It all seemed so sensible when the ESFA first announced at the FE Week Annual Apprenticeship Conference in March 2016 that they would be launching a Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP).
Employers would be able to choose from a list of “high-quality” providers and everyone would have confidence that the annual £2bn of public money would be well spent in England.
Following an application process, the sector was left in shock in March 2017 to discover the ESFA’s claim of “top-quality” included the inclusion on RoATP of many newly incorporated companies with no trading history.
These companies on RoAPT, many still with no apprenticeship delivery, can then be bought for around £50,000 as a way to gain access to public funding.
But, the problem is not so much with the ability to buy and sell companies on a government register.
The problem was created when the ESFA let companies onto the register with no trading history and no filed accounts.
It was particularly easy to get on without a trading history because the ESFA was having to judge plans instead of track record, when it came to capacity, quality and finances.
In fact, perverse as it may sound, it would have been easier for the owners of an established provider with poor quality or financial issues to incorporate a new company and apply based on a fictional plan.
But, as we expose this week, the longer it is closed the more value those on it may be able extract in a sale.
So the ESFA must prioritise a complete overhaul of the register, urgently, starting with a reapplication process for everyone that has not had a satisfactory visit from Ofsted in the last five years – which will include those that have not started any apprentices since May 2017.
Then the new application process needs to set the capacity, quality and finances bar far higher, with a process of due diligence commensurate with the ‘top quality’ claims.
This would put an end to the madness of someone simply setting up a company in name alone, so as to sell access to a government approved register.
New government data has undermined boasts about University Technical Colleges’ “excellent destinations”, and shows the level of NEET leavers to be eight times higher than is claimed.
The Baker Dearing Trust, which backs UTCs, has repeatedly asserted that just one per cent of 18-year-olds leaving the 14 to 19 technical institutions were not in employment, education or training (NEET).
However, according to the latest destinations data published by the Department for Education today, that figure is actually eight per cent.
FE Week asked the trust to defend its claim, but we were told that no one was available.
Did you know that 97% of UTC students last year stayed in education, begun an apprenticeship or started a job? If you want to find out how a UTC education could benefit you, why not visit one of the many open days happening this October: https://t.co/0JVbEdzGGBpic.twitter.com/014aL5Wh9M
Just one per cent were NEET, compared to 12 per cent nationally, it said.
However, these are the Baker Dearing Trust’s own figures, not government data.
A footnote on the flier said that the information was based on “data collected in September and October 2017 from year 13 students who left 33 UTCs in July 2017. 14 students were un-contactable and are not included in the breakdown of destinations”.
FE Week asked to see this data, but we were refused.
In contrast, the DfE’s figures are based on learners who completed sixth form in 2015/16, and measure destinations in 2016/17.
A total of 1,315 learners across 28 UTCs were included in the data, of whom 88 per cent had a sustained education or employment destination and eight per cent didn’t.
“Sustained” is defined as in education or training, including apprenticeships, for the six-month period from October 2016 to March 2017, or in employment for at least five of those six months.
“Destination not sustained” includes learners who participated in some form of education, training or employment over the year but not for long enough to count as sustained, and those recorded as NEET or claiming out-of-work benefits.
A further four per cent of leavers were recorded as “data not captured”. This included learners with a National Insurance number but no recorded education, employment or training participation, or any record of any benefit claims, as well as learners without a NI number.
The average for positive sustained destinations across all state-funded schools and colleges for the year was 89 per cent, while for “destination not sustained” the average was eight per cent.
For FE colleges the figures were 86 per cent positive, and 10 per cent not sustained, while sixth form colleges had 90 per cent positive and seven per cent not sustained.
The government is lobbying those in charge of controversial university technical colleges to move away from recruitment at 14, the academies minister has revealed.
Lord Agnew (pictured) told the House of Lords today that he is “trying to encourage” Lord Baker, the founder of the UTC movement to “adjust the entry age of UTCs so that they are not in conflict with surrounding schools and then local areas can work in harmony with one another”.
His intervention marks a significant climb-down for the government, which until now has been hesitant to express a view either way on UTC admissions.
