Start date: December 2017 Previous job: Dean and pro vice-chancellor, Leeds Metropolitan University Interesting fact: Cath is a passionate Tranmere Rovers fan.
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Dr Stephan Jungnitz, Interim principal, Thomas Rotherham College
Start date: January 2018 Previous job: Interim principal, Hartlepool Sixth Form College Interesting fact: Outside of education, Stephan works at the Huddersfield food bank, which helps to support individuals and families in crisis.
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Dipa Ganguli, Principal, Sutton College
Start date: January 2018 Previous job: Assistant principal, Westminster Adult Education Service Interesting fact: Dipa loves travelling and learning about new cultures. Her alternative career choice would have been a researcher for Lonely Planet.
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Peter Lauener, Chair, NCG Training
Start date: March 2018 Previous job: Interim chief executive, the Student Loans Company Interesting fact: When studying economics at university, Peter took a course in Marxian economics which was then cancelled because of lack of interest.
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Steven Downham-Clarke, Vice-principal and deputy chief executive, Myerscough College
Start date: April 2018 Previous job: Assistant principal, Kirklees College Interesting fact: Steven has a keen interest in the outdoors and has hens, dogs, a cat and a horse.
Ifyou want to let us know of any new faces at the top of your college, training provider or awarding organisation please let us know by emailing news@feweek.co.uk
David Meller, the co-chair of the controversial Presidents Club charity dinner that has been rocked by allegations of sexual harassment by guests, has resigned from the Department for Education’s board.
Anne Milton, the skills and apprenticeships minister with responsibility for the board, announced in Parliament this afternoon that he had stood down from both his non-executive director role at the DfE and the Apprenticeship Delivery Board.
Milton said she understood there were “allegations of inappropriate and lewd behaviour” at the dinner which she found “quite extraordinary”.
“The government expects board members to adhere to the code of conduct for board members of public bodies. This quite clearly states that they should adhere to the seven principles of public life,” she said.
“David Meller is stepping down as non-executive member for the Department for Education and the apprenticeship delivery board, and I know my right honourable friend the secretary of state is absolutely clear that this is the right thing to do.”
She also insisted that “this event was absolutely nothing to do with the Department for Education”.
She added: “Women have the right to feel safe wherever they work, and allegations of this type of behaviour are completely unacceptable.”
Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary, told MPs that Meller “should not have any other roles in education”.
Nadhim Zahawi, the newly appointed children’s minister, is also understood to have been in attendance at the dinner, but left early, according to reports.
A story by the Financial Times, published earlier today, revealed allegations of “groping, sexual harassment and propositioning” of women hired as “hostesses” for the Presidents Club charity dinner, which took place at London’s Dorchester Hotel last Thursday.
According to the Department for Education’s website, Meller joined as a non-executive board member in June 2013. He set up the Meller Educational Trust, which runs four schools and a university technical college, and served as chair of the National Apprenticeship Ambassador Network and the Apprenticeship Delivery Board. He was made a CBE in the new year’s honours list.
The government is harming young and disadvantaged people with its failure to ease their travel costs, according to a major new inquiry into the impact of the apprenticeship reforms.
The Skills Commission has “heard growing concerns” that “opportunities for disadvantaged young people are being displaced”, its new report out today warned.
Made up of an influential group of education leaders, business and MPs, the commission has made a series of recommendations to redress the balance.
Prominently, they want the government to “urgently” introduce subsidised travel for apprentices, bringing “discounts in line with those in full-time education”.
“The commission welcomes the current government’s commitment to discounted travel costs for apprentices. However, as yet there is no indication of how or when this pledge will be implemented,” the report said.
“Not only can transport costs be a barrier to accessing an apprenticeship in the first place, but they can also limit the variety of opportunities a young person can access. This is particularly the case in rural areas where transport options are more limited.”
The Conservatives committed to cutting travel costs for apprentices in their manifesto for June’s general election, in which they pledged to “introduce significantly discounted bus and train travel for apprentices” in an attempt to make the qualifications more attractive to people from disadvantaged backgrounds, but moves to implement cuts have stalled.
Other recommendations include having the Institute for Apprenticeships “monitor closely the extent to which the levy is being used to upskill existing employees”.
The apprenticeship levy was introduced for large employers in April last year.
But much of the resulting funding is being used by the employers to retrain employees already on their books, rather than employ new, younger apprentices.
“Of greatest concern is where rebadged training may simply accredit the existing skills of employees,” the report said.
