Last month, education giant City & Guilds raised a few eyebrows by calling for the creation of a new independent body to oversee skills policy in the UK.

Not convinced that a new quango is what the sector needs, FE Week editor Nick Linford sat down with the organisation’s chief executive to see if he could persuade him otherwise. Here’s how it went.

City & Guilds has a long history, not just in terms of being the most recognisable name in the vocational education space for 140 years.

They have also for many years invested in commissioning research and advising governments around the world, rarely holding back from presenting potentially unflattering views.

This has continued under their current chief executive, Chris Jones, who since 2008 been at the helm of the group that last year turned over £144 million, employing nearly 1,400 people.

Jones has not shied away from a bit of Department for Education bashing, being regularly critical on social media on whether T-level reform represents value for money to date and most recently “highlighting the urgent need for more considered policy development that is based on substance, not style”.

And with reference to the recent level 3 and below qualification consultation, he accused the DfE of “sadly” having “no track record” when it comes to having “clear outcome
measures established at the outset”.

One solution to the FE policy failures, Jones told me in a broad-ranging interview, was to establish another quango, to be called the Skills Policy Institute.

Reviews are applauded, debated, then shelved and forgotten about

This is not the first time Jones has proposed a new organisation to “hold the government to account by scrutinising skills”.

The recommendation featured in the first City & Guilds Sense & Instability report in 2014, and again in the 2016 update.

However, the “body with independent oversight” was not given a name and was at that point compared to the Office for Budget Responsibility.

So now, in the third Sense & Instability report we have the proposed name, Skills Policy Institute, and this time the Education Endowment Foundation is used as a comparison – a research organisation established with £120 million of public money.

There had been some disquiet on social media about the idea of another quango – to add to the myriad organisations with oversight of just apprenticeships that featured in the National Audit Office’s most recent report into the sector.

Jones has been critical of constant policy change, so he wants to be clear that his idea of a new “quango is not necessarily being designed or considered as a way of saying to driving more change in policy.

“So it’s not saying, ‘Let’s create something that is independent, and more policy for the sake of policy’. It about getting the policy right and making sure the policy that is put in place gets delivered well.”

A new Skills Policy Institute would build institutional memories – what has worked and what has not

My challenge back to Jones was to ask him: why create another quango with all the associated bureaucracy when the government can instead commission research or high-profile independent reviews, such as Wolf in 2011, Richard in 2012, Sainsbury in 2016 and most recently Augar, as task-and-finish groups?

But Jones dismisses reviews “that can be applauded at the time they are published, much debated, but then potentially be put on the shelf and forgotten about.

“And I think that, for me, is one of the risks that what we have here is something that typically sees lots of research reports being commissioned with lots of recommendations, but do they all make sense over time? Do they connect with each other? I would argue perhaps not.”

Instead, he insists a Skills Policy Institute would build “institutional memories, the basis of what has worked and what has not”.

He goes on to say that it could be “quite small. About 10 to 15 people. So it’s not substantial. It doesn’t have to be. This is not about creating bureaucracy for the sake of it. It’s about creating something that has substance in what it says and does.”

Intriguingly, before I ask where the money would come from to pay for this new quango, Jones offers up the apprenticeship levy.

“We are talking about something that could be funded with a relatively small proportion of the levy and arguably could be a very good use of a very small proportion of the levy,” he says.

What then follows is a rather critical view of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE), a quango that is in fact funded from levy receipts and has quickly now grown to around 150 staff.

“I don’t see anything yet that is coming out of the IfATE that has been research-led. Looking closely at the specific outcome measures it needs to be putting in place, it’s filling a slightly different purpose at this moment in time.”

This strikes me as the first time I’ve heard Jones or City & Guilds criticise the relatively new IfATE, and when I point out that they have researchers, he is quick to express a “hope” that they would consider value for money.

“If the IfATE is there to help administer apprenticeship policy, it is essentially a ministry of apprenticeship policy,” he says.

