Widespread failure has been exposed across Whitehall with hitting the government’s own target for apprentices employed by public bodies.

Shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden (pictured above) and other MPs lodged a parliamentary question asking how many and what proportion of staff employed by various departments were apprentices. The intention was to find out how they are progressing towards the 2.3 per target set for public bodies last year.

In a response on behalf of the Department for Education, skills minister Anne Milton said it had 107 apprenticeship starts and a workforce of 5,960 at the end of January – which equated to 1.8 per cent.

The Ministry of Justice said it had 224 apprentices, but that made up just 0.3 per cent of its 67,000 workforce.

“Plans are in place to deliver the target of 2.3 per cent of workforce undertaking an apprenticeship programme by the end of 19/20,” said Dr Philip Lee, departmental under-secretary.

For the Home Office, it was 135 apprentices meaning 0.46 per cent.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport had just six apprentices – which it said equated to 0.7 per cent of employees.

“The department is reviewing its apprenticeship strategy in line with civil service ambition of 2.3 per cent apprenticeship starts and aims to meet this commitment by the 2018/19 financial year,” Margot James, digital minister, said on behalf of the department.

There are currently 18 apprentices working at HM Treasury, which represents 1.3 per cent of the total paid staff.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office had 73 apprentices amounting to 1.35 per cent of workforce. 

And the Department For Environment, Food and Rural Affairs answered for “Core Defra only, saying: “The number of apprentices employed in the department was 32 or 1 per cent of the total payroll workforce”.

The Department for Transport employs 230 apprentices at 1.58 percent of the workforce, while the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy provided the percentage figure of 1.6 per cent.

There were 27 apprentices in the Department of Health and Social Care at 1.78 per cent of the workforce. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government had 37 equating to 2.2 per cent.

The Ministry of Defence, said there were 836 civilian personnel in that department on an apprenticeship, making up just 1.8 per cent of the workforce.

But he added: “There are around 20,000 armed forces personnel undertaking apprenticeships at any one time, around 14 per cent of the armed forces.”

The Department for International Trade was also said to employ 39 apprentices, “which equates to 2.2 per cent of current UK employees”.

More impressive was Kit Malthouse, parliamentary under-secretary for the Department for Work and Pensions, who said that 2,563 of the department’s 83,147 staff were “currently undertaking an apprenticeship”.

“This equates to 3.1 per cent of DWP employees as of 31 January 2018”, he explained.

The Crown Prosecution Service was meanwhile said to currently employ “183 apprentices, which equates to 3.3 per cent of the workforce”.

But the connected Government Legal Department “had 19 apprentices representing 0.84 per cent of the workforce. Whilst the SFO currently does not have any apprentices,” it was added.

Mr Marsden was critical of the DfE, because they oversaw the introduction of the target.

“If you effectively set a target for other people to fulfil, you’d better make pretty sure you fulfil it yourself. That is a huge embarrassment to the department and also to the minister,” Mr Marsden said.

“If they can’t meet these sorts of targets, how are we supposed to believe they’re going to meet the 3 million target?” he added.

The public sector apprenticeship target, which came into force in April 2017, requires public bodies with 250 or more employees to have a minimum of 2.3 per cent apprenticeship starts relative to its overall workforce numbers.

It covers the period April 1 to March 31 each year, with reporting due each September.

It’s an average target across the years 2017/18 to 2020/21 to “give flexibility to organisations to manage peaks and troughs in recruitment”, according to the government’s response to the consultation on the target, published January 2017.

The DfE has been approached for comment.

National Apprenticeship Week has proved to be a time of contrasting grades for this type of provision – with one college receiving the highest possible rating, and two providers receiving the lowest.

Calderdale College was rated ‘outstanding’ for apprenticeships, but held onto its grade two overall, in a report published March 9 and based on an inspection in late January.

Managers were found to “relentlessly pursue excellence” in the college’s apprenticeship provision, with the result that “current apprentices are making substantial and sustained progress from their starting points”.

Governors and senior leaders were praised for creating a “culture of high expectations” and for having a “good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the college”.

A “high” proportion of learners on 16 to 19 study programmes were now completing their courses – although “too few” learners in this group were gaining high grades in GCSE maths, the report said.

