Baker clause: providers asked for their experiences

Providers are being asked for their experiences of the controversial Baker clause, amid signs that schools are failing in their legal duty to open their doors to the FE sector.

The survey, conducted by the AELP at the request of the Department for Education, asks providers about the impact of the legislation, which came into effect in January.

AELP boss Mark Dawe described “reports from around the country” that  “some schools aren’t aware of the new statutory requirements or are just choosing to ignore them”. 

“Just as concerning are reports of cases where even if providers are allowed access, they can only talk to the lower-ability pupils about apprenticeships,” he added. “This survey will ascertain how big the issue is, and in the meantime, Ofsted inspectors have an important role to play in checking that compliance is in place.”

The Baker clause, so called because it was proposed by the former education secretary Lord Kenneth Baker (pictured above), was introduced as part of the Technical and FE Act 2017.

It requires schools to allow training providers and colleges the chance to speak to every pupil between the ages of 13 and 18 about technical qualifications and apprenticeships.

The clause, which also requires schools to publish a policy statement on their websites, came into effect on January 2.

However, there are warning signs that schools are failing in their legal duty.

An FE Week investigation in late January found that just two of the 10 largest multi-academy trusts in England were fully compliant with the clause.

Writing for FE Week in March, the skills minister Anne Milton urged providers to “let me know” if they faced problems with schools not giving them access.

“As a result of the new duty, I expect to see schools setting up careers events, assemblies and options evenings so that providers can talk to pupils about what they offer and what it is like to learn in a different environment,” she wrote.

When Lord Baker proposed the changes in February last year, he acknowledged they were likely to be “met with great hostility in every school in the country”.

Providers have until 5pm on June 12 to complete the survey. Click here to complete the survey.

Urgent levy reform demanded for nursing degree apprenticeships

Nursing degree apprenticeship start targets will be missed without urgent reform to how the apprenticeship levy can be spent, MPs have been warned.

There has been an extremely slow take-up so far, with only 30 starts up to the end of January this year, the Commons education committee was told in a specially convened hearing.

“Without the flexibility in the levy, to be blunt, we are not going to get there,” said Danny Mortimer, the chief executive of NHS Employers, referring to Public Health England’s desire to get 2,400 people enrolled on the programme. 

Overall, PHE wants “17,000 nursing associates having completed additional training” via degree apprenticeships “to become registered nurses”.

NHS Employers represents employers in the health service, and told the education committee through written submission in March that the NHS needs longer than the standard two years to use up the £200 million apprenticeship levy payments it is shelling out annually.

“A particular frustration among my members is that we see an inflexibility with the apprenticeship levy as a matter of policy which means that it is a very expensive way of training a nurse,” Mr Mortimer added today.

“The current policy and the Department for Education do not at present accept the difference between a nursing degree apprenticeship and other degree apprenticeships.

“They will not allow the flexibility in terms of the release of time for the students to train properly and meet the standards set by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

“They will not allow us to fund the time to put in place the additional on the job supervision and mentoring and practice development that students need, and they will not extend the timescale for us to be able to access the levy to spend it on nursing degree apprenticeships.”

He said that nursing degree apprenticeships generate an additional £35,000 or £40,000 of cost per student every year for training every year over their four year duration.

Janet Davies and Dr Katerina Kolyva

Much of that cost comes from the cost of paying the wages of the supervisor or mentor overseeing the work on wards of apprentices.

“We have just disclosed this week that the provider section of the NHS was £900 million overspent last year, so that £140,000 to £150,000 per student over four years isn’t readily available other than through the levy.”

Janet Davies, the chief executive of the Royal College of Nurses, was also outspoken this morning.

“There are some real challenges around ensuring that we have a proper learning environment where students can be students and also patients are kept safe,” she told MPs. “The number one challenge is probably cost. To be a true apprentice, you need consistent supervision. Within an apprenticeship you have the cost of the salary and that cost of the supervisor.”

Jeremy Hunt (PA)

Nursing degree apprenticeships were announced by health secretary Jeremy Hunt in November 2016, involving new nursing associate and full, registered nurse apprenticeships, lasting two and four years respectively.

A nursing associate role was also introduced, with people who complete nursing associate apprenticeships able to count it as training towards a nursing degree.

Nursing associates work alongside healthcare support workers to deliver care, in order to free existing nurses up to focus on clinical duties.

However, there had been only 20 starts on the registered nursing standard and 10 for nursing associates by the end of January.

A Department for Education spokesperson said:  “The government is committed to increasing the number of nursing apprenticeships – we fund up to £27,000 per nursing apprentice. We have also created a new programme for nursing associate apprentices to broaden the routes into the profession.