I think they [the IfATE] should be doing more

When asked whether the IfATE was meant to be independent, Jones says: “That was the idea. Do we see that coming through? I don’t see enough evidence of that, personally, coming through of this being something that has genuine independence. I haven’t seen them publish a report about the future of the workplace in 2030 and how the apprenticeship strategy must evolve to support that. Funding has to move from A to B, we need to have these standards… I haven’t seen that.”

Jones claims he hasn’t given up on the leadership at the IfATE, “I just don’t see what they are doing today as fulfilling the role of what we see in terms of the Skills Policy Institute. They (the IfATE) are administrating policy. If they believe they should be doing more, that’s for them to determine what they should do. I think they should be doing more,” he adds.

During the course of the interview Jones compared his proposed Skills Policy Institute to the small National Infrastructure Commission and even the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, shut down in 2017 but described by Jones as “forward thinking, beginning to look where some of the potential interventions might need to be over time, thinking where and how employers can begin to shape the policy to a greater extent than they perhaps are at this moment in time”.

My experience was that the UKCES had few fans before being shut, few mourned its passing and it is now rare for it to be mentioned on the FE policy circuit. 

So Jones has failed to persuade me that a new quango is part of the solution for avoiding poor policymaking or to stop good policies failing.

No matter how independent a Skills Policy Institute would claim to be, its income and thus survival, along with the actual decision making, would be in the hands of the democratically elected officials.

And frankly, the skills sector is not short of quangos, policy influencers and talking shops, at both a national and regional level.

Put bluntly, moving deckchairs around or adding new ones will not stop the sinking feeling.

What we are really short of is sufficient investment in the delivery of further education and skills.

Colleges underspent their original funding allocations awarded through the controversial 2017-18 adult education budget (AEB) procurement by a huge 26 per cent, new FE Week analysis has shown.

In stark contrast, all other providers exceeded their initial contracts by 31 per cent.

On top of this, four of the 19 colleges that won in the tender failed to deliver any of their procured AEB funding, and admitted that their non-procured contracts were sufficient to meet demand. Despite this, all four were awarded much larger procured contracts in 2018-19.

Perhaps it’s time the NAO took a hard look at what’s going on

The findings will be frustrating for the many private providers who were given much smaller than expected AEB contracts, or denied them altogether, following the tender.

“How much evidence does the government need that the current system of AEB funding is totally discredited and delivering poor value for the local communities that the programme is meant to support?” said Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers.

“As the latest FE Week analysis once again shows, independent training providers have no problem using up their allocations in full, and when they hear that the Department for Education hands back to the Treasury over £300 million in underspends from various budgets, they get doubly frustrated.”

Independent providers were told in 2016 their AEB contracts would come to an end in July 2017, rather than being automatically renewed as normal, and they were forced to take part in a procurement process for a pot worth around £110 million.

Colleges did not have to take part in the bidding war, as their contracts were to be automatically renewed, but they were allowed to tender to gain additional funding.

Nineteen colleges subsequently won £5,071,369 between them.

FE Week’s analysis compared figures showing the ESFA’s final 2017-18 funding year values with the first contract allocation for November 2017 and their final allocation for June 2018.

By June, their combined final allocation dropped slightly to £5,063,495.

Figures published last week show the colleges actually ended up spending £3,999,962 – which means they missed their year-end allocation by 26 per cent compared to November, and 21 per cent compared to July.

Just four colleges achieved or overspent their year-end allocation.

The DfE said the funding that was not utilised was taken back and then recycled into the next year’s allocations budget, which is then distributed across all AEB providers. 

Non-college providers were awarded £81,964,837 between them in November 2017, but their allocations increased to £115,705,143 in July 2018. Final figures show all non-colleges spent £107,609,652 by the end of the academic year, which is 31 per cent up on their original allocation but 7 per cent down on their July figures.

The four colleges to not spend any of their procured contracts in 2017-18 were: Abingdon & Witney, Middlesbrough, South Gloucestershire and Stroud, and St Helens.

A spokesperson for Abingdon & Witney College said: “In 2017-18 our non-procured AEB allocation proved to be sufficient to meet the demands of the local market. However, in 2018-19 we will fully utilise our procured contract.”