It also suggested the government should develop “an apprentice kite mark, which employers should sign up to, to encourage higher-quality standards and best practice”.
The commission also wants the “apprenticeship premium” first suggested by the Learning and Work Institute, an additional sum paid to employers and providers to help them support young apprentices.
This premium would give “employers the breathing space to fund additional costs associated with recruiting a young apprentice through the levy”.
The inquiry was co-chaired by Peter Mayhew-Smith, the principal of South Thames College, Lilian Greenwood, the Labour MP for Nottingham South, and Michelle Donelan, who is the Conservative MP for Chippenham.
Mr Mayhew-Smith praised the “bold and imaginative strategy for investment in technical skills for the future” but warned that the enquiry had “exposed grave concerns” about the apprenticeship levy and its “ability to deliver inclusive participation and healthy levels of social mobility”.
“We feel that the new arrangements need to be looked at again to make sure they create positive change for the people and businesses they’re intended to benefit,” he added.
Although it describes apprenticeships as having the potential to be “a major engine of social mobility in the UK”, the report warned that factors such as low apprentice wages, the government’s cuts to household benefits, and the lack of “parity of esteem” between apprenticeships and traditional university degrees were putting off potential applicants.
The Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ chief policy officer Simon Ashworth said the recommendations were a “timely wake-up call that more needs to be done to support young people, especially 16- to 18-year-olds, into and through an apprenticeship”.
“Ministers would be wise to act quickly on implementing them,” he added.
Total apprenticeship starts fell 41 percent for the six months since May when the levy was introduced, compared to the same period the previous year (see below).
Provisional figures published by the DfE this morning report provisional starts for the first quarter of 2017, covering the months of August, September and October. This shows a 26 percent fall compared to the same quarter the previous year.
When these latest provisional figures are added to final starts from May to July (see below), the performance of the first six months of the reform programme shows the sluggish start continues.
Exactly half way into the five year Manifesto commitment target to achieve 3 million starts, the figures show an 18 percent (266,000 starts) shortfall.
Responding to the latest figures, Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills Anne Milton said: “The last year has been a period of significant change, it will take time for employers to adjust.
“But we must not lose sight of why we introduced our reforms in the first place – to put quality at the heart of this programme, and putting control in the hands of employers.
“It is right that they are taking their time to plan ahead, with two years to spend their levy funds, and maximise the opportunities an apprenticeship can bring for both the learner and employer. Feedback we’ve had shows employers are doing exactly that.”
The Department for Education report accompanying the data said: “There were 114,400 apprenticeship starts reported so far for the first quarter of the 2017/18 academic year, compared to 155,600 reported at this time in 2016/17, a decrease of 26.5 per cent. However, the decrease was not as large as the drop between quarter 4 2015/16 and quarter 4 2016/17 (59.3 per cent), which is likely to be associated with the introduction of the apprenticeship levy in April 2017. There have been 67,200 levy-supported starts so far, of which, 46,100 were reported in the first quarter for 2017/18.”
The latest figures have caused concern in the sector.
The Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ (AELP) chief executive, Mark Dawe, warned ministers should be “really concerned” about the “social mobility agenda” after data revealed a continued drop in starts for both young people and at lower levels and called for cuts to the sector to be reversed.
He added: “The government has got to look again at the incentives for recruiting young people and make sure that there are apprenticeship opportunities available across the country. This means that employers shouldn’t be charged for taking on 16 to 24 year old apprentices and they should be given more flexibility in how they train them.”
EEF’s head of education and skills policy, Verity Davidge, said the figures should be a “wake-up call” to the government that the “apprenticeship levy and wider reforms aren’t working”, and called for a “radical rethink”.
She said: “The fact that the drop isn’t as huge as the previous quarter is by no means a cause for celebration, as the numbers are a snapshot of the time when most apprentices begin. The only ray of hope we can find is the increase in the number of higher apprenticeships.
“Government must listen to business concerns and ensure the levy delivers the demand-led system that was promised to employers.”
The Learning and Work Institute’s chief executive, Stephen Evans, described the fall in apprenticeship starts as “worrying” and said the government risks “both missing the target and missing the point” unless there is a change in government policies including measuring completions, quality and access to courses.
He said: “A smaller fall is probably not the headline the Government were looking for, and their three million target looks some distance away.
“We need to look more broadly at the learning and skills system for young people as a whole. Our research shows a rise in the proportion of young people spending at least six months not in education, employment or training and an increasing disconnect with the official claimant count. The fall in traineeship numbers today shows a decline in routes to apprenticeships for many young people.”
