Latest news from FE Week

The Conservatives have promised to rectify a misleading claim it has made about further education in the build-up to the general election.

In a post on the political party’s website (pictured above), a page called ‘share the facts’ states: “We have already opened 12 Institutes of Technology, but too many areas of the country don’t have access to one.

“So we’re expanding the number of Institutes of Technology in England from 12 to 20.”

The Conservatives have, however, only announced their intention to open the institutes. The majority have not actually opened to date.

After FE Week raised this with the party, a spokesperson admitted this was an “error” and said its website would be updated accordingly. The website had not been updated at the time of going to press.

The admission comes a day after education secretary Gavin Williamson was called out on Twitter for claiming to be the “first” education secretary to attend an FE college.

In an article for The Times entitled Don’t let Labour take charge of our children’s schools, Williamson said: “As the first education secretary to have attended an FE college I have a real drive to transform vocational and technical education for 16-19-year-olds.”

This isn’t true: Justine Greening, who was education secretary from July 2016 to January 2018, sat her A-levels at Thomas Rotherham College, and David Blunkett, who was education secretary from May 1997 to June 2001, previously attended Shrewsbury Technical College and Sheffield Richmond College of Further Education.

The Department for Education has been approached for comment about Williamson’s false claim.

His article came a day after Sir David Norgrove, the chair of the UK Statistics Authority, wrote to all political parties asking them to “ensure that the use of statistics during this general election campaign serves the public good”.

“My predecessors and I have in the past been obliged to write publicly about the misuse of statistics in both pre-election and pre-referendum periods,” he said.

“Statistics can be a powerful support for an argument but misuse damages their integrity, causes confusion and undermines trust. It can also lead debate to focus too much on the statistics themselves, distracting from the issues at hand.

“This is particularly important during the intense public scrutiny of an election campaign, where misinformation can spread quickly.”

And yesterday, fact-checking organisation Full Fact branded the Conservatives “irresponsible” for a misleading edit of an interview from Good Morning Britain with Labour MP Keir Starmer that was widely shared on social media.

Conservative chairman James Cleverly tried to defend the edit this morning, and claimed it was done in a bid to “shorten” the clip.

FE Week reporter Fraser Whieldon will be keeping an eye out for misleading and false FE facts from political parties during the upcoming general election.

If you spot any, email them to fraser@feweek.co.uk. You can also vote for which Fraser face best represents the #FEFactfail on Twitter here.

Ofqual is penalising an end-point assessment organisation to the tune of £8,595 after it admitted to a “series of delivery failings”.

The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) will have to pay a £1,000 fine and £7,595 in recovery costs, six months after the exams watchdog first announced it intended to fine the EPAO £50,000.

This came about because apprentices completing an EPA run by CILEx for the level 3 paralegal standard in June 2018 received “error messages, experienced delays and difficulties accessing the assessment, and were unable to upload their work onto the e-platform”.

In some cases, learners’ work was lost altogether.

When Ofqual first announced its intentions, CILEx was given the chance to reduce the £50,000 fine to £1,000 if it could confirm it had implemented a series of recommendations and had successfully delivered the EPA for the paralegal standard to the cohort of apprentices in June 2019, by this September.

After confirming CILEx had met these requirements, Ofqual said it has taken this approach to enforcement action “in order to prioritise a focus on future improvements and to reflect the unusual circumstances of this case”.

In a notice of costs recovery published today, Ofqual said its enforcement committee has considered the costs incurred by the exams regulator “in relation to imposing a monetary penalty on CILEx, and has decided that CILEx should be required to pay the costs”.

CILEx, has to pay the £8,595 within 28 days of this latest notice, but can appeal.

The institute did not wish to comment on this latest development.

Ofqual has stepped up attempts to crackdown on organisations which fail to meet its regulations: in October, it launched a consultation on introducing rebukes and issuing fixed penalties for awarding organisations.

The notice of intention to fine CILEx in April was the first such instance of an EPAO being threatened with a fine by Ofqual.

Extensive strikes due to start at Nottingham College today were called off at the eleventh hour after leaders offered a new deal – including reinstating pay for staff who previously signed up to “inferior” contracts.

Members of the University and College Union had been due to walk out for a further 14 days this month, but have agreed to suspend the action for two weeks.

The long-running row centres on what the UCU claims are the college’s attempts to impose contracts that will cut holiday entitlement and see some staff take a pay cut.

The union claims some staff were “bullied” into signing the new contracts in the summer.

UCU members at the college walked out for 15 days in September and October and passed votes of no confidence in their chief executive and chair of governors.