The DfE extended the contracts it procured for 2017-18 to 2018-19 and maintained funding levels.

However, it said allocations could have increased for several reasons, including: the previous year contracts were only for nine months following delays with procurement, and growth funding available in 2017-18 was consolidated into the following year.

Abingdon & Witney College was given a £230,679 procured AEB to use in 2018-19 – a 250 per cent increase on the £65,869 available to it in 2017-18 that it failed to spend.

A St Helens College spokesperson said following its merger in December 2017 with Knowsley Community College that it “revisited all business plans and as a result, the additional procured allocation was deemed to be no longer required”.

It has been given £328,208 procured AEB for 2018-19.

Zoe Lewis, principal of Middlesbrough College, said when her college bid for procured adult education budget funding in 2017-18 that it was in the process of setting up “sector-based work academies to expand our work with unemployed people”.

But this took “longer than we’d anticipated and we therefore did not use our allocation last year”. 

However, Middlesbrough College’s new academies are “now established” and it is “on track” to spend its procured contract for 2018-19, which amounts to £416,974, as well as “exceeding our AEB contract delivery by more than 3 per cent”.

South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, which has £263,674 procured AEB to use in 2018-19, declined to comment.

The DfE said it was aware of non-delivery issues but would not comment on specific cases. It added that options for future contracting of AEB are being reviewed.

Dawe said giving bigger procured contracts to institutions who didn’t deliver on their previous ones “just adds insult to injury”.

“Perhaps it’s time for the National Audit Office to take a hard look at what’s going on here,” he added.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has officially begun inviting non-levy employers and providers to test its digital apprenticeship system.

An expressions of interest went live yesterday and closes on 5 July, with the trial planned to get underway the following month.

To apply to test the system’s functionality, small and medium sized employers must have an apprenticeship vacancy that will result in an apprentice starting, in September, August or October 2019.

The ESFA said as this is a test phase, the training provider should already have a contract with agency for supporting employers that do not pay the apprenticeship levy, and have money left in their non-levy funding allocation.

Currently, only big employers with an annual total pay bill of over £3 million who pay the levy can use the online apprenticeship service to access training funds generated through the policy.

Small employers were originally expected to be added to the service in April 2019, but was delayed for another year to “ensure a more gradual transition”.

After the delay was announced in August 2018 the ESFA extended contracts for providers delivering training for small employers until March 2020, which is how non-levy-payers train up their apprentices.

But as FE Week revealed in February, training providers’ non-levy funding is running dry and some have even had to turn apprentices away. Many fear the same will happen in 2019/20 as their allocations will not be big enough to meet demand.

From August to December, a small number of employers who do not pay the levy and their associated providers will be able to set up accounts on the apprenticeship service through the first test phase.

The ESFA said providers not involved in the initial test phase will “not be disadvantaged when we further roll out the service and no new funding is available through this functional test”.   

The trial will test a “modest volume” of apprenticeship starts.

The applicants who take part in the development will be allocated on a “first come, first served basis; the ESFA will not be able to guarantee an apprenticeship start until the selection has been made and applicants have been notified”.

Applications should be submitted as a joint bid between employers and providers, the latter of which must be on the ESFA’s register of apprenticeship training providers.

A second window for employers and providers to submit an expression of interest to take part in the trial, who have starts in November and December 2019, will open “later in the summer”.

Through the apprenticeship service employers can: manage their apprenticeship funding, select a suitable apprenticeship standard and an end-point assessment organisation, as well as advertise an apprenticeship and select a suitable provider to deliver their apprenticeship training.

They can also give real-time feedback on the quality of training provision they receive, have control over the amount of apprenticeship funding paid to their training provider on their behalf, and provide government with apprenticeship “demand data to ensure an valuable apprenticeship market place”.

The Institute for Apprenticeships has called for the assistance of the government’s exams and HE watchdogs in devising an “optimised” external quality assurance system for
apprenticeships.

