A college that recently terminated its contract with the controversial Saudi Arabian Colleges of Excellence programme due to on-going delays in claiming back a £500,000 debt has now recovered the cash.

Dudley College, rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, began work with the Saudi government in 2011 and most recently delivered Capacity Building Contracts in Hafr Al-Batin Girls College.

The contract started in September 2017 and was due to conclude in 2020 but the college felt it had “no choice but to terminate” the relationship after repeated failures by the programme to pay the college, as reported by FE Week on January 18.

Confirming the payment of £500,000 has now been recovered, Lowell Williams chief executive of Dudley College, said: “In total the college was owed over £0.5 million for work delivered as part of the CBC project in Hafr-Al-Batyn Girls College.

“I regret that we could not have resolved this issue earlier. We would have liked to continue our good work in the Kingdom and complete the project which was due to run until 2020.

“Unfortunately further payment delays would have forced the College to use UK public funds to sustain the cash flow of the CBC project. We did not feel this was appropriate, nor were we in a position to continue working at risk.”

He continued: “I am grateful the Saudi government has now honoured their commitment under this contract. I acknowledge the critical role the UK’s Department for Trade and Industry has played in bringing this mater to a resolution.”

Mr Williams said he would not “rule out working in the Kingdom in the future, if a mutually beneficial opportunity arises, but we have no immediate plans to this effect”.

The Colleges of Excellence programme was founded in 2013 to boost technical and vocational education and training in Saudi Arabia through partnerships with international providers.

But a number of providers dropped out of the programme early on as challenges with operating in the region became apparent.

An FE Week investigation in 2016 uncovered grave financial problems at some of the colleges taking part.

Lincoln College and the Hertfordshire Vocational Education Consortium won huge contracts from the CoE programme of around £250 million each in 2014. But both experienced significant losses associated with these contract in their accounts for the following year.

Colleges have previously been warned off overseas ventures.

Calls to replace GCSEs and A-levels with a “holistic baccalaureate” have been branded a “non-starter” by an advocate of a similar model.

Tom Sherrington, a trustee of the National Baccalaureate Trust, warned that “headline-grabbing” comments made this week by parliamentary education committee chair Robert Halfon and a number of other high-profile leaders were “reckless”.

He added that any move to create a baccalaureate for English students must be based on the existing exam system.

Anything that says scrap A-levels is doomed – it’s a non-starter

During a speech on Monday, Mr Halfon (pictured), a former skills minister, said current exams for 16- and 18-year-olds should be replaced with one qualification that recognises academic and technical skills and personal development.

His comments were backed by Lord Baker, a former education secretary and the creator of GCSEs, and Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the Confederation of Business Industry, who both agreed the qualifications had had their day.

But Mr Sherrington pointed to the 2004 Tomlinson review, which called for GCSEs, A-levels and vocational qualifications to be replaced with a single diploma.

“It didn’t get implemented because, at the end of the day, A-levels are strongly supported, both across the sector and politically,” Mr Sherrington told FE Week’s sister paper FE Week. “They have this brand identity that is almost unshakable. Anything that says scrap A-levels is doomed – it’s a non-starter.

“The only hope is that A-levels will morph into a wider framework, a baccalaureate structure, but you don’t achieve that by saying scrap A-levels and scrap GCSEs. It’s reckless, it’s just something to say.”

The National Baccalaureate Trust advocates the creation of a “national baccalaureate for England”, a framework for 14- to 19-year-olds which comprises core qualifications such as A-levels or vocational equivalents, a personal project, and a programme of character and skills development for all students.

Mr Sherrington said an English baccalaureate system would have “a lot of benefits”, but insisted it has to be “based around things people already trust”.

There have been calls for GCSEs to be scrapped since the participation age for education and training was raised to 18 in 2015, meaning far more students stay in full-time education beyond the age of 16.

But opponents of the proposal argue that due to the high numbers of learners who move to new institutions at the age of 16, there is still the need for testing at that stage.

Mr Halfon, speaking on Monday, said: “We must remember that since 2015 all young people have been required to participate in some form of education and training up to 18.

“Yet GCSEs remain just as much the high-stakes tests that they were when many young people finished their education at this age.”

He said an IB-style qualification for 18-year-olds in England would “act as a genuine and trusted signal to employers and universities of a young person’s rounded skills and abilities.

“Schools would then be measured on two things – completion of the baccalaureate at 18 and the destinations of their pupils in the years after leaving, with apprenticeships explicitly counted as a gold standard destination.”

Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said there was “a lot of merit to the idea of scrapping GCSEs and having a single set of exams for 18-year-olds”, but warned of “significant practical problems which we would need to overcome”.

A major training provider with around 1,000 staff has called in the administrators, FE Week understands.

Working Links (Employment) Limited, which holds contracts across numerous government departments including around £2 million for apprenticeships and adult education, told their workforce yesterday afternoon not to come into work today.

It is understood that thousands of learners will be affected, including apprentices in the customer service and retail sectors, as well as adult learners for two colleges that it works as a subcontractor for.

Working Links has not responded to requests for comment but a source close to the company said its reason for going into administration was related to its contracts with the Ministry of Justice to deliver the Transforming Rehabilitation programme.

It is not known how much these contracts totaled for Working Links, but its website shows that it operates “Community Rehabilitation Companies” to run the government programme across Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall, and Wales.

The Inspectorate of Probation, which inspects this provision for the government, rated the centres covering Dorset, Devon and Cornwall as ‘inadeqaute’ in a report out today.

Working links was taken over by international investment firm Aurelius in June 2016.

Earlier this month Aurelius said it was going to transfer the Community Rehabilitation Companies to services company Seetec.

Seetec confirmed today that the staff at Working Links who work in the Community Rehabilitation Companies will not lose their jobs and will transfer to the new company with immediate effect.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed that Working Links has gone into administration.

“We were aware of Working Links’ financial situation and have taken action to ensure continuity of probation services,” a spokesperson said.

“That means probation officers will continue to be supported, offenders will be supervised, and the public will be protected.

“The chief inspector’s report on these CRCs lays bare their unacceptably poor performance and we will work closely with the new provider to urgently raise standards.”

The ESFA and Aurelius have both been approached for comment.

Working Links’ most recent set of accounts for 2016-17 show that its turnover declined by £25 million to £91 million.

The accounts add that since the year 2000 the company has helped around “300,000” people into employment.

Working Links was rated ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted in 2013 for its apprenticeship and adult learning provision.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency is delaying the issuing of European Social Fund contracts for a third time after it experienced “technical issues” with its latest award notices.

FE Week can also reveal that one provider that is fuming with the way in which the recent controversial tender for these contracts was run has delivered a pre-action legal letter to the agency.

The ESFA ran its latest European Social Fund (ESF) procurement, worth around £282 million in total, towards the end of last year and was supposed to award contracts to the winning bidders on January 29.

But, as previously revealed by FE Week, multiple providers alleged that the government broke tender rules during the process and last week the ESFA had to start a fresh 10-day standstill period, starting February 11, after it admitted to making an “error”.

Yesterday, in a message to providers who bid in 10 areas relating to the skills support for the workforce part of tender, the ESFA revealed it is having to delay issuing contracts again.

“ESFA have identified some technical issues with the award decision notices that were issued on Monday 11 February 2019, for the following lots: Greater Birmingham and Solihull MD, Greater Birmingham and Solihull TR, Black Country, Coventry and Warwickshire, D2, Dorset, Leicester and Leicestershire, N2, Stoke and Staffs, Worcestershire,” it said.

“Revised notices will be issued in due course and a new standstill period will apply. We will keep you updated on the position.”

The ESF contracts are supposed to come into force from April 1.

A lot of the controversy around the procurement relates to the exclusion of the “track record” section in bids, which led to providers like Serco Limited winning at least £37 million despite an Ofsted grade three and financial losses of £29.5 million in 2017.

Meanwhile, other top-performing training providers missed out. One provider, which lost out to Serco but wished to remain anonymous, is now looking to take the ESFA to court over the whole fiasco.

“We are really disappointed with the ESFA lack of clarity on the challenges raised from providers,” the boss of the company told FE Week.

“They have failed to show that adequate due diligence on the winning bidder had been conducted and failed to provide an explanation on several key process points throughout the tender including how they managed to get the name of the winning bidder wrong.”

The ESFA said it cannot comment on the European Social Fund debacle as it is still a live procurement.

The ESF is funding that the UK received, as a member state of the EU, to increase job opportunities and help people to improve their skill levels, particularly those who find it difficult to get work.

Results from this week’s Ofsted reports for FE have ranged between the very worst and the very best.

Independent specialist college Strathmore College was found to have made ‘significant progress’ in four out of five themes, making ‘reasonable progress’ in the other area.

The inspector noted that, since their last inspection returned a grade three, governors had appointed an experienced person to lead on teaching, learning and assessment.