The UTC model has been fraught with problems, largely because recruiting students at 14 is so difficult. Ministers and UTC architects have come under pressure to change the admissions age as more and more of the 14 to 19 institutions have failed to become financially sustainable and closed down.
We are doing as much as we can. The system still needs to improve
Lord Agnew did not say what the admissions age should be, but most of those lobbying for change advocate a switch from 14 to 16, a move which would bring UTCs in line with sixth forms.
Asked in the Lords by Lord Baker if he would “spread his enthusiasm” for UTCs amongst his colleagues in government, Lord Agnew praised the “enormous amount of effort” put in by Lord Baker and his organisation, the Baker Dearing Trust.
“He’s right, I have put a lot of my own time into it because I think they are a vital part of the skills network,” Lord Agnew said.
“We are doing as much as we can. The system still needs to improve. I am encouraging the Baker Dearing Trust to allow more UTCs to join multi-academy trusts so their resources can be pooled. I’m also trying to encourage [Lord Baker] to adjust the entry age of UTCs so that they are not in conflict with surrounding schools and then local areas can work in harmony with one another.”
Lord Baker described UTCs as “outstanding schools, some of the most successful schools in the country”, and said we “need many more of them”.
Since 2011, the Department for Education has allocated almost £330 million of capital spending to the UTC programme. In this time, 59 UTCs have been established, although eight of these have since closed and one converted to an academy. Another, UTC@Harbourside, will close in August 2019.
Six more poor-performing apprenticeship providers have been barred from taking on new starts – bringing the total up to 12.
The penalties were revealed in the latest update to the register of apprenticeship training providers, dated October 11.
It means that the Education and Skills Funding Agency has wielded its powers against all new apprenticeship providers found to be making ‘insufficient progress’ in at least one area up until the end of September.
Employer provider Securitas Security Services Limited Among was those added to the list in the most recent update.
Its damning monitoring visit report, published September 19, found that most of the company’s 650 apprentices had had no choice but to enrol on the programmes, and that some had not had a progress review for five months due to a lack of resources.
Other newly-barred providers include Entrust Support Services, a joint venture company between Capita and Staffordshire County Council.
Four more providers have been deemed to be making ‘insufficient progress’ in at least one area in reports published since the beginning of October, but are not yet on the ESFA’s list of barred providers.
These restrictions will remain in place until the provider has received a full inspection, which should take place within a year of the monitoring visit, and been awarded at least a grade three for its apprenticeship provision.
The ESFA can only overrule this guidance if it “identifies an exceptional extenuating circumstance”.
In addition to these new powers over apprenticeship quality, which FE Week exclusively reported in May that the watchdog was set to gain, Ofsted has been awarded £5.4 million from the Department for Education to carry out monitoring visits to all new apprenticeship providers within its scope.
The visits, announced by chief inspector Amanda Spielman last November, were intended to sniff out “scandalous” attempts to waste public money.
Their introduction is believed to be a result of growing concerns around the number of untested training providers that had made it onto the register, and which therefore had access to huge sums of public money.
The chair of education select committee has urged the chancellor to “look very carefully” at the core level of funding for students in FE ahead of the budget and spending review.
Robert Halfon (pictured) wrote to Philip Hammond today to highlight the stark disparity between funding for pre- and post-16 education.
He stated that it “cannot be right that a funding ‘dip’ exists for students between the ages of 16 and 18, only to rise again in higher education”.
“Successive governments have failed to give further education the recognition it deserves for the role it pays in our national productivity puzzle,” Mr Halfon said.
Philip Hammond
“As you prepare for the budget later this month and next year’s spending review, we would like to take this opportunity for you to look very carefully at the core level of funding for students in FE, as opposed to targeted announcements.”
“We have to work back from what this country needs, we have to do our work in envisioning what an education system should look like post-16, including adult, and then we have to work out what it will cost to fund it,” said Dr Alison Birkinshaw, the former Association of Colleges president.
“Politics needs to come out of it because we cannot afford the short-termism that we get currently.”
Mr Halfon, who is a former skills minister himself, said that the “substantial sums” of £500 million for T-levels and £80 million for Institutes of Technology are to be “welcomed”.
However, the witnesses at last week’s hearing “highlighted some of the particular challenges for further education, including underspends of more than £100 million in recent years, additional costs in the form of VAT, requirements for students to study additional maths and English and the need for specialist facilities for some subjects”.
