A huge training provider that has been educating disadvantaged adults for over 100 years could “disappear” if it loses £7 million as a result of devolution, the House of Lords has heard.

The Workers’ Educational Association expects to lose a third of its income when the adult education budget is devolved starting next year – which will have catastrophic repercussions for an organisation founded in 1903.

Lord Bird (pictured above), the founder of The Big Issue, warned that the WEA faces a huge reduction in student numbers as a result and could effectively “disappear”, during a debate in the upper house on lifelong learning last night.

“Because of localism, which we know is decentralising and bringing the process down to as local as possible around decision making, the WEA will be stripped of about £7 million – about a third of its income,” said the peer, who is a patron.

The net effect of these pressures will be to make cuts to student numbers inevitable

“It will disappear if localism is followed through. They don’t own any buildings or have a shed load of money stacked up somewhere and can’t save for a rainy day because everything is done very simply.”

Seven combined authorities have so far signed devolution deals alongside London to take control of AEB spending in their regions from 2019/20.

WEA, which is rated ‘good’ by Ofsted and has a £19.1 million AEB contract, has a presence in 2,000 locations across England and teaches around 50,000 disadvantaged learners every year.

A spokesperson confirmed to FE Week today that the £7 million figure quoted by Lord Bird is WEA’s estimate for how much it will lose as a result of devolution.

She admitted that while the WEA is not expecting to have to close, it is bracing itself for a substantial reduction in learner numbers “at the time when we are needed most”.

Ruth Spellman, the organisation’s chief executive, explained that the WEA will be affected by devolution of the AEB in three “major” ways.

First, it stands to lose “around a third” of the value of its national contract in 2019/20.

Second, it faces extra costs of contracting, managing, administering, and reporting to all of the mayoral combined authorities, plus managing both its current contract with DfE and contracts which will need to be developed in non-devolution areas.

The third major impact will be to add “risk and uncertainty” to the WEA’s income so that it will be forced to hold additional reserves.

“The net effect of these pressures will be to make cuts to student numbers inevitable at precisely the time when we need to increase our capacity,” said Ms Spellman.

Lord Bird, who spent several spells in prison during his teens and twenties, told the Lords that he himself has been a recipient of lifelong learning, which the WEA was vital to.

“When I was banged up on many occasions there were many people from the WEA who gave us all the classes we wanted around art, brickwork and crafts and sorts of things,” he explained.

He added that if the country wants to stop “shrinking numbers” of adult education, then the government needs to find a way of helping organisations like this.

Viscount Younger of Leckie, who represented the government at last night’s debate, claimed that devolution presents an “opportunity” for providers to develop their provision to meet local needs.

He added it is “important” that organisations like the WEA “begin to make contact with mayoral combined authorities and the greater London authority to start a working relationship and demonstrate the ways they can contribute to meeting skills needs locally”.

“We are already well into talks in each of the MCA and GLA areas – and indeed already deliver provision in all of them,” said Ms Spellman in response. “However, our ability to meet the needs of MCAs – and partners in other non-devolved areas – depends on our sustainability as a national organisation with local delivery.”

The Institute for Apprenticeships is the “biggest threat” to quality in apprenticeships, the boss of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers has warned – in the latest war of words between the two organisations.

Mark Dawe’s (pictured above) comment came this morning during an education select committee hearing, in which he claimed the institute is refusing to listen either to Ofsted and Ofqual.

He described the way the IfA is currently running apprenticeships as a “car crash” and insisted that urgent change is needed.

His attack comes 11 days after the IfA’s boss Sir Gerry Berragan accused the AELP of being “inflammatory” for repeatedly raising concerns over apprenticeships which don’t have end-point assessment organisations in place.

The biggest threat to quality is the IfA at the moment

“The biggest threat to quality is the IfA at the moment,” Mr Dawe said this morning. “They are refusing to listen to Ofsted who say the 20-per-cent off-the-job rule is not a quality measure, [their view] is being ignored.

“They are refusing to use the expertise of Ofqual in terms of reviewing end-point assessment. They are not using Ofqual for external quality-assurance.”

He claimed the AELP is starting to hear what some of its EPA members are calling “horror stories” around the EQA processes they are being asked to do.

“Basically EQA is meant to review the quality of EPAs but it sounds like they [the IfA] are trying to redo the EPA themselves again given the volume of work they are putting in and this has been multiplied 40 times over in the EQA,” he explained.

“We now have reports of employers saying ‘what on earth is going on? We have one EQA organisation demanding one thing and another demanding another’.