“Quality remains at the heart of our reforms to apprenticeships – the apprenticeship levy is an important part of that, creating sustainable investment in skills training.”

She added the department is  working closely with employers and Health Education England to make sure the NHS is “fully supported” to recruit apprentices, both in nursing and “a range of other occupations”.

Demands for fairness after ESFA sets aside £2.6m in Somerset tender

The launch of a £2.6 million tender by the Education and Skills Funding Agency to deliver community learning services in Somerset has prompted demands for fairness and reform to the procurement process over the apparent special treatment.

The invitation to tender, published May 31, follows a campaign by community learning provider Somerset Skills and Learning for more funding, after it faced losing 97 per cent of its adult education budget following last year’s procurement debacle.

This included rallying four local Conservative MPs (pictured above), who held an emergency meeting last September with the skills minister, Anne Milton, to urgently review the massive cuts to SS&L’s funding.

Robert Halfon, chair of the influential education select committee, congratulated the MPs for their “brilliant campaign for their provider”.

“However, this does open a potential Pandora’s Box in procurement in that there are other procurement injustices in other parts of the country,” he said.

It was “another example of why the procurement process needs fundamental reform”, he said.

Mark Dawe, boss of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said that “whatever has been done for Somerset should be available to all AEB providers”. 

“We need to see fairness and transparency,” he demanded.

However, Susie Simon-Norris, chief executive of SS&L, said she was pleased the government had “recognised the importance of community learning in Somerset and that funds are being made available to support this vital provision in our county”.

“We have spent nearly a year working towards this position and fighting the case for Somerset,” she said.

SS&L has battled for more cash following last year’s AEB tender fiasco, which saw independent training providers bid for a share of just £110 million for adult education.

Its initial allocation of £111,000 represented just three per cent of the £3.4 million it received in 2016/17.

Following a campaign to lobby MPs and ministers, the ESFA made a partial U-turn on funding for providers which saw SS&L receive 75 per cent of its previous allocation on a “transitional basis”.

Nonetheless it was still forced to close centres and make redundancies.

FE Week reported in January that representatives from the provider were set to meet with ESFA officials to argue the case for more cash, claiming that Somerset was the only county in England not to get a major grant in the tender process.

However, it wasn’t the only provider to have faced massive cuts following the AEB tender process.

FE Week reported in September that a group of training providers was gearing up for collective action against the government’s process.

Community learning, which the ESFA’s ITT document defines as courses that are typically “unaccredited and can be undertaken for their own sake or as a step towards other learning / training”, is usually funded through the AEB.

It’s believed to be the first time the ESFA has run a procurement process specifically for this type of provision.

The contract on offer is to deliver community learning services in Somerset for an 11-month period from September, with the possibility of an extension.

The ITT is for a single provider to deliver community learning services within the geographical county of Somerset for an initial period from September 1 until July 31 next year with the possibility of extending for a further 12 months.

The “overall anticipated value” of the contract is £5,297,000, of which £2,597,000 is for the initial 11 month period.

It’s only on offer to a provider with a turnover of at least £2 million per year for the last three years “in order to ensure the provider is able to deliver the required volume of services”.

This is likely to limit the number of providers eligible to bid for the contract.

FE Week has asked the ESFA why it has launched the tender now, but has yet to receive a response.

Photo caption: From left: David Warburton, MP for Somerton and Frome, James Heappey, MP for Wells, Anne Milton, apprenticeships and skills minister, Rebecca Pow, MP for Taunton Deane, and Marcus Fysh, MP for Yeovil

London’s largest college group ends UCU strike

Industrial action at the largest college group in London has come to an end after Capital City College Group offered staff a “modest, non-consolidated payment” and more secure contracts.

University and College Union members at the group’s three campuses – City and Islington College, Westminster Kingsway College, and the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London – have walked out twice this year after a pay offer of just one per cent.

But Andy Wilson (pictured above), the group chief executive, said today that UCU members at each college have “voted to end the dispute” after they “reached an agreement”.

He explained that in addition to the one-per-cent pay increase recommended by the Association of Colleges, CCCG will be making a “modest, non-consolidated payment to all our staff”.

This will be £500 per full-time member of staff, paid on a pro-rata basis to fractional and part-time staff, a spokesperson confirmed.

It has also “committed to consolidate the contracts of hourly-paid staff who have taught half timetables for three years or more into fractional posts,” Mr Wilson said.

“This is something we have wanted to do for a number of years and it is great that the security the large college group now provides allows us to improve the conditions for this important group of staff.”