Mr Halfon told Mr Hammond that FE plays a “vital role in tackling social injustice and providing an educational ladder of opportunity”.
“One in three college students live in the most disadvantaged wards in the country, yet they manage to outperform independent schools when it comes to next steps,” he said.
Look very carefully at the core level of funding for students in FE
“Eighty seven per cent of college students are in education, training or work six months after finishing their course, compared to 82 per cent from independent schools.”
Mr Halfon also used the letter to invite Elizabeth Truss, the chief secretary to the Treasury, to give evidence in its inquiry on college funding.
“We will, of course, be taking evidence from a minister in the Department for Education towards the end of our inquiry,” he said.
“Given the specifically financial aspects of our inquiry and the link to improving national productivity and creating a skills-based economy, we would also like to hear from a treasury minister.
“I would therefore like to take this opportunity to invite the chief secretary to give evidence to our inquiry on school and college funding on a mutually convenient date later this year, and hope that your officials will be able liaise with the committee staff to make this happen.”
The letter has been published at the start of Colleges Week, in which unions, colleges, and students across the country are coming together to march on parliament to lobby for greater funding.
The principal of one of the biggest college groups in the country has stepped down with immediate effect.
John Connolly, who heads up the RNN Group, is leaving by “mutual agreement” with the group’s board, after year in which the group has faced criticisms over its leadership, the quality of apprenticeship provision and planned for a loss of over £1 million for this academic year.
A notice announcing his departure said: “John Connolly has considered for some time whether he is the right person to take the RNN Group on to the next stage of the group’s journey.
“After discussion with the board, and by mutual agreement, John will take a step down from his day to day activities with immediate effect.”
It added that he will continue to work with the board during the “transitional period” while they look for a replacement, and thanked Mr Connolly for his “contribution, commitment, professionalism and achievement in bringing the RNN Group together”.
The organisation, which incorporates Rotherham College, North Notts College and Dearne Valley College, has completed two mergers in the last four years and recently opened a £10.5 million higher education facility in Rotherham.
Minutes from a board meeting in March 2018 reveal the group planned to be facing a loss of £1.3 million by the end of this academic year.
“An initial draft budget was presented, indicating a loss of £1.3million for 2018/19, before any measures to offset income reduction,” the minutes reported.
“Income had declined by £281,000 compared to the original budget, mainly due to a reduction in 16-18 numbers, a shortfall in apprenticeships, and lower than expected HE enrolments.”
The minutes also said that all teaching staff were on 900 hour contracts, although average group sizes “had declined to around 13”. Despite the possible drop in finances, “provision for a one per cent pay award” was included in the 2018/19 budget.
Although the RNN Group has been rated ‘good’ by Ofsted since an inspection in 2013, an early monitoring visit carried out in February warned it was making ‘insufficient progress’ in managing subcontracted provision effectively.
“During a period in which senior leaders and managers oversaw two college mergers, their management of all subcontractors and subsidiary companies was not good enough,” the report warned, adding that on several apprenticeships programmes “the quality of provision was poor and achievement rates were low.”
In 2016/17, the group had 2,569 apprentices and 14,860 learners. That year, Mr Connolly’s salary was £144,000, making him the 83rd most highly paid principal. The RNN Group’s income was £47.1 million, cementing their place as the 23rd biggest college.
Mr Connolly’s resignation from a major college is the fourth in just three weeks.
Andrew Cleaves, one of the highest paid principals in the country, stepped down from Birmingham Metropolitan College on September 25. He was followed by Dame Asha Khemka, another highly paid principal, who resigned as principal of West Notts on October 1. Just last week, Joe Docherty quit as principal of the NCG group with immediate effect.
A recently merged college with historical cash problems has received a financial health notice to improve after the government assessed its monetary situation as “inadequate”.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency hit North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College with the notice today following a “review of the financial plan” it submitted to the agency in July.
It will now be referred to the FE Commissioner for an independent assessment to test the college’s “capability and capacity to make the required changes and improvements”.
David Poole, the college’s finance and risk executive director, explained that the college delivered “£1 million of unfunded teaching in 2017/18 due to the funding methodology” and also saw a “decline in income from apprenticeships which mirrors the national picture”.