Meanwhile, independent learning provider MI ComputSolutions Incorporated and Barnfield College could lose their right to deliver apprenticeships, after their provision was rated ‘inadequate’ this week – in reports that graded both ‘requires improvement’ overall.

The grades mean both should be taken off the government’s register of apprenticeship training providers, according to recently-clarified rules from the Education and Skills Funding Agency. Barnfield confirmed today that it has suspended its recruitment of new apprentices.

Leader and managers at MIComputSolutions were criticised for failing to take “sufficient action to remedy the weaknesses in apprenticeship provision identified at previous inspections”, in a report published March 9 and based on an inspection in late January.

In addition to its ‘inadequate’ apprenticeship grade, the London-based provider received a grade three overall and in two headline fields but was rated ‘good’ in a further three areas.

“The quality of teaching on adult programmes, which make up the large majority of courses, is good,” the report noted – while adult learners were “highly motivated and grow in confidence and self-esteem”.

As previously reported by FE Week, Barnfield College was given the lowest possible rating for its apprenticeship provision but grade three overall, in a report published March 7 and based on an inspection from mid-January.

“The provision for apprenticeships is ‘inadequate’ and has declined in quality for the last three years,” the report said.

Elsewhere, it was good news for Heart of Worcestershire College, St Francis Xavier Sixth Form College and adult and community learning provider CXK Limited who all boosted their ratings from three to two.

Senior leaders and governors at Heart of Worcestershire College were found to have “successfully tackled the most significant areas for improvement”, in a report published March 7 and based on an inspection in late January.

The proportion of learners achieving their qualifications “has improved”, and the “majority” of apprentices now completed their courses on time, the report said.

The “vast majority” of teachers at St Francis Xavier Sixth Form College “teach lively and challenging lessons”, according to a report published March 6 and based on an inspection in late January.

“Teachers give students very clear and detailed feedback on their work to enable them to understand what they need to do to improve,” the report said.

But it also noted that “too few” students achieved their expected grades “given their prior attainment”.

Learners at adult and community learning provider CXK Limited “gain enthusiasm for learning” despite many of them having had “negative previous experiences of education”, according to a report published March 9 and based on an inspection in early February.

“Staff support learners well to improve their confidence and motivation”, with the result that most achieve their qualifications.

Bracknell and Wokingham College held onto its grade two overall rating in a report published March 5 and based on an inspection in late January.

“Leaders and managers have created a secure and welcoming learning environment in which students and apprentices feel safe and enjoy their learning,” the report said.

The proportion of apprentices achieving their qualifications had “increased”, inspectors noted.

But they also warned that the “college’s financial position is weak”.

Employer provider The Headmasters Partnership Limited dropped from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’, in a report published March 7 and based on an inspection in late January.

The proportion of hairdressing apprentices achieving their qualifications on time “dropped in 2016/17 and is too low”, the report said.

And apprentices’ “attendance and punctuality” was deemed “not good enough” and not reflective of the “behaviours expected for employment”.

As previously reported by FE Week, Sheffield College held onto its ‘requires improvement’ rating this week, in a reported published March 7 and based on a late-January inspection.

Five providers kept their grade two ratings this week following short inspections – Sparsholt College, independent learning providers GB Training (UK) Ltd and Remit Group Limited, adult and community learning provider Leicestershire County Council, and Loughborough University’s School of Arts, English and Drama.

GFE Colleges	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Calderdale College	30/01/2018	09/03/2018	2	2
Heart of Worcestershire College	30/01/2018	07/03/2018	2	3
Sheffield College	22/01/2018	07/03/2018	3	3
Barnfield College	16/01/2018	07/03/2018	3	3
Bracknell and Wokingham College	23/01/2018	05/03/2018	2	2

 

Sixth Form Colleges (inc 16-19 academies)	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
St Francis Xavier Sixth Form College	23/01/2018	06/03/2018	2	3

 

Independent Learning Providers	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
MI ComputSolutions Incorporated	30/01/2018	09/03/2018	3	2

 

Adult and Community Learning	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
CXK Limited	06/02/2018	09/03/2018	2	3

 

Employer providers	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
The Headmasters Partnership Limited	23/01/2018	07/03/2018	3	2

 

Short inspections (remains grade 2)	Inspected	Published
Sparsholt College	01/02/2018	07/03/2018
G B Training (UK) Ltd	14/02/2018	06/03/2018
Remit Group Limited	29/01/2018	05/03/2018
Leicestershire County Council	05/02/2018	09/03/2018
Loughborough University	06/02/2018	09/03/2018

Nine training providers nearly missed out on almost £8 million of non-levy funding because officials mismarked their bids in the recent tender.