UCU head of FE, Andrew Harden, said that CCCG has also committed to further pay talks when Mr Wilson leaves and a new chief executive is in post come the next academic year.

He added that members have “made it clear” they will ballot for strike action again if the “promised negotiations over a new local pay bargaining framework does not result in a meaningful pay award for 2018/19”.

London was a hotbed of industrial unrest in March and May as staff at numerous colleges reacted with anger to the AoC’s “disappointing” pay increase recommendation. They claim that because they work and live in the capital, which has higher costs of living than the rest of the UK, they should get a better wage offer.

“CCCG recognises that salaries across the FE sector have not kept up with the costs that our staff have in order to work in London,” Mr Wilson said. “As in other colleges, our income has not increased while staff costs, including pensions, national insurance, the apprenticeship levy as well as salaries, increase every year.

“The corporation aspires to be the best FE employer in the capital and is committed to work with staff and the trade unions to explore a pay policy that will achieve this. In the meantime I am pleased our students will be able to complete their courses without further disruption.”

Mr Harden added: “UCU members took action after being told that there was no extra money available for pay and the issue of fractional contracts was not a priority for the college.

“Members have secured a deal on pay and a decent agreement on fractional contracts. These are a result of the action UCU members took.”

Nursing apprenticeships ‘too expensive’, warning for MPs

Nursing degree apprenticeships are too expensive and fraught with difficulties for widespread roll-out, senior figures from the NHS are expected to warn MPs.

The Education Committee is dedicating a special session at 10.15am this morning – which can be viewed here – to what more can be done to get more people signing up for nursing degree apprenticeships.

Panellists include Danny Mortimer, the chief executive of NHS Employers, and Janet Davies, who leads the Royal College of Nursing, who are expected to explain why take-up has been extremely slow.

 

The RCN was critical of apprenticeships in its written submission on the issue to the committee back in March.

“The apprenticeship route will take a minimum of four years to complete, whereas a traditional university programme is three years duration; it is thus both costly and less efficient to the healthcare system in growing local workforce,” it said.

“If employers are struggling to cover backfill costs for academic time and practice placements, the length of time to train a nurse via an apprenticeship route may well take longer that the minimum four years and the route is unlikely to become a serious workforce contributor.

“In the context of government plans of up to 1,000 apprentice nurses joining the NHS each year, this is concerning.”

NHS Employers, which represents employers in the health service, told the education committee through its written submission that the NHS needs longer than the standard two years to use up the £200 million apprenticeship levy payments it is shelling out annually.

“As one of the largest contributors to the levy, and a sector already under considerable financial strain, NHS organisations need to be given the best possible opportunity to use the levy to fill skills gaps in the workforce,” the submission stated.

“Therefore, we strongly recommend that the deadline for the use of the levy should be extended from 24 months to 36 months during the establishment period.”

It wants any unspent funds to expire 24 months after they enter a digital account.

“Delaying removal of levy funds from the digital account for a further 12 months, in addition to the already agreed 24 months, would have a significant impact on the NHS’ ability to increase its apprenticeship offer using newly developed healthcare apprenticeship standards,” it added.

The government hopes that degree apprenticeships will solve nursing shortages across the country.

More trainees will be encouraged into nursing, and will be paid as they learn rather than having to pay towards the traditional degree route.

FE Week reported earlier this year that the majority of NHS trusts in England plan to spend their apprenticeship levy cash within the allotted timeframe – even though most were frustrated by the policy’s “inflexibility”.

However, one significant sticking point appears to be the 2.3-per-cent apprenticeship target for the public sector by 2020, which most trusts do not feel confident in meeting.

The findings came from a survey of 175 trusts, conducted by BPP University, which found that 95 per cent plan to use their levy money rather than lose it, and half (52 per cent) will spend the cash in the first year.

Large employers across the public and private sectors have been forced to pay the levy since April last year. Their payments go into a pot which they then spend on apprenticeship training.

Today’s session will focus on the reasons behind the low take-up since the scheme was announced in 2016. It will also look at how to ensure people unable to study full-time undergraduate degrees can become nurse apprentices.

Other panellists set to face questions from chair Robert Halfon and his committee of MPs are Dr Katerina Kolyva, the executive director of the Council of Deans of Health, and Theresa Britt, a product development project manager for apprenticeships at the Open University.

A second session will be held with skills minister Anne Milton before the summer recess.

Get ‘faster and better’ at approving apprenticeship standards, skills minister tells IfA

The skills minister has told the Institute for Apprenticeships to get “faster and better” at approving apprenticeship standards.