“We will continue to work with the EFSA to address the issues raised,” he said.
North Warwickshire and Hinckley College merged with South Leicestershire College in August 2016.
The former FE Commissioner, Sir David Collins, warned prior to this that the recurring deficits at the two separate Midland colleges were hitting finances and urged them to merge to fix this.
But it doesn’t appear to have worked. According to the ESFA’s college accounts, the merged college owed £2.5 million in exceptional financial support in 2016/17.
A total of £1.3 million of that was owed by South Leicestershire College in 2015/16 – pre-merger – and the remaining £1.2 million was taken out post-merger.
The college’s own accounts for 2016/17 show loans worth £14.2 million were outstanding.
Three loans were with Lloyds Bank, two were with Royal Bank of Scotland, and another was with the Department for Education.
Minutes from a July 2018 board meeting show that the college broke its banking covenants.
“David Poole highlighted the background to the failure to secure an operating surplus in accordance with the medium term business plan, due to the non-achievement of
income targets and complex issues relating to the adult education budget,” they said.
“As a consequence of the deficit the EBITDA covenant had been breached. The Banks had been informed of the position and further meetings were taking place shortly to discuss
the current position and the breach.
“Marion Plant reminded Members that despite the breach, the banks had both signed new loan agreements with the college.”
The minutes also stated that the college’s “cash position which had previously been stated as £3 million” was now “£1 million due to the need to absorb the drop in income”.
“The plan showed that the college would generate cash from its operating activities in 2018/19 and in the two following years and maintain a positive cash balance throughout the three year period,” the said.
“Repayment of the Department for Education loan had been factored in with repayments of £1 million in 2018/19 increasing to £2.8 million in the final two years. After 2021 the cash position would be improved by £1.3-1.5 million per year.”
The minutes added: “The Plan showed whilst there would be cash ‘pinch points’ that needed to be managed carefully, the College was a ‘going concern’.”
The college is rated ‘good’ by Ofsted.
North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College’s financial notice said the college must now work with ESFA and the FE Commissioner and his advisers to “facilitate an independent assessment of the college’s capability and capacity to make the required changes and improvements”.
The college, which is led by principal Marion Plant (pictured), must “prepare and share with ESFA a draft financial recovery plan which should then be approved and finalised by the college Corporation after ESFA’s comments have been received by the college” by no later than November 30, 2018.
The plan must include “specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely activities and milestones”.
It should also “detail specific, time-bound activities that the college will undertake, and should include the outcomes of exploration into further staff savings for 2018/19 and 2019/20, which should include a thorough review of curriculum areas and their contribution”.
The plan should also include “student number projections and staff planning assumptions, and a detailed sensitivity analysis on these assumptions; for both in year savings and moving forward” as well as “actions to implement savings you have identified, manage expenditure and maintain or increase income, including specific measurable objectives for how you will ensure financial sustainability”.
The ESFA will lift the notice to improve when the college “can demonstrate a financial health grade, which is at least satisfactory evidenced by audited financial statements and finance record”.
The Institute for Apprenticeships is seeking input from providers, awarding organisations and employers on the draft content for three more T-level pathways.
The new pathways, in onsite construction, building services engineering and digital support and services, are expected to be rolled out from 2021 onwards.
Sir Gerry Berragan, the IfA’s chief executive, said the content for these “exciting new T-levels” had been “carefully designed by panels and professional employers”.
“We are now seeking feedback from everyone interested in helping to ensure that T Levels lead the way in transforming the public standing of technical education, while also serving the skills needs of the UK economy for generations to come,” he said.
The draft content sets out the knowledge and skills required for each of the three new pathways, based on the same occupational standards as apprenticeship, to ensure that anyone taking the course can develop the skills needed by employers in that industry.
The purpose of the consultation is to ensure that the content “capture the right knowledge, skills and performance outcomes”, according to today’s announcement.
This is the second batch of draft content to have gone out for consultation.
The first batch covered the first three pathways to be introduced for teaching from 2020: design, surveying and planning, in the constructions route; digital production, design and development, in the digital route; and education and childcare.