A spokesperson for UCU told FE Week that part of the new offer from Nottingham College includes a “guarantee” that they will re-instate the pay of any staff within the “UCU Bargaining Unit who suffered a loss as a result of the introduction of the new pay arrangements in July”.

The college has also “promised” there will be a maximum limit of 24 hours teaching a week, after it originally offered no limit. This will be in place until the end of the academic year and can be extended another year if more time is needed to agree a new workload agreement.

The spokesperson said it hopes the college will send the final details of the offer by the end of this week. Members will then vote on whether or not to accept and end the dispute.

UCU head of further education Andrew Harden said: “Industrial action is always a last resort but the college’s refusal to negotiate in good faith had left staff with no alternative. We are pleased the college appears to finally recognise the need to work with its staff and not against them.

“Our members have demonstrated that they will not be taken for fools and are prepared to take strike action to defend their jobs. The ball is now firmly in the college’s court and it needs to deliver on its promises.”

Nottingham College chief executive John van de Laarschot said: “I am pleased to confirm that the industrial action at  the college has been suspended for two weeks as both parties continue to work together to bring the dispute to an end.

“College is open as usual (from Tuesday 5 November). Our students have come back from half term full of enthusiasm and work has begun to catch up on any missed learning and ensure that they achieve their qualifications. 

“We would like to thank our students and their parents for their commitment and perseverance during these challenging last few weeks.”

He added: “We don’t wish to comment on individual elements of the offer until full agreement is reached.”

Ofsted is launching research into FE subcontracting – off the back of government plans for a radical overhaul of these rules amid high-profile cases of “deliberate” fraud.

Inspectors will carry out pre-arranged visits this autumn to a variety of subcontractors that have contracts with providers who have been recently inspected.

At the same time, Ofsted will examine its previous inspection reports for references to subcontracting, and hold focus groups with inspectors about the “process of evaluating subcontracted learning”.

The aim is to “learn more about the subcontracting landscape and the impact that a contract between a main provider and subcontractor can have on the learning experience”.

“The research will also inform how we inspect main providers that choose to use subcontracted provision,” an Ofsted spokesperson said.

It is understood this work will mainly look at whether management fees, which have controversially grown to as much as 40 per cent on subcontract values, as revealed by FE Week, are having a detrimental impact on learners’ education.

The research visits are not inspections and will not result in a written report for the subcontractor.

FE Week analysis of Education and Skills Funding Agency data shows that subcontracting accounted for £650 million in government funding for adults last year, and the practice fully or partially funded 25,230 students aged 16 to 19 at 587 subcontractors.

Ofsted claimed that since February 2018, it has “increased our focus on the management and quality of subcontracted provision” but it still places responsibility for learners’ experiences on the main provider and do not directly inspect standalone subcontractors.

Ofsted deputy director for FE and skills, Paul Joyce (pictured), said: “I hope this research will give us more insight into the experience learners get at a provider, which in turn will help us refine this part of our inspection work.

“We will work with subcontractors who take part in the research to make sure we do not place an additional burden on staff. All visits will be carried out purely for research purposes and will not double up as inspections.

“This research is part of our commitment to be a force for improvement in the sectors we inspect, and to make sure that everything we do is supported by evidence.”

It comes after the Education and Skills Funding Agency “shocked” hundreds of providers in July it demanded that all subcontracting contracts include for the first time a “list of individually itemised, specific costs for managing the subcontractor”.

In addition to listing the services, the contract must include “how each cost contributes to delivering high-quality training” and “how each specific cost is reasonable and proportionate to delivery of the subcontracted teaching or learning”.

The contracts were originally meant to be written in time for the start of the 2019/20 academic year, but a week after the announcement the ESFA said it would have a phased implementation following sector outrage.

And last month, Eileen Milner, the chief executive of the ESFA, sent a sector-wide letter warning of rule changes to subcontracting and that she will take strong action against any provider that abuses the system.

She said there are currently 11 live investigations into subcontracting, with issues underpinning them ranging in seriousness from “complacency and mismanagement”, through to matters of “deliberate and systematic fraud”.

She revealed the government will review its current subcontracting rules later this year.

Areas under consideration include “placing limits on the permitted geographical distance between a directly funded institution and the location where subcontracted provision is delivered”.

Other areas being looked at include the “balance of oversight and accountability arrangements, and with which bodies they should rest; reasonable expectations of the external audit process; and reviewing the aggregate funding value of subcontracted provision held by subcontractors”.

There have been a number of high-profile subcontracting scandals in recent years, including the Luis Michael Training case where its owners, which included two former professional footballers, created “ghost learners” and were jailed for over 25 years combined.