Anne Milton’s request appeared in a document called “strategic guidance to the Institute for Apprenticeships”, published today.

FE Week revealed two weeks ago that the institute approved just four standards throughout April and 10 in March, down from 21 in February.

It appeared to pick up the pace this month by approving 19.

Acknowledging the issue, Ms Milton said she wants the institute to make accelerating standard approvals a top priority.

“I would like to see further improvements following the implementation of your faster and better programme, particularly in reducing the time it takes to approve apprenticeship standards,” she said.

Apprenticeship standards, which are developed by groups of employers, are gradually replacing the old frameworks. Each contains a list of the skills, knowledge and behaviours an apprentice will need to have learned by the end of their apprenticeship.

The institute’s chief executive Sir Gerry Berragan only launched the “faster and better” initiative in December to “streamline the approvals process”, after receiving complaints from employers and providers that the process was far too slow and bureaucratic.

A spokesperson had claimed the figures for March and April were not surprising, as the IfA expected recent reforms to slow things down temporarily ahead of an anticipated upturn.

Ms Milton’s other priorities for the IfA include continuing to “improve the quality of apprenticeships, through upholding robust approvals criteria, assuring the quality of end-point assessments, and reviewing standards and assessment plans”.

Reviews should make use of occupational maps and “demonstrate how standards maintain their relevance to employers, are occupationally specific, and reflect the changing needs of skills, knowledge and behaviours in an occupation over time”.

She also wants the institute to provide a “positive and timely response” to employers and apprentices, “mindful of their needs, and responsive employer and apprentice experience”.

The institute is due to take over the running of T-levels later this, although an actual date has not been agreed yet.

“You will therefore need to work in partnership with the department and other agencies to agree and clearly define the roles and responsibilities of everyone involved, throughout the implementation phase and once T-levels are fully operational,” Ms Milton said.

“You will work closely with the department on the recruitment of the T-level panels for those routes to be delivered from 2022, with a view to T-level panels for 2022 outline content (and their relationship managers) ultimately operating out of the Institute.

“We have agreed that your 15 route panels, established as expert employer groups, will oversee both apprenticeships and T-levels. These panels will approve all outline content produced by T-level panels, due for delivery from 2020 onwards.”

Hull College receives £54m bailout amid job strikes

An impoverished college caught in a row over job cuts has received a £54 million bailout.

The eye-watering sum reportedly awarded to Hull College from the restructuring facility is believed to be the highest ever given to an English college.

A college representative let slip the sum during the University and College Union’s congress in Manchester today, and was later backed up by Julie Kelley, a union official.

A spokesperson for the college would not confirm the sum as “the terms of the grant agreement state that details are confidential and we are prohibited from discussing the funding awarded”.

A Department for Education spokesperson added: “We have provided Hull College with funding to help it move to a more secure financial position and ensure it can continue to provide further education and training to its local community.

“All applications for restructuring funding are robustly assessed.”

Ms Kelley told FE Week that the college got approval for the cash in early March, and one of its conditions would be to reduce its staffing costs to 65 per cent of turnover.

Hull’s UCU members are currently fighting plans to slash more than 200 full-time equivalent posts at the college.

Staff walked out for two days earlier this month, and a further seven days of strike action in June were announced by the UCU today.

The college has been subject to FE commissioner intervention since December 2016, after it was issued with a financial notice of concern from the Educational and Skills Funding Agency.

The restructuring facility is now regularly being used to bail out struggling colleges. 

Administered by the transaction unit, it is designed to help colleges to implement area review changes, but it is increasingly deployed as a fund for emergency bailouts.

Lambeth College “expected” a £25 million bailout earlier this year, according to its 2016/17 accounts – even though at the time its proposed merger with London South Bank University had hit the buffers.

And Telford College of Arts and Technology was awarded £21 million from the fund to support its merger with New College Telford, which went through at the end of last year.

According to the most recent information published by the ESFA, more than £300 million was apportioned from the facility by the end of March.

 

IfA opens applications for its 15 occupational route panels

The Institute for Apprenticeships has begun the recruitment process for membership to its 15 occupational route panels.

The groups are being created to lead the review and approval of new apprenticeship standards and technical qualifications.

They will be in addition to the panels set up by the Department for Education for T-levels, but once the institute takes responsibility for the new technical qualifications later this year they will have to merge the groups.

“We are looking both to strengthen existing route panels and also to identify individuals to manage changes in the existing membership,” the IfA said .

