing of data and for local authorities to undertake education, health and care plans when requested.
“With the right resources, colleges can help young people turn their lives around and prevent them from becoming NEET and / or taking the wrong path to crime or drugs.”
Colleges Week is calling for greater recognition and investment in colleges, and will see colleges across the country hosting local events and speaking to their local MPs. It is taking place from 14 to 18 October 2019.
Twenty one colleges in the West Midlands have joined forces to produce a region-wide approach to educating learners about the dangers of gang violence and knife crime.
Announced at the beginning of Colleges Week, the Further Education and Skills Productivity Group has designed a ‘Safer Student Charter’ with support from the West Midlands Combined Authority and West Midlands Police.
It aims to ensure young people who attend colleges throughout the region are taught about “modern dangers and safety risks” that affect them and teaches them how to avoid these.
The partnership will see all colleges “deliver key themed events” that will “ensure students are given the skills to be able to identify and avoid safety risks outside of their studies”.
According to reports of figures from the Office for National Statistics, police in the West Midlands recorded 3,428 offences involving knives or sharp instruments in the year to March 2019, the highest number since comparable records began in 2010-11.
Chair of the Safer Student Group and Halesowen College principal, David Williams, said: “Our collaborative approach means that regardless of which college a young person attends, they will receive a fantastic academic, technical or vocational education partnered with insights and learning on how to avoid dangers that are more prevalent amongst today’s young people.
“Our coordinated approach will allow us to share best practice and resources across the college network which will undoubtedly add significant benefit to students across the Midlands.”
Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “Thousands of young people attend our further education colleges and it is vital that our campuses not only offer safe spaces for people to learn but ensure learners are equipped to keep themselves safe.
“Every college in the FEPSG already does its utmost to keep its students safe, but by being part of the same conversation the colleges are able to share their experiences and best practice.”
Colleges Week is part of the #LoveOurColleges campaign and is taking place from 14 to 18 October 2019.
It is calling for greater recognition and investment in colleges, and will see colleges across the country hosting local events and speaking to their local MPs.
The 21 colleges signed the West Midlands Student Safety Charter are:
Birmingham Metropolitan College
Burton and South Derbyshire College
Coventry College
City of Wolverhampton College
Dudley College of Technology
Fircroft College
Halesowen College
Hereward College
National College of Advanced Transport and Infrastructure
Heart of Worcestershire College
Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College
Kidderminster College
North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College
A college has been refused admission to the Office for Students’ register of higher education providers and had an application for an injunction to conceal the decision rejected by the High Court.
Barking and Dagenham College was refused access to the HE register because it “has failed to demonstrate that it delivers successful outcomes for all of its higher education students”, according to the universities regulator.
After being informed of this, the college appealed and also sought an injunction to prevent the OfS from publishing the decision.
The hearing was held this week.
Susan Lapworth, director of competition and registration at the OfS, said: “We welcome the court’s judgment which allows us to publish an important regulatory decision in the interests of current and prospective students.
“This means that all students will have the information necessary to make informed choices about their studies. The OfS is prepared to defend vigorously the interests of students through the courts and, as in this case, we will seek to recoup the costs of such litigation.”
Barking and Dagenham College principal, Yvonne Kelly, said the OfS “have failed to consider and appreciate the richness of the college’s offer and outcomes in their decision; further education colleges open up the opportunity to study at a higher level to people that otherwise wouldn’t be able to access higher education.
“Removal of our direct HE funding reduces the opportunities for our community and marginalises the people within it”.
She added: “Our priority, as ever, is our students and our staff and we will do everything we can to minimise any impact on them arising from the OfS’s decision and will continue to support them and our community in accessing opportunities.”
Refusal means the college will be denied access to HE public grant and student support funding, cannot recruit international students, nor apply for degree awarding powers.
Barking and Dagenham College has 12,500 students overall. Its HE cohort is around 300 students. A spokesperson said “only a small proportion” is affected by the OfS’ decision.
They added that the college will continue to offer higher education provision up to MBA level in partnership with its university partners.
Lapworth said the OfS is working with the college “in order for it to have the opportunity to apply to ‘teach out’ its current students”.
“Being granted designation for teach out would mean that continuing students, subject to individual eligibility, would be able to continue to access student support from the Student Loans Company,” she added.