Sir Gerry Berragan, the institute’s chief executive, wrote letters in April to the chief regulator at Ofqual, Sally Collier, and the chief executive of the Office for Students, Nicola Dandridge.

Berragan explained that since January of this year, the IfA has been delivering a “programme of work that will improve the delivery of EQA”, which includes a “strengthened operational framework and a digital service, both of which will allow us to better exercise our statutory duty and bring greater consistency”.

The letters, obtained by FE Week, reveal that the IfA has been asked to provide the Department for Education with an “appraisal of the best method of delivering EQA through a simpler system”.

“One important part of this is retaining the role of professional bodies (employer groups and professional entities) in the system,” Berragan said, adding that he would “value” the
views of Collier and Dandridge on how their organisations “might work with professional bodies – either directly or indirectly – under an optimised system”.

Despite the institute previously pledging to become more transparent, a sizeable portion of Berragan’s letters to Collier and Dandridge were redacted.

Currently, there are 18 EQA bodies which monitor the end-point assessment organisations (EPAOs) that run examinations for apprentices.

The job is done by a mix of professional bodies, employers and quangos such as the IfA and Ofqual – which between them run EQA for over 200 standards.

Ofqual is the second biggest provider in this space, but the OfS isn’t on the EQA register, which raises questions as to why Berragan asked the higher education regulator for its views.

The OfS was approached for comment but did not respond at the time of going to press.

Many in the FE sector have been critical of the current EQA system, complaining that it is too complex.

The IfA’s letters hint that Ofqual will, in future, be the lead body for it, something that would be welcomed by the chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers Mark Dawe, who said: “Finally, common sense is biting. The sooner this process of transfer is complete, the better.

“It is great to have professional bodies involved across all sectors, but Ofqual should have overarching responsibility.”

Collier told the House of Commons education select committee in March that her organisation would like to expand its role in monitoring apprenticeship EPAOs.

She argued her organisation has done a “good job in proving that, as the regulator, we can do this job and can do it well” and they are “ready to take on a larger role”, following an October 2018 report by the committee on apprenticeships, which recommended Ofqual should be given total responsibility for EQA.

Collier agreed with committee chair Robert Halfon that it is “unnecessary” to have so many different bodies doing apprenticeship regulation.

The lack of a single EQA body for apprenticeships has contributed to a “ridiculous variability” in the amount that is charged EQA, according to Tom Bewick, the chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies, which represents EPAOs.

FE Week revealed in February that EPAOs can be charged between nothing and £179 per apprentice for EQA.

When shown this analysis, Graham Hasting-Evans, group managing director of NOCN, an EPAO, told FE Week he was “very concerned” about the high level of EQA charges, which are “up to 10 per cent of the EPA cost in some cases”.

The IfA’s new EQA framework is due to go live from July 1.

Universities have stumbled this week, with one being rated ‘requires improvement’ and another losing its grade one, while colleges have excelled.

Specialist college Groundwork South and North Tyneside scored a grade two, improving on the grade three from its last inspection.

Inspectors were impressed with how leaders had “accelerated the pace of quality improvement” by restructuring the management team.

“Learners are well prepared for independent adult life. They learn how to work out the cost of recipes, shop for ingredients and prepare their own meals. Those learners who need to learn to travel independently do so,” the report reads.

Carmel College principal Mike Hill told FE Week he was “extremely happy” and “proud” after retaining its grade one, following a 12-year gap between inspections.

Less happy news for the University of West London though, which dropped from a grade one to a grade two.

Regardless of the drop, leaders were found to have a “clear and ambitious vision” for providing high-quality courses, directly aligned with the needs of employers in London.

The university’s leaders worked with strategic partners such as Health Education England and city restaurants to ensure they have a sound understanding of the vocational areas from which it recruits apprentices, 400 of whom were on programme.

Staffordshire University fared worse, scoring a grade three in its first inspection report.

The leaders’ ambition to grow higher apprenticeships provision in the region has not resulted in consistently good performance and learning experiences for all of its 400 apprentices, inspectors wrote.