“You don’t need to be an expert in apprenticeships or technical education – but you do need demonstrable expertise (rather than generalist knowledge), leadership experience and credibility in one or more sectors of an occupational route.”

It wants people who can bring “real insight into the realities of working in their industry, who can demonstrate sound judgement when dealing with complex situations, who are themselves open to challenge and who potentially have experience of operating within a panel structure to arrive at balanced and timely decisions”.

“It goes without saying, those who serve on our panels are also passionate about ensuring the standards and qualifications they approve are of the highest quality,” the IfA added.

“As a route panel member, you’ll not only be helping to drive economic growth and social mobility nationally, you’ll also be making an important investment in building the capability of your own sector, ensuring that employers like you have the workforce they need for future success.”

The roles are two-year fixed-term appointments which “may be extended by mutual agreement”.

Members will need to be able to commit “up to two days per six-week cycle, including attendance at panel meetings”.

The closing date for application is midnight on Sunday June 17. Interested parties can apply here.

Ofsted watch: An ‘outstanding’ week for FE and skills

It’s been an ‘outstanding’ week for the FE and skills sector, as a specialist college has received the highest possible rating across the board.

And an independent training provider has gone straight in with a grade two on its first ever inspection.

Hartpury College was rated grade one overall and in all areas inspected in a report published June 1 and based on an inspection in early May.

Leaders at the land-based and sports college were praised for creating a “highly supportive, respectful and collaborative culture” which enabled learners to “thrive, raise their ambitions and gain vastly in confidence”.

“Excellent relationships” between the college and “a wide range of equine, agricultural, animal management and sports industries ensure that learners develop specialist skills rapidly”, inspectors found.

All learners “participate in excellent and highly relevant external work placements”, and “receive high-quality teaching, learning and assessment”, the report said.

A “very high proportion” of learners “achieve their qualification, including good grades in GCSE English and mathematics”, while the “large majority” went on to “university or employment related to their courses”.

Russell Marchant, Hartpury’s principal, said the Ofsted verdict was a “tremendous achievement and recognition of our focus on students and all of the hard work staff and students have put in since the last inspection three years ago”.

Meanwhile, Professional Training Solutions Limited received a grade two overall and in all areas inspected in a report published May 30 and based on an inspection in late April.

Leaders at the provider, which delivers apprenticeships and adult learning programmes, were praised for having “rapidly established” it as a “good-quality independent learning provider, building on their experience of being a subcontractor”.

Trainers and assessors were found to have “detailed knowledge of their subjects” and to “plan a wide range of interesting teaching and learning activities”, which helped to “motivate learners and apprentices” and to enable them to “make good progress”.

The provider’s “excellent relationships” with employers and partners ensured that “learning programmes closely meet the needs of employers, apprentices and adult learners”.

However, trainers “do not always ensure that all adult learners in group training sessions make the progress they should”, the report noted.

Five providers have had monitoring visit reports published this week.

As previously reported by FE Week, two of these, for Learndirect Apprenticeships Ltd and Mears Learning Ltd, were the result of an early monitoring visits to new apprenticeships providers.

Learndirect Apprenticeships was found to be making ‘reasonable progress’ in all three themes under review, while Mears Learning was found to be making ‘insufficient progress’ in one area and ‘reasonable progress’ in the remaining two.

The remaining three monitoring visit reports were the result of follow-up visits to providers that had previously been rated inadequate.

Easton and Otley College was found to be making ‘significant progress’ in two areas and ‘reasonable progress’ in four areas, in the third monitoring visit report published since it was given a grade four in July 2017.

Redcar and Cleveland College was found to be making ‘significant progress’ in four areas and ‘reasonable progress’ in two areas, in its second monitoring visit report published since it was given a grade four in November.

Sunderland City Metropolitan Borough Council had its first monitoring visit report published since it was rated inadequate in January, setting out the areas identified for improvement.

And Rutland County Council held onto its grade two rating in a short inspection report, published this week.

GFE Colleges Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Redcar and Cleveland College 19/04/2018 01/06/2018 M M
Hartpury College 01/05/2018 01/06/2018 1 2
Easton and Otley College 03/05/2018 30/05/2018 M M

 

Independent Learning Providers Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Learndirect Apprenticeships Ltd 25/04/2018 31/05/2018 M M
Mears Learning Limited 11/04/2018 30/05/2018 M M
Professional Training Solutions Ltd 24/04/2018 30/05/2018 2 –

 

Adult and Community Learning Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Sunderland City Metropolitan Borough Council 23/04/2018 31/05/2018 M M

 

Short inspections (remains grade 2) Inspected Published
Rutland County Council 23/04/2018 25/05/2018