The husband of the chief executive at a college surviving on bailout funding used the marketing budget to hire the 80-piece Hull Philharmonic Orchestra to play computer-game music, FE Week can reveal.
As previously reported, Hull College Group has launched an independent investigation into allegations of nepotism and misuse of funding and its boss, Michelle Swithenbank, has since gone on leave.
The investigation is understood to also include over £100,000 spent on a computer game app, computer game-style cinema advertising and a PR agency that promoted the music event and computer game.
The spending has been described as “concerning” by the college’s local MP, Emma Hardy, who is also a member of the education select committee.
Tweet from an attendee of the concert, funded by the college, on 15 June 2019
The college funds now under scrutiny were spent or committed to by Graham Raddings when in charge of the college marketing budget between January and August 2018.
Raddings, partner and now husband to Swithenbank, claims on his LinkedIn profile to be a “games designer” and an “8 bit [computer game music] enthusiast with entrepreneurial spirit”.
He was appointed to the college as executive director of marketing and innovation in January 2018, around the time the college had received a £42 million bailout from the government as part of a Fresh Start process.
Before Raddings left the college in August 2018, the college partnered with 8-Bit Symphony to run their first ever music event on June 15, 2019.
The college spent more than £10,000 to hire the Hull Philharmonic Orchestra and Hull City Hall, according to the contract, with Hull Culture and Leisure Ltd acting as an agent for Hull City Council.
Described as “8-bits, 80 piece orchestra, 90+ minutes” the musicians played retro computer game music by composer Dr Rob Hubbard.
8-Bit Symphony was founded by Chris Abbott, who runs a business called C64Audio. According to Abbott’s website the two other founders were Damian Manning and Graham Raddings.
Supporting the claim that Raddings was Abbott’s business partner, FE Week has also obtained emails from Raddings sent to college staff many months after he had left, leading the event arrangements on behalf of 8-Bit Symphony.
Despite this, Abbott told FE Week that he “approached the college to see if they wanted to support the very first event” and that Raddings was only “a point of contact at the college” and “Graham’s name is an error on the website, and this is currently being corrected”.
A spokesperson for Hull College Group said: “The board were made aware of the event happening in June 2017, and considered there was no conflict of interest.
“As with any business the event had clear objectives and budget allocation. Michelle Swithenbank’s involvement with the event was to support and promote where appropriate.”
An email from Raddings’ personal Hotmail account to a college employee on February 20, 2019 concerning the “8 bit VIP event”, with Abbott copied in, asks “what do you need from us to ensure we can get things sorted?”.
Email from Graham Raddings organising the event several months after leaving the college
The following day, Swithenbank responds to the “8 bit VIP event” email by sending it to the vice principal, marketing staff, the PR agency Pace Communications and copying in Raddings, to say: “Hi all. We don’t need the theatre we need the restaurant and the main building. This has been going on since August, how are we not up to speed with things? This is a Very important event on 15th June which is a Saturday. I thought it had all been coordinated and sorted?”
Abbott said C64Audio “paid for the food and drink and also paid for all of our VIP tickets”…“received no payments from the college” and is still in the process of registering 8-Bit Symphony as a charity.
According to tweets from college staff at the time, the VIP event held on the college premises included 38 bottles of champagne, 46 bottles of wine and more than 1,000 canapés.
Of the VIP event, a spokesperson for Hull College Group said: “The event was not for guests of the principal’s husband. Prosecco and canapés were served as agreed in the hospitality brief to the client, C64Audio.”
They added that the students “gained valuable voluntary work experience which has enhanced their skills for their study programme”.
In the meantime, Abbott has used the publicity from the 8-Bit Symphony event to raise close to £70,000 for a Kickstarter campaign to produce a CD and told FE Week he plans to run similar events “with other organisations across the globe”.
During his time at the college, Raddings also used the marketing budget to pay for the development of a free computer game called Go Go Dash, which remains available on the iTunes store.
The college has refused to reveal how much was spent, but FE Week understands it was in excess of £30,000. The developer chosen was a former colleague of Raddings, Adam Carmichael, a lecturer at Grimsby Institute and the sole director of Microwave Games Ltd.
The college confirmed it also paid Rob Hubbard, the composer behind the 8-Bit Symphony, to compose the music for the game.