“It is a mess to be honest, and the word ‘car crash’ is relevant.”

He told the committee that about five months ago his association presented a review of the 120 apprenticeship standards available, but that since then “there’s been silence from the IfA”.

He added that replacing frameworks has been “too slow” and there are employers who want to start delivering apprenticeships but are being prevented because of this.

“The faster better approach is very welcomed but we’re not seeing it,” Mr Dawe said.

At FE Week’s Annual Apprenticeships Conference last month, IfA boss Sir Gerry said that 99.1 per cent of apprentices due to undertake EPA in the next 12 months were on standards with at least one organisation in place to deliver the final exams – meaning 0.9 per cent of apprentices were not.

At an event in London to mark the first anniversary of the apprenticeship levy on April 6, Paul Warner, AELP’s director of research and development, asked why apprentices had been allowed to start on standards with no EPA organisations in place.

In response, Sir Gerry was reported to have said that neither the apprentices nor their employers considered it a problem, and that AELP was “being inflammatory in consistently raising the issue”.

Speaking to FE Week after the event, Mr Warner said that – far from being inflammatory – the issue was “a point of considerable importance, not least to the apprentices concerned”.

Mr Dawe added: “The government and the agencies keep swerving the question on the true picture of EPA and external quality assurance arrangements being actually able to deliver and the great majority of EPA organisations are working blind. Never in a million years would the current position be accepted for A-levels and GCSEs.”

The IfA has been approached for comment.

The biggest sporting event in the college calendar promises to be extra special this year, as the AoC Sport National Championships celebrates its 40th anniversary with nearly 2,000 student athletes.

As they did for the 2017 finals, the sporting stars will head to Nottingham this weekend to compete in the major event after qualifying through regional tournaments during the academic year.

Competitions in 13 different sports will begin on April 20, starting with the golf tournament which tees off at around 10am, and finish two days later.

On the evening of the first day an opening ceremony will be held, hosted this year by Paralympic gold-medallist sprinter and former world record holder, Danny Crates.

Mr Crates was a promising rugby player but lost his right arm at the age of 21 in a car accident. He is now a world renowned motivational speaker and TV presenter and will now doubt offer a few words of inspiration to this year’s college competitors.

Over the Saturday and Sunday the students from 121 FE and sixth-form colleges across England and Wales will compete in squash, football, hockey, badminton, cricket, rugby, tennis, volleyball, basketball, cross country, netball and table tennis.

Northern Ireland will also compete in the finals for only the second time in the event’s history. The country is sending over a football and a rugby team from Belfast Met Sports Academy.

Students will compete for gold, silver and bronze medals in their individual sports, while also battling for points for their region.

The region whose teams and individuals accumulate the most points will win the coveted Wilkinson Sword trophy.

Last year’s competition saw the South-East claim the trophy, followed by the South-West in second place and the West Midlands third.

The winners of this year’s event will be awarded at the closing ceremony on Sunday afternoon.

Looking ahead to the competition, Alex Fray, a squash player from Nottingham College who captains the East Midlands said he felt “very privileged” to lead his region.

“Let’s hope it’s a great weekend for all the Nottingham College students involved, and for the East Midlands squad,” he added.

Nottingham College teacher William Thompson said the National Championships are “always my favourite event of the year and I’m hoping this year’s championships are even better than last”.

“To anyone who is attending for the first time, you will soon see why previous students talk about their experience years later,” he added.

A greater level of excitement is expected this year as the National Championships reaches a special milestone in its history – its 40th anniversary.

The competition will be run in collaboration with Nottingham Conferences – the event delivery arm of the University of Nottingham – as well as Nottingham city council.

The University of Nottingham’s £40 million David Ross Sports Village will host a number of sports throughout the weekend, while others will take place at the Nottingham Wildcats Arena, Trent Bridge, Nottingham Hockey Centre and Nottingham Tennis Centre.

“We are delighted to be returning to the University of Nottingham for a milestone year of the National Championships,” said AoC Sport managing director, Marcus Kingwell.

“We believe the standard of the facilities at the David Ross Sports Village will provide students with an incredible experience. We could even see a future Commonwealth Games or Olympic champion in action at the Championships.”

AoC Sport is a membership organisation launched in August 2014 which campaigns for every college student to participate regularly in sport or physical activity.

Main image: Girls basketball in action at AoC Sport 2017

The country’s biggest skills and careers event is getting a revamp and changing its name.