“The new post-holder has been instrumental in shaping and implementing a clear vision for high-quality teaching, learning and assessment,” the inspector wrote.

Managers at Strathmore have also improved their performance evaluations of staff by making their observations more accurate and evaluative.

East Sussex College Group was seen to have made ‘significant progress’ in three out of five themes following the merger between Sussex Coast College Hastings and Sussex Downs College in April.

“Governors, leaders and managers have worked highly effectively since the merger of the colleges to establish the identity of each campus and place each one at the heart of its local community,” the inspector said.

“Governors have established local boards for each campus to which local business, community and education leaders contribute. This has enabled each campus leader to develop a curriculum that meets local skills needs.”

The inspector added: “High aspirations and ambitions permeate every aspect of college life, from governors to students.

“Staff have a renewed sense of urgency and importance about improving the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and students’ and apprentices’ outcomes.”

The report from a monitoring visit at Telford College was also published this week. The college was formed when Telford College of Arts and Technology merged with New College Telford – both of which required improvement at their last inspection.

It fared well: inspectors said it had made ‘reasonable progress’ in two themes and ‘significant progress’ in the third.

Inspectors picked up on a particular improvement in the teaching of English and maths, which has been achieved through the use of learning facilitators to catch learners who fall behind and projects to help enthuse study programme and functional skills students.

Sandwell College was found to have made reasonable progress in all five of its monitoring visit themes.

It was visited by an Ofsted inspector as it recently merged with Cadbury Sixth Form College, a grade three provider.

Beforehand, the inspector reported, the impetus had been on the concerns of staff; whereas now, leaders and managers are working hard to shift the focus to the experience of students.

There were variances in the quality of teaching though. In the worst cases, assessment of learning is weak and teachers move on to new activities too quickly, before checking students have understood the current activity.

Independent specialist college The Autism Project – Care Trade was subject to a monitoring visit after scoring a grade three at its last inspection.

This time around, it was found to have made ‘significant progress’ in safeguarding, with the inspector writing: “Leaders and managers have successfully overhauled the student induction process and introduced the themes of safeguarding and equality and diversity to their day one induction workshop.”

Leaders and managers had also put in place effective measures to identify a learner’s starting points in English, maths and personal and social development.

It was not all good news, however: The Sandwell Community Caring Trust received its first monitoring visit since opening in January and was found to have made ‘insufficient progress’ in two out of three areas.

The inspector was not impressed with its leadership, writing: “Leaders and managers did not fully appreciate the challenges of setting up as a new training provider.”

Apprentices have also not been given adequate time to prepare for the end-point assessment of standards-based courses, as managers failed to meet a deadline for the assessments that they set.

SCL Security Ltd was found to be delivering ‘insufficient’ apprenticeships, as reported by FE Week on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, arts and media provider Sheffield Independent Film and Television went from a grade two in 2016 to a grade four in a report published this week.

A troubled college group whose boss has gone on sick leave following intervention from the FE Commissioner has appointed an interim principal.

On the morning of the commissioner’s second visit to the group this month, the board issued an all staff email announcing the appointment of Graham Morley.

Mr Morley will commence duties today and will start by meeting the group’s senior leadership and the FE Commissioner.

He most recently worked as interim principal at Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College after the previous principal left the college.

FE Week reported this week on the FE Commissioner’s intervention at The Hadlow Group, which runs both Hadlow College and West Kent and Ashford College, to investigate a series of land sales and purchases between the two colleges.

The group’s deputy principal, Mark Lumsdon-Taylor resigned in January, a week before the commissioner’s team arrived, and the principal, Paul Hannan, has gone on sick leave this week.

In an email announcing Mr Morley’s appointment to the staff, the chair of the group’s board Theresa Brunton said: “You will, I’m sure, be aware the college boards have been dealing with some sensitive and important issues over recent days and weeks.

“I want to assure you the governors are working closely with the FE Commissioner and the Education Skills Funding Agency to resolve the current difficulties we face.   

“What is important, as we work through the current issues, is that the local reputation of our colleges is maintained and our learners continue to receive the high-quality provision we provide.

“It is also important individuals are treated professionally and with respect as I am sure you will understand.

“As already advised, the governors have accepted the resignation of the deputy principal. The group principal and CEO is currently away due to ill health and is unable to undertake his duties.”

Graham Morley has worked as a principal since 2005, first at Cannock Chase Technical College then at South Staffordshire College when Cannock Chase merged with Rodbaston College and Tamworth and Lichfield College.