Employer providers have enjoyed a good week, with My Home Move being found to have made ‘significant progress’ in one area of a monitoring visit, and ‘reasonable progress’ in the other two.

Its 23 apprentices enjoy a “well-organised” programme and develop substantial new knowledge, skills and behaviours rapidly, with the majority gaining promotion.

Inspectors found that Kids Allowed, which has 47 apprentices on frameworks, had made ‘reasonable progress’ in two areas, and ‘significant progress’ in another.

Yet, of the 23 level 2 apprentices who started in 2017, eleven left early without achieving; and of the 24 apprentices who started in 2018, seven left.

Independent learning providers have had a mixed week overall.

Abacus Training Group was graded as ‘requires improvement’ in its first inspection, after inspectors found leaders had been too slow in bringing about the improvements needed within teaching and assessment. The quality of the former varied too much, and is not of high enough quality.

Premier Training International was found to have ‘insufficient progress’ in two areas, and ‘reasonable progress’ in the other, of their first monitoring visit since becoming a prime provider of adult education provision.

A key element of their provision – webinars – was often poorly attended; and leaders had failed to establish an adequate process for monitoring and recording the progress of learners.

Staff were found to have not ensured learners are effectively prepared for external exams and practical assessments, while too many learners did not get sufficient support for their practical assessments.

On the other side of the coin, Mode Training retained its grade two rating from 2009.

Its leaders work well with employers, and it clearly outlines what it expects of them.

Inspectors found that “leaders do not hesitate to stop working with employers who are not committed to, for example, enabling enough off-the-job training for apprenticeships”.

People and Business Development Limited had its first monitoring visit since a grade three inspection last June.

It made ‘reasonable progress’ in all four areas, and leaders’ actions to improve provision was having a “demonstrable impact” on learners, the proportion of whom achieving had improved quickly.

Livability Nash College, a specialist provider, was given priorities for improvement following a grade four inspection last November.

Since that inspection, a new senior management team has improved oversight of the quality of education and leaders have established enhanced governance arrangements, but those leaders and governors do not yet have sufficient oversight of the quality of teaching over time.

And Derby Manufacturing UTC has had its second monitoring visit since a grade four inspection in May 2018.

The inspectors found that leaders and managers have not been taking effective action towards the removal of special measures.

Their action plan is not fit for purpose, as some sections of the post-Ofsted action plan have not been updated with the school’s current priorities.

Independent Learning Providers	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Abacus Training Group	30/04/2019	11/06/2019	3	N/A
Premier Training International Limited	07/05/2019	13/06/2019	M	N/A
Mode Training Ltd	26/02/2019	14/06/2019	2	2
People and Business Development Ltd	01/05/2019	13/06/2019	M	3

 

Sixth Form Colleges (inc 16-19 academies)	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Carmel College	30/04/2019	10/06/2019	1	1

 

Employer providers	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
My Home Move Ltd	16/05/2019	11/06/2019	M	N/A
Kids Allowed Ltd	08/05/2019	11/06/2019	M	N/A

 

Other (including UTCs)	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Staffordshire University	17/05/2019	14/06/2019	3	N/A
University of West London	30/04/2019	11/06/2019	2	1
Derby Manufacturing UTC	08/05/2019	14/09/2019	M	4

 

Specialist colleges	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Groundwork South and North Tyneside	22/05/2019	11/06/2019	2	3
Livability Nash College	15/05/2019	12/06/2019	M	4

Cash-strapped Cornwall College Group has secured a £30 million government bailout to drive forward its “fresh start” business plan, but questions continue to loom about whether campuses will be sold off.

The group, which has eight sites across the South West, was told it was not financially “viable or resilient” and had “weak solvency” in its post-16 area review report from 2017, but that it should remain a standalone college.

A follow-up review of further education in Cornwall was launched last year at the request of Cornwall Council, which put pressure on the group to work more closely with its rival, Truro & Penwith College, and that a merger may be in learners’ best interests.