The most recent subcontracting scandal, exposed by FE Week, involved Brooklands College and resulted in the ESFA demanding a £20 million clawback.

A sixth form college principal and governing body failed to identify its “now terminal” financial position, the Department for Education has revealed today in an FE Commissioner report dated June 2019.

Richard Atkins’ team was sent into Cheadle and Marple Sixth Form College after leaders asked the government for emergency funding to enable it to meet staff salaries and other operating costs, because its cash was “exhausted”.

His report said the college is “relatively small and lacks the critical mass to be sustainable on a stand-alone basis” and it can only continue operations with exceptional funding from the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

“The principal has not properly discharged her responsibilities as accounting officer”

During the commissioner’s enquiries, the college’s former principal, Jenny Singleton, claimed that she had relied on the previous finance director to “advise her if the college was in financial difficulty and she took comfort from the ESFA financial health grade and satisfactory audit opinions”.

“She claims that the substantial cash balances provided by asset sales masked the underlying true position of the college,” Atkins’ report said.

“In fact, the ongoing deficits and diminishing reserves had been clearly evidenced in the financial statements and management accounts over a period of several years.”

It added that she has “failed to make proper enquiry” and has not “properly discharged her responsibilities as accounting officer”.

Singleton left the college shortly after Atkins’ intervention in June. The previous finance director also left the college earlier this year after “inaccuracies and inadequacies in his reporting came to light”.

Cheadle and Marple Sixth Form College’s former chair, David Lambrick, who left earlier this year after being at the college as a governor since October 2011, came in for similar criticism.

“He advised that he had accepted the principal’s and finance director’s assurances as to the college’s financial strength and had taken comfort with what appeared to be substantial reserves,” today’s report said.

“He noted and gave weight to the ESFA financial health grade and unqualified audit opinions and had not identified the underlying financial position developing over a period of years.

“He accepts full responsibility for his personal failings and the collective failure of the governing body to fulfil its fiduciary duty.”

The report concludes that financial matters, strategic leadership and financial oversight have been “seriously lacking for several years” and forecasts have been “over-optimistic”.

A spokesperson for the college said that since the FE Commissioner visit in June, the deputy principal Sharon Burton has taken on the role of acting principal and Alison Hewitt is the new chair of governors.

“We are working closely with the ESFA and FE Commissioner team to explore solutions for the college, and the staff will continue as always, to focus on the delivery of high quality educational provision for the local communities that we serve,” she added.

In an accompanying letter to today’s report, the FE minister Lord Agnew said: “It is clear that there has been a serious failure of leadership, with wholly inadequate financial management.

“The governing body has also failed in its fiduciary duty to monitor the college’s financial position and to effectively challenge leaders and hold them to account.”

Atkins’ report said governors have “not understood their responsibilities with regard to insolvency” and should receive immediate training to remedy this.

“It is clear that there has been a serious failure of leadership”

As reported by FE Week in July, Cheadle and Marple Sixth Form College’s was handed a financial health notice to improve by the ESFA.

The college generated a £3 million deficit in 2017/18. A £7 million drop in income, which was blamed on a declining student intake and funding reductions, took the college from £15.6 million in 2010/11 to £8.3 million in 2017/18.

In order to make up for this shortfall, the college sold land to the Department for Education in 2017 for £6.3 million, to build two new free schools.

Atkin’s report said there is a “significant deficit” forecast for the current year.

The post-16 area review for the college recommended it convert to an academy and join a multi-academy trust.

However, the college instead proposed it join a federation supported by Liverpool Hope University, a move that was endorsed by the ESFA.

Cheadle and Marple Sixth Form College operates from two campuses in Stockport. It is rated grade three by Ofsted.

Atkins’ report did note that with the exception of apprenticeships, the quality of provision at the college, across both sites, is “good”.

A deal to end a long-running dispute at Bradford College has been reached after it agreed to a series of measures to improve staff security and pay – including an extra five days’ annual leave.

Members of the University and College Union had taken 10 days of strike action between November 2018 and July 2019 in their campaign against the proposed axing of over 130 jobs.

The college has now agreed to rule out compulsory job losses and awarded all staff an extra five days’ holiday per year.

Staff on hourly-paid contracts will also be moved to permanent roles with better pay.

UCU regional official Julie Kelley said the deal “improves the job security, status and pay for staff” at Bradford College.

She called insecure contracts “a blight on the sector and bad for both staff and students.

“Nobody ever wants to take strike action, but these improvements are a testament to members’ determination to fight for a fairer deal.”