FE Week understands that the money was almost held back because the ESFA had drafted in inexperienced assessors to mark the complex submissions.

A Freedom of Information request showed that of all the providers who applied in the tender, 153 missed out on funding because their bids failed to reach the minimum required score.

The appeals process found that nine of them actually reached the threshold and had their complaints upheld, establishing contracts to the value of £7,949,634.

FE Week has seen one letter which suggests that the people who originally marked the scores for the hundreds of technical bids were not full-time ESFA staff, and were actually new assessors, contracted solely for the task.

The letter stated that the complaint reviews had been conducted by full staff members with “the appropriate technical expertise in the provision of apprenticeship training” but who had not previously evaluated the bid.

The Department for Education said that all non-levy applications were “independently assessed” against a “clear and published set of criteria”.

A spokesperson claimed that all assessors received “extensive training” and pointed out that “only nine out of 1,046 tenders” were revised.

FE Week understands that two colleges, Basingstoke College of Technology and West Kent and Ashford College, had successful appeals.

Paul Hannan, the chief executive of the Hadlow Group, of which West Kent and Ashford College is part, said it was a “massive achievement” to win its appeal.

Focus Training, which has delivered apprenticeships in the south-west for 20 years, also had its appeal upheld after it had originally been told it had missed the minimum score.

Jamie Rail, the private provider’s managing director, told FE Week it had been “one hell of a month” following the initial outcome of the tender in December, but he was elated with the final decision.

While there are more disgruntled providers denied contracts in the tender which continue to fight appeals, the AELP has hinted that there may yet be some good news on the horizon.

“We are working very closely with ESFA to get a package of measures agreed that we hope should help ease the position for our members through to April 19,” the association’s chief, Mark Dawe, wrote in a newsletter to members last month.

“Usual line of ‘imminent’ I’m afraid, but we are aware how important this is to many of you.”

Meanwhile, a handful of Conservative MPs have weighed in. Jeremy Lefroy, the MP for Stafford, raised the issue in parliament last month after Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group, which is in his constituency, was denied a non-levy contract.

Karen Dobson, the principal of the college, told FE Week this week that she is in dialogue with the ESFA to “resolve the situation”.

“As an established apprenticeship provider with a long-standing track record for success, serving over 850 local, regional and national employers, we remain hopeful that a satisfactory outcome will be reached in due course,” she said.

Exeter College, which FE Week rates as the best college in the country, is working with Labour’s Ben Bradshaw, a former culture, media and sport secretary who described the situation as “inexplicable”.

A college spokesperson confirmed this week that it had not had a satisfactory outcome from its appeal.

“We can confirm that at this stage we have not been allocated a non-levy contract under this process,” he said, adding that the college is still working with the ESFA and other partners to resolve this “technical funding issue”.

Barnfield College has suspended its recruitment of new apprentices, after it received an ‘inadequate’ rating for this provision from Ofsted this week.

The college’s inspection report was published on March 7 and rated it ‘requires improvement’ overall, but the lowest possible mark was given for apprenticeships.

Providers who get a grade four in this provision suffer significant consequences: they are supposed to be taken off of the government’s register of apprenticeship training providers, so they won’t be able to offer the training, according to Education and Skills Funding Agency guidance updated in January.

The college has today told FE Week, that while pending a “formal decision” from the ESFA, it has taken action to suspend its recruitment of new apprentices.

It has already removed the apprenticeships section from its website, but still had live adverts on the government’s Find Apprenticeship Training web page at the time of publication.

In light of the report we are reviewing our options

“The college had already identified the issues that have been highlighted by Ofsted, and has taken clear and decisive actions, which have resulted in immediate improvement of apprentice outcomes,” a spokesperson said.