The prospect of this mega-merger now appears dead in the water after Cornwall College Group secured a significant handout from the Education and Skills Funding Agency. Truro & Penwith also told FE Week that it has “no plans for merger”.

Cornwall College Group had its initial request for the £30 million bailout rejected by the ESFA in May 2018, after receiving £4.5 million emergency funding in 2016-17 and £3.5 million in 2017-18.

One of the “main concerns” for the agency was around the “viability of maintaining eight sites”, according to the FE Commissioner report published three months ago.

The college was “invited to prepare a ‘deep dive’ contribution model, which would include the ability to look at individual courses delivered at each site”, and had a reworked bid accepted at the end of March 2019.

Details of the new financial plan are not known, but Cornwall College Group’s interim chief executive, Dr Elaine McMahon, has said the “elements of the group’s estate would be restructured”.

A spokesperson for the group said it was unable to comment on its future plans any further when asked if it was preparing to sell off any campuses.

Other big college groups in financial difficulty have downsized in recent times.

In April it was announced that Harrogate College was being offloaded by the Hull College Group as part of its recovery plan.

A month later Birmingham Metropolitan College announced it was to sell off its Stourbridge College site, with learners moving to two other nearby colleges in September.

The last member of the Cornwall College Group to join was Bicton College in March 2015. It is nearly 70 miles away from the main cluster of the group’s other campuses. Its Bristol site is the furthest away – sitting nearly 100 miles away from Bicton.

In return for receiving the £30 million emergency funding, the college group has committed to significantly changing its operating model – a process known as “fresh start”.

Former principal Raoul Humphreys resigned back in November.

An FE commissioner assessment summary of the group, published in July 2017, said the new leadership team was “not responsible for the loss of financial control” experienced by the college under the previous principal Amarjit Basi, who resigned in July 2016 with a £200,000 payout.

McMahon said the group has now “reviewed the entire college curriculum in line with Local Enterprise Partnership priorities, market need, employer requirements and skills needs, and have rigorously tested the quality of each course”.

A “modern and secure IT systems infrastructure” will also be implemented and there will be “investment in exceptional training and learning experiences for students and businesses”.

A spokesperson for Truro & Penwith College said: “The aim of Truro & Penwith College is to support and complement those external interventions which enable the creation of a financially viable, standalone Cornwall College.

“It is offering support through sharing best practice in the areas of quality, planning, and leadership and governance.”

St Helens College has been served a financial health notice to improve by the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

The notice was handed after the college was assessed as having ‘inadequate’ financial health in 2017/18.

St Helens College’s accounts for 2017/18 show it generated a surplus of £8.8 million, with a total income of £43 million, a total expenditure of £34 million, and long-term debts of £10 million.

In December 2017, St Helens College merged with Knowsley College, to form SK College Group and had to shoulder a number of costs, including £3.8 million in loans that needed to be repaid and £1.5 million of staff restructuring costs, according to the accounts.

Before the merger in June 2017, St Helens was rated as ‘requires improvement’ overall by Ofsted, but ‘inadequate’ for apprenticeships.

It was found making ‘reasonable progress’ in a monitoring report published in November 2018.

As a result of the ESFA notice, the college had to prepare a draft financial recovery by 31 May, for review by the agency, and has to submit a final plan to secure the college’s financial position by 30 June.

College leaders will have to attend regular meetings with the ESFA, submit monthly management accounts to the agency, and allow its representatives to sit in on governor meetings.

The notice also means St Helens will come into scope for intervention by the FE Commissioner, and it has already been subject to a diagnostic assessment in January and March.

The terms of the notice to improve could be varied, depending on what the commissioner’s report says.

The ESFA will lift the notice when the college’s financial health grade has improved from ‘inadequate’ in 2017/18 to a sustained position assessed as being ‘requires improvement’.

A spokesperson for SK College Group said: “SK College Group, like many other further education colleges across the country, is facing continued financial challenges.

“This has never been more so than following our recent merger.”

They explained the merger process was “complex and lengthy”, which impacted upon its completion timescale.

This delay had made planned adjustments “more difficult to achieve”, the spokesperson said.