Graham Raddings
According to the press release written by the PR agency Pace Communications: “Hull College principal and CEO, Michelle Swithenbank, said: ‘The game is a lot of fun and is an innovative way to showcase the opportunities we offer for learners who are interested in working in the city’s growing digital sector. By involving Rob Hubbard, we also hope to inspire our learners to also go on and achieve great things’.”
In addition to the cost of creating the free game and use of the PR firm, the marketing budget was also used to create a “gaming zone” at the college to launch the app, as well as advertising the game around Hull on a digital screen on the side of a van.
College minutes for May 2019 describe another app in which “the finance director confirmed that the app is being developed and progress would be reported at the next meeting”.
When FE Week first asked the college about this app a spokesperson said: “The smartphone app is a new proposal and still under consideration and planning. It is not linked to Go-Go-Dash”.
The college has refused to provide any details about this app, understood to have a £50,000 budget, and has since said: “After initial consideration of an app, the college decided not to pursue the idea.”
Another new area of spending that is being looked into as part of the investigation is animated video adverts based on computer game graphics that were screened at cinemas.
Before leaving the college, Raddings employed a sole trader, Dave Shepherd, trading as 3D Facility, to undertake what he describes on his website as the “concept development, design and production”.
Shepherd confirmed to FE Week that he is a sole trader working from his home in Hull and with other freelance game designers, but did not respond to further requests for comment.
Raddings was also behind a tender for a PR Agency, understood to have initially been for £90,000 to support the college with internal communications and reputation management as part of the Fresh Start.
The tender process was won by Pace Communications, and the company founder and owner, Anita Pace, has confirmed the contract included her attendance at staff and board meetings at a rate of £85 per hour.
It is understood that before the contract was terminated in early 2019, the budget had been significantly overspent.
In August 2018, Steven Yardley, at the time the college’s vice principal corporate and commercial, spent the afternoon on a 43-foot luxury yacht as a client of Pace Communications.
Steven Yardley (second to the left), at the time the college’s vice principal corporate and commercial
When asked if Pace knew Raddings from the time when they both worked for KCOM, a spokesperson for Pace Communications said: “We would not comment on our work with any of our clients, past or present.”
Raddings did not respond to the question of whether he knew Pace prior to the tender process.
When asked about the details of the spending, Raddings told FE Week: “I categorically and strongly deny any and all allegations of implied or actual financial wrongdoing, budgetary impropriety and any and all inference, direct or otherwise, that my involvement with any of the projects, contractors and suppliers that fell under the remit of my role as executive director of marketing and innovation or my time working at Hull College Group were in any way improper, or have brought the financial position or public perception of Hull College Group into any kind of disrepute.”
The college’s local MP, Emma Hardy, said: “I am pleased that the investigation is looking into this. I am concerned by the evidence that has been presented so far, especially as we know FE colleges are in a dire financial situation and every penny should be used to improve the education for learners.
“It is important to recognise the difficult journey the college has been on and there have been huge improvements. So I welcome this investigation and look forward to a speedy resolution so the college can continue to move forward.”
Michelle Swithenbank told FE Week: “I welcome the investigation and look forward to the outcome.”
College switches law firm conducting the ‘independent’ investigation
FE Week reported the Stone King lawyer appointed to the ‘independent’ investigation had for many years been the college’s lawyer, which raised questions over potential conflict of interest.
Since then, the college has moved the work to the law firm Eversheds. A spokesperson for Hull College Group said: “It is in the interests of all parties for the investigation into these whistleblowing allegations to be carried out swiftly and thoroughly.
“As soon as the allegations came to light, Hull College instructed its lawyers Stone King – who are highly regarded in the sector and by the ESFA – to investigate the matter using its HR investigatory team.
“As things stand, however, the whistleblower has declined to participate in the investigation. Since their participation is clearly integral to the whole process, the corporation has decided to instruct a separate law firm, Eversheds, to conduct the investigation in the hope the whistleblower will now choose to engage with the process.
“The corporation will then be in a position to fully consider and address any issues which may arise from it.”
The government has written to a new training firm demanding it stops claiming to high-profile employers it can deliver apprenticeships.
Thomas Cook Airlines and a McDonald’s franchise are among those to have had approaches from Apprenticeship Partners, which was set up by David Montague and Jane Simpson in August (pictured above).
Emails from Montague to learners and their employers, seen by this newspaper, assert that his new firm is “able and ready” to provide apprenticeships. “I can assure you, that we would not be offering any services that we are not able to fulfil,” he said in one message.