“However, in light of the report, and continuing frustrations by employers to the apprenticeship system, we are reviewing our options.

“Pending a formal decision, we have suspended the recruitment of new apprentices”, and “removed promotion of this provision from our website”.

She added that the college’s “highly successful” work-based Learning and day release provision is “continuing to expand as this is better meeting the needs of local employers and communities”.

The spokesperson would not say at this stage whether the loss of its apprenticeships provision would result in any job losses, or what effect it would have on wider college business.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Barnfield College has been rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted for its apprenticeship provision so can no longer take on any new apprentices.

“We are working with the college to make sure their current apprentices can complete their training with another provider or finish their course at Barnfield if they choose.”

Barnfield College’s inspection report stated that provision for apprenticeships has “declined in quality” for the last three years.

A total of 260 apprentices were said to follow framework programmes in eight subject areas, of which just over half study at intermediate level. Just over a third of them are aged 16 to 18.

“Assessors do not carry out assessment of apprentices prior learning to determine their starting points accurately, and ensure that they make good progress. Too many apprentices are unclear about the progress that they are making or are capable of,” inspectors warned.

Apprentices’ attendance at off-the-job learning sessions is “erratic and low”, and they do not all spend the mandated 20 per cent of their time learning away from work.

It is thought Barnfield is to become the first college ever to be removed from RoATP.

The college has already identified the issues that have been highlighted by Ofsted

The other college on the register to have an ‘inadequate’ rating for apprenticeships is St Helens College, following an inspection report published last June.

However, it has received special dispensation to remain on the register.

In the same week in January that new rules were published outlining when and how providers would be removed from the register, the DfE admitted that it was treated differently due to its merger with Knowsley Community College that completed in December.

Merged colleges are considered ungraded by Ofsted, and are eligible to apply to the register under exceptional circumstances.

Under the new government rules published on January 30, an ‘inadequate’ provider should be given five days’ notice of their removal from the register. They must not take on any new apprentices, but any existing apprentices would be able to stay on only at the employers’ discretion.

Barnfield’s inspection report rated it ‘requires improvement’ in all other headline fields, except for adult learning programmes and provision for people with high needs, where it was ‘good’.

It has two campuses in north Luton. It taught around 3,700 learners last contract year.

NOCN Group is taking over awarding organisation One Awards, which specialises in access to higher education, FE Week can reveal.

NOCN, based in Sheffield, confirmed the takeover would go through from August 1.

It said that One Awards, which is based in County Durham, is a natural fit, as the two organisations have “successfully worked together” for over 20 years.

This follows from last year’s acquisition of Cskills Awards, which made NOCN Group a “competitive provider” of construction qualifications.

The latest takeover will “widen NOCN’s offer to the FE market to include access to higher education, regulated qualifications, functional skills and apprentice end point assessments”, said Graham Hasting-Evans, the group’s managing director (pictured above).

“I warmly welcome our new colleagues from One Awards into the NOCN Group family,” he added.

Existing learners and recognised centres will experience “no significant operational change as things carry on as usual”, he claimed.

NOCN currently runs 519 qualifications across all sectors, and employs 73 permanent staff. One Awards has 16 full-time employees and runs 102 access to higher education diplomas. Both employ additional assessors, examiners and markers.

“We have worked together for a long time and it got to the stage where we thought we would be better placed together,” said Mr Hasting-Evans. “One Awards already delivered qualifications for us in the north-east and our respective company charities had close links.

“This will make us one of the biggest awarding organisations that can offer the combination of vocational and technical qualifications, access to higher education diplomas, and apprenticeship end-point assessments.”

He said the Cskills Awards takeover had showed NOCN was “able to take on new organisations and to successfully integrate their products and services, retaining customers and building market share to the wider benefit of employers, learners, and FE providers”.

One Awards will continue to operate under the same brand, but as a subsidiary of the larger group, after August.

NOCN did not pay anything to acquire One Awards, as both organisations came to “a charitable arrangement rather than commercial” one.

“I am extremely positive about this move, which will be good for both of us,” added One Awards boss Fabienne Bailey.