Others took to Twitter to voice their worries.
Awful Apprs stats again.DfE responses resembling Mr Micawber hoping something will turn up.They need to take a serious look at Levy use now.
Need to look at the levy now before providers pull out of the delivery process. Worse when some framework funding dropped for apprenticeships where there is no new standard
Government 3m starts target is slipping away, which in itself is no bad thing. Key question – are starts down because employers are focusing on quality apprenticeships now that it’s their money, or is it because the system isn’t functioning properly? https://t.co/Gmtcumhq6M
Yes, signs that things are turning around. But now great chance to abandon starts target & focus on access, quality, outcomes & building capacity & capability to deliver that
With #Apprenticeships starts falling and questions about how the policy and strategy are being delivered will @educationgovuk@ESFAgov undertake a urgent review and speak to businesses and others to find a way to unpick this before it’s too late.
A charity fundraising dinner run by a Department for Education director and academy trust founder has been rocked by allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour by guests, following an undercover investigation by journalists.
A story by the Financial Times, published earlier today, revealed allegations of “groping, sexual harassment and propositioning” of women hired as “hostesses” for the Presidents Club Charity Dinner, which took place at London’s Dorchester Hotel last Thursday.
David Meller (pictured above), a non-executive director at the Department for Education and founder of the Meller Educational Trust who was made a CBE in the new year’s honours list, is chair of the charitable trust that runs the event.
Nadhim Zahawi, the newly-appointed children’s minister, is also understood to have been in attendance, but left early, according to reports.
According to the FT, which sent two reporters to work undercover as hostesses, the 130 women hired to work at the men-only event were “told to wear skimpy black outfits with matching underwear and high heels”.
Hostesses “reported men repeatedly putting hands up their skirts, and one “said an attendee had exposed his penis to her during the evening”.
Many of the hostesses met by FT journalists were students, “hoping to launch careers as lawyers or marketing executives”, the newspaper reported.
A spokesperson for the Presidents Club told the FT the organisers were “appalled by the allegations of bad behaviour at the event”, adding that “such behaviour is totally unacceptable”.
“The allegations will be investigated fully and promptly and appropriate action taken.”
According to the Department for Education’s website, Meller joined as a non-executive board member in June 2013. He set up the Meller Educational Trust, which runs four schools and a University Technical College. He is also chair of the National Apprenticeship Ambassador Network and the Apprenticeship Delivery Board.
Outside education, Meller chairs his family business The Meller Group, one of the largest luxury home and beauty suppliers in the UK.
Traineeships are in decline and could die without more support from the government, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers has warned.
Alongside the shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden, the body hosted a special Westminster debate on the future of the scheme in Parliament this afternoon.
Panel members, including AELP’s chair Martin Dunford and chief executive Mark Dawe, recalled that traineeships were widely supported by the government and the FE sector when they were launched in 2013, but said starts fell from 24,100 in 2015/16 to 20,300 in 2016/17.
The most dramatic fall was among 19- to 24-year-olds, dropping by almost a third over the same period from 9,400 to 6,400.
The most up-to-date figures will be out on Thursday, and expectations among attendees at today’s debate were low that there would be any sign of a reverse in the trend.
Mr Dawe lamented that the “cold hand of government” was destroying what had been a “promising training programme”, and claimed “there is huge latent demand for traineeships that is not being utilised”.
“There is a problem with the Education and Skills Funding Agency not having the processes in place to ensure the traineeships gets the funding it needs, and that progress properly monitored, along with a lack of promotion,” he said.
“The government is so consumed by T-levels and apprenticeships now, the danger is that traineeships don’t get a look-in.”
Mr Marsden harked back to New Labour’s 1997 general election commitment to focus on “education, education, education”, but said the emphasis for traineeships should now be on promoting “progression, progression, progression”.
He was referring to confusion over how the scheme is perceived, and lack of clarity over how the government reports which learners progress to jobs or other training such as apprenticeships.
Traineeships were launched in 2013, as part of the government’s drive to help the low-skilled unemployed below the age of 25 onto apprenticeships.
But their remit was set more broadly, so that they could also help learners onto a job or find other full-time education.
They are supposed to provide “essential work preparation training, English, maths and work experience needed to secure an apprenticeship or employment”, according to government guidance
Martin Dunford speaking and other panel members (from left) Gordon Marsden, Mark Dawe and Debbie Gardiner
The Department for Education said in March last year that there were 10,500 traineeship progressions in 2015/16. Of these, “7,000 were to a job, apprenticeship, further full-time education or other training for those aged under 19, and 3,400 were to a job or apprenticeship for 19-24s.”