These three routes will be introduced for teaching in 2020.
T-levels were first announced in 2016, following the Sainsbury review of technical education.
They’re intended to set a new “gold standard” in training, and be on a par with A-levels.
According to the Department for Education’s response to its T-level consultation, published in May this year, it intends to introduce 13 courses in 2021 and a further nine in 2022 – with full delivery delayed until 2023.
In his published ministerial direction – the first ever from an education secretary – Mr Hinds said that none of the advice he had received “has indicated that teaching from 2020 cannot be achieved”.
Crisis-hit Aspire Achieve Advance spent over £1.6 million of its mostly government-funded income on professional sports sponsorship deals.
One of the deals, worth half a million pounds with Derbyshire Cricket Club, remains in play despite the launch of a police probe into the apprenticeship giant.
The company, better known as 3aaa, went into administration yesterday after the Education and Skills Funding Agency withdrew its funding following a second government investigation, as revealed by FE Week.
A new investigation by this newspaper, in partnership with The Guardian, has obtained documents which show that from January 2015 to May 2018, the now-defunct provider spent £1.6 million on sponsorship of sports clubs, including Derby County and Norwich Football Club.
The public accounts committee slammed Learndirect, the nation’s former largest FE provider, earlier this year for spending over £500,000 of public money to sponsor a Formula 1 team, which was reported on the front page of the Financial Times following a joint investigation with FE Week.
Derbyshire Cricket Club chief executive Simon Storey (left) and Peter Marples
3aaa’s biggest deal has been with Derbyshire County Cricket Club, which launched a partnership in 2014. The company is its “principal partner and ground sponsor”, holding the naming rights for The 3aaa County Ground as well as sponsoring the club’s kit.
The cricket club released a statement today to say they are monitoring the situation at 3aaa but the deal is very much still in place.
“Derbyshire County Cricket Club has been advised that principal partner, 3aaa Apprenticeships, has entered administration,” a spokesperson said.
“The club will continue to monitor the situation. At this time, our thoughts are with the staff and apprentices who are impacted and we hope a positive outcome can be achieved.
“The club are unable to make any further comment at this time.”
FE Week approached 3aaa two days before it went bust to ask it to justify its huge spend on sponsorship, considering nearly all of its income came from taxpayers’ pockets and it made a £2.5 million post-tax loss in the 18 months to January 2018.
A spokesperson acknowledged the request but didn’t respond.
FE Week made multiple attempts to contact Mr Marples and Ms McEvoy-Robinson but they have also not responded. Mr Marples has taken down his LinkedIn and Facebook page in the last couple of days.
Last year 3aaa was allocated over £31 million by the ESFA to deliver apprenticeships and adult learning.
By offering sponsorship, the company gains automatic membership to Derbyshire County Cricket Club’s ‘1870 Business Club’ – a “relaxed and informal environment where local businesses can meet, create new contacts and watch first-class cricket”, according to its website.
They can also “entertain clients with one of our matchday hospitality packages”.
A press release from April this year explained that with 3aaa’s “continued support”, the cricket club has been able to “improve facilities, as the venue looks forward to an exciting year of events, which includes hosting the world’s biggest girl group, Little Mix, live in concert on Thursday 19 July”.
As well as the deal with Derbyshire County Cricket Club, the apprenticeship provider handed over £382,000 to Derby County Football Club, which Mr Marples is a former owner of.
More than £200,000 went to Norwich City Football Club, £175,000 to Rotherham Football Club, nearly £150,000 to Leicester Tigers, and £132,000 to Reading Football Club.
The Derbyshire FA was meanwhile given £50,000, Birmingham City Football Club cashed in £46,000, Norwich Community Football Club received £28,750, and Team Rallye was given £25,000.
The ESFA launched a second investigation into 3aaa, which was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, earlier this year following claims of inflated achievement rates by a whistleblower.
The first investigation was carried out in 2016 by auditing firm KPMG and found dozens of success rate “overclaims”.
The ESFA’s new findings have been referred to the police via Action Fraud – the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime.
The case was today passed onto Derbyshire Constabulary who will lead on enquiries.
Mr Marples resigned as chair of the Spencer Academies Trust today, which runs 17 schools across the East Midlands.