According to the UCU in July, staff at the college have only had a single 1 per cent pay rise in the last 11 years, and have seen their pay decline by 25 per cent in real terms over that period.

A spokesperson for Bradford College said: “We are pleased with the outcomes that have been agreed.

“To resolve the long running pay dispute the college has awarded staff additional annual leave through College closures at Christmas and Easter and established a policy and agreement around anti-casualisation through a new Contracts of Employment Policy.

“The executive leadership team recognises the commitment and dedication of all college employees and also the positive progress made with UCU in recent months.”

In June FE Week revealed officials from the Department for Education forced a major bank – Lloyds – to halve a £40 million unsecured loan after threatening to put Bradford College into insolvency earlier this year.

The college said it was “grateful” to both the department and bank for being kept afloat as it tried to find a further £3.5 million in savings.

Ofsted will delay publication of its annual report as it seeks to avoid making any statements that relate to its own performance.

Civil servants and public bodies cannot publish anything that could be considered political in the period before an election, known as purdah.

But the watchdog is particularly hamstrung this year as Labour, the Lib Dems and Greens have all committed to abolishing it.

It’s highly likely that Ofsted’s annual report – normally released in December – will be published after the election.

It reveals how the watchdog has performed over the year.

The key information for FE will, as ever, be last year’s performance in inspection reports by provider types.

FE Week did its own analysis last month ahead of the annual report and found a record high proportion of colleges are now rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ (78 per cent).

It is the highest proportion since comparable records began in 2015 and brings colleges within just three percentage points of the FE and skills sector average of 81 per cent.

There are currently no general FE colleges with Ofsted’s lowest grade of ‘inadequate,’ matching the 0 per cent score of grade four ratings last year.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson said he was “very pleased to see that the standards of our colleges are continuing to rise” after being shown FE Week’s analysis.

Aside from its annual report, Ofsted also won’t be able to publish any commentary or research reports.

However, it anticipates its standard FE and skills inspection reports will not be affected.

The Department for Education will not be able to publish consultation responses and other expected policy decisions will also be delayed until after the election.

It is also unlikely that they’ll be able to release FE Commissioner intervention reports.

Purdah will start next week.

The government has today announced a further funding increase for 16 to 18 year-old students as part of the £400 million extra revealed in August, but only for specific subjects, such as engineering.

In addition to the per student unweighted base rate rising 4.7 per cent from £4,000 to £4,188, the funding for some courses will rise by up to a further 10 per cent through changes to the ‘programme cost weightings’ (PCW) .

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) has today also introduced a £400 ‘High Value Courses Premium’ (HVCP), in an attempt to “support the sector to grow the number of students studying selected substantial level 3 study programmes”.

Only substantial provision in the sectors of engineering, manufacturing technologies, transport operations and maintenance, building and construction, ICT for practitioners would be eligible for the HVCP.

The PCW are funding uplifts introduced in 2013 and assigned to student study programmes and based on the main course (known as the ‘core aim).

These uplifts, along with the HVCP, are then used as part of the formula to calculate annual allocations based on historical delivery.

The PCW for students studying courses in the sectors of transportation operations and maintenance, building and construction and hospitality and catering will increase 8.3 per cent (PWC medium 1.2 to high 1.3).

The PcW for students studying courses in the sectors engineering and manufacturing technologies will increase 7.7 per cent (PCW high 1.3 to very high 1.4).

And the PWC when there are at least two science A-levels or for science study programmes will increase 10 per cent from (PCW base 1 to low 1.1).

This latest announcement provides the detail following a Treasury statement in August. At the time the government said:  “Colleges and school sixth forms will also get £120 million to help deliver expensive but crucial subjects such as engineering which lead to higher wages and, ultimately, a more productive economy.”

The ESFA also said “the government is now reviewing PCWs” for T-levels and “we are providing the details now to give providers time to plan”.

“We will update the funding rates and formula guidance for 2020 to 2021 before March 2020,” it added.

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said: “When the £120 million increase for ‘expensive but crucial subjects’ was announced ahead of September’s spending round, we were concerned that only the minority of students that pursue a technical course would be likely to benefit.

“Since then, we have been making the case for A-levels and Applied General Qualifications that meet the high cost/high value criteria to be eligible for this funding, so we are delighted by today’s announcement.

“Although we remain convinced that the optimum way to increase investment in sixth form education is by raising the national funding rate to the required level – at least £4,760 per student – ensuring that targeted interventions like this benefit students pursuing a mainstream sixth form education is the next best policy.”

The government already has an “advanced maths premium”, which was announced in the 2017 autumn budget and is worth £600 for every additional student studying an ‘advanced maths’ qualification, for each year of their course.