Formerly known as The Skills Show, the event, which attracted 70,000 visitors last year, will from today be known as WorldSkills UK LIVE.

The change has been made to align it more closely with the brand of the company that runs the event, WorldSkills UK – which oversees the selection process for the British WorldSkills team.

“LIVE will build on achievements to date, creating more vibrant and dynamic activity, enabling thousands more young people to speak with employers, colleges independent training providers and apprentices about their career options and choices,” said Dr Neil Bentley, chief executive of the organisation.

“By aligning more closely with the WorldSkills UK brand, it reinforces the important role of the national finals, which will continue to be centre stage at the event and how this leads to the UK competing on the global stage.”

Launched in 2012, following the UK’s hosting of the international WorldSkills competition, The Skills Show has grown into the nation’s largest skills, apprenticeships and careers event.

Visitors last year got the chance to engage with employers such as BAE Systems, Dyson and the army. 

While there, attendees can take part in around 100 hands-on activities, including furniture design, electrical installation, car bodywork, nail art, and media make-up among others. 

They also get to spectate the national finals of the WorldSkills UK competitions, as well as a range of inclusive skills competitions for students with physical and learning difficulties.

In the national finals, over 500 apprentices and learners compete against each other in around 50 different skill areas as diverse as aircraft maintenance, 3D game-design, cabinet making, plumbing, beauty therapy and cyber security.

Winners from the finals, under the guidance of WorldSkills UK, can go on to compete internationally against others from all around the world in EuroSkills and WorldSkills.

The most recent WorldSkills competition was held in Abu Dhabi last year, where Team UK retained its top-10 position. Competitors bagged one gold, three silvers, three bronzes and 13 medallions of excellence.

The next international finals are EuroSkills Budapest, taking place in September, followed by WorldSkills Kazan in August 2019.

This year’s WorldSkills UK LIVE will take place from November 15 to 17 at the NEC Birmingham. 

Visit www.worldskillsuk.org to find out more.

The Construction Industry Training Board will shed around 800 jobs over the next three years, in a radical overhaul of how it operates that will see it pull out of direct training.

In its 2018-21 business plan, the CITB estimates that its current number of 1,370 employees will fall to around 560.

It announced last November that it would be selling off its National Construction College.

A spokesperson confirmed that around 200 of the jobs set to go are due to this, though the board hopes most employees affected will keep their jobs with whoever buys the college.

The rest will come from outsourcing back-office functions including HR, legal, finance and customer operations.

Instead of operating as a direct provider, CITB now plans to become an enabler of training, through the launch a new construction training directory of approved providers.

It has also made it easier for employers to reclaim money they pay into it through its own levy, in the form of grants that will be paid for training to providers on the directory.

An online database, called the ‘Construction training register’, will allow employers to search records of employees to “check skills and manage their training needs”.

However, the CITB does not expect its training directory and register to “operate at their full potential, nor hold all courses and records, until early 2019”.

Today’s Vision 2020 report says that investment will include £613 million on “training and development to deliver skills outcomes”.

CITB Apprenticeships, which manages apprenticeships at the national construction colleges and a network of other providers, was rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted as recently as October last year. But the aim is now to sell off all seven college sites by 2020.

Questions had previously been raised about the future of CITB’s levy, which it has traditionally charged construction employers to support training in the industry.

The CBI warned in 2015 that these employers shouldn’t be hit with a “double whammy” due to the launch of the government’s separate apprenticeship levy.

But the business plan has now confirmed that the levy will continue, and estimates it will generate £598 million for the CITB by 2021.

Net income from other income over the same period will be £91 million.

The ongoing importance of “persuading others to resolve issues for the benefit of industry will see us increase campaign and influencing activity” is also recognised.

The CITB plans to run two campaigns as part of bolstered marketing efforts.

These will involve a “behavioural careers campaign” to improve the industry’s image and increase new entrants into construction, and a “training campaign” to encourage individuals and employers to invest in lifelong learning.

The board will also move its head office from Bircham Newton in Norfolk, to Peterborough

The plan had to take on board the findings of a government report, published late last year, which demanded “wide-ranging reform”.

“This business plan sets out our ambitions for the next three years,” said chief executive Sarah Beale.

“It shows how CITB’s work across England, Scotland and Wales will modernise and repurpose. By 2020 we will be the ‘levy in, skills out’ body construction employers asked for, doing less better, while being fully transparent and accountable.

“I am confident that this business plan will make a radical difference to the CITB, enabling us to meet the skills needs of construction.”