“We have not, nor would we mislead any of our customers”
The company’s website also states that “we offer a number of apprenticeship courses” and lists over 20 standards it can supposedly deliver, which include business management, customer service, human resources, recruitment and sales sectors.
Apprenticeship Partners is, however, not on the register of apprenticeship training providers (RoATP).
In a further attempt to lure apprentices and their employers to train with Apprenticeship Partners, the owners said they had been “approved by Skills First Awards” for the delivery of a number of qualifications, when they hadn’t.
They were even using Skills First’s logo on their website, but when the awarding organisation became aware of this they ordered Apprenticeship Partners to immediately take it down.
Montague told FE Week that Apprenticeship Partners has “not, nor would we mislead any of our customers and furthermore, would not act in an unethical manner”.
But a spokesperson for the Department for Education confirmed that Apprenticeship Partners is “not eligible to deliver apprenticeship provision or receive apprenticeship funding”.
“We have written to this company and instructed them to remove any information from their website and other media which suggests they are approved to deliver apprenticeships,” she added.
Montague and Simpson formerly worked at another provider called BIOR Business School before setting up Apprenticeship Partners.
Brian Leslie-Willetts is the apprentice manager at Thomas Cook, which collapsed earlier this month. He told FE Week that prior to this, Montague contacted two of his apprentices directly to say he had left BIOR but could “pick up your learning” at Apprenticeship Partners.
And “when the news came out about our insolvency, we got a further message to say ‘we’re really sorry to hear this’ and ‘I can help support you with continuing apprenticeships’”.
Leslie-Willetts said he was concerned that his apprentices were being “contacted directly and provided information that we have since found out is false”.
Roger Khoryati, the managing director at MCD Manchester, which operates 10 McDonald’s franchise restaurants, also said his apprentices were contacted via “private” email addresses by Montague informing them that his new training provider could deliver their training.
One apprentice challenged Montague after he claimed that his new company only needed to partner with a provider that is on the RoATP to deliver apprenticeships, asking which provider it had linked up with.
Montague claimed this was New Trent College, which is also not on the RoATP. Its parent company, Trent Education Centre, is however on the register as a main provider.
A spokesperson for Trent Education Centre explained it had been approached by Apprenticeship Partners some weeks ago claiming to know of a number of apprentices who wanted to transfer to a new provider.
Apprenticeship Partners was looking to deliver the provision itself via a subcontract relationship, according to the spokesperson.
After Trent Education Centre advised that they couldn’t do this, as Apprenticeship Partners is not on the RoATP, they began negotiating a role in which Montague and Simpson could join the provider as assessors.
The director general of BIOR, Azmat Mohammed, told FE Week that his provider has “evidence that Apprenticeship Partners are soliciting BIOR Business School learners using email data that could only have been obtained by criminal means, not in the public” domain.
“We have reported the theft of this data to the Information Commissioner’s Office and have emailed Apprenticeship Partners informing them that they have committed a criminal offence by using this stolen data and requested they destroy the data with immediate effect,” he added.
“We also stated that any further use of this stolen data will result in criminal prosecution.”
Montague said no information has been used as a “direct result of ‘stolen’ documents”, adding that the details of individuals he’s contacted “are in the public arena”. However, FE Week has spoken to multiple employers contacted by Montague who say their contact information is not in the public domain.
“Apprenticeship Partners are not eligible to deliver apprenticeship provision”
One prime provider that BIOR works with is East Sussex College Group. After they became aware of the practice at Apprenticeship Partners, they reported it to the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
The college’s executive director for strategic partnerships and engagement, Dan Shelley, told FE Week: “ESCG takes any issue or concern about subcontracting very seriously, especially in instances like this. I can confirm that ESCG has shared concerns with the ESFA.”
Montague said any employer or learner that has decided to work with his new firm has “made that decision based on evidence of provision of the services and without coercion from any individual from this organisation”.
When FE Week pointed out that all subcontractors must now be on the RoATP to deliver apprenticeships, Montague said they had applied to the register. He did not say when this application was submitted, nor did he explain why he had been telling apprentices and employers they were already approved.
He also claimed that the emails seen by FE Week are “at best fabricated and at worse, absolute lies”. This newspaper has spoken to the people who received the emails who confirmed they were sent by Montague.