FE Week lodged a Freedom of Information request to find out how many progressed to an apprenticeship, and found that just 600 of 3,400 overall progressions for 19- to 24-year-olds were to apprenticeships.
But Mr Dunford insisted today that “it was a good thing that traineeships were kept flexible” as “it’s a good programme”, and wants more government promotion for the scheme.
By aiming to take on young people interested in a wider range of outcomes than just apprenticeships, traineeships could cast the net wider, and ultimately produce “more progressions to apprenticeships”.
Debbie Gardiner MBE, the chief executive of Qube Learning, agreed during today’s debate that there was a problem with perception.
“We understand that traineeships are about getting young people into work and training,” she said, by using a “short” window of opportunity to help them.
But too often employers are concerned that the lack of pay for learners they take on with traineeships can damage company brands.
Mr Marsden, however, closed on an optimistic note.
“We all forget how difficult it is to get the message across with relatively new initiatives like this. The key thing it needs is sheer bloody mindedness with regards to pushing ahead and promoting it,” he said.
Mr Dawe agreed: “Let’s keep on fighting.”
Update, January 25: The latest data for August, September and October 2017, published today, showed a further decline in starts.
There were 6,800 traineeship starts in those three months, a decrease of 6.5 per cent from the 7,300 over the same period the previous year. Of these, 5,500 were under 19 and 1,300 were aged 19 to 24, compared with 5,300 and 2,000 respectively in quarter one of 2016/17.
The sector’s funding is “unfair”, the FE commissioner has told a parliamentary hearing.
Richard Atkins was asked about the challenges facing colleges during an accountability hearing of the Commons education select committee this morning.
“If you asked me about the distribution in the UK between the funding that is given to further education and higher education, I would say that was unfair,” he told MPs.
“I say that as the principal of a college that offers both FE and HE, and as a university governor.
“So I would say the distribution that we’ve chosen as a nation over the last 30, 40, 50 years between FE and HE isn’t fair,” he said.
He was replying to a question on the fairness of FE funding from committee member Thelma Walker, after he had described it as “complex and sparse” and said it “could be improved”.
“I’ve spent my career lobbying for more funding for FE,” he told her.
Earlier in the session he claimed that funding pressures could also be behind the fall in colleges receiving the highest grades from Ofsted.
“I think the sector has been through a very difficult time with Ofsted and with financial stability,” he said.
While the “main factor” at colleges where he intervenes was “governance and leadership”, funding cuts were among the factors that had “challenged colleges more generally”.
These included the “40-per-cent cut in adult funding between 2010 and more recently in 18+ funding and so on, the fact that the 16-to-18 funding rate hasn’t gone up since 2010, and the fact that there is increased competition in the 16-to-18 market”.
During her speech at the launch of the Ofsted annual report in December, she said the “sector will continue to struggle” without an increase in the base rate of funding for this group.
The Sixth-Form Colleges Association claimed in November that sixth-form colleges were at “tipping point” after their overall Ofsted ratings fell for a third year running, largely as a result of funding pressures.
But a campaign supported by a range of organisations, including the SFCA, the Association of Colleges and FEWeek, demanding an increase in the base rate came to nothing recently after the Department for Education ruled out an increase in funding for 16- to 18-year-olds.
“We have protected the base rate of funding for all 16- to 19-year-old students until 2020 to make sure every young person has access to the education or training they deserve,” a DfE spokesperson said.
A cash-strapped college has received £3.5 million in emergency funding, according to its accounts.
Cornwall College Group received exceptional financial support in December after it ended the year with £2.25 million less in the bank than planned – and ahead of an application to the restructuring facility.
“The group’s highest and most significant risk is currently managing the cashflow and controlling costs,” the college’s accounts for 2016/17 warned.
“A new request for £3.5 million of short-term exceptional financial support has been made with the Education and Skills Funding Agency to cover cashflow requirements during the 2017/18 financial year, which was approved on December 11, 2017.”
The college is in the process of applying to the restructuring facility, which is designed to support colleges to implement post-area review changes they can’t afford to pay for themselves – even though it has no plans to merge.
That application “will not be concluded until the final term of the 2017/18 academic year”.
“Once agreed, this facility has the capacity to reset the group’s balance sheet by improving its working capital and in doing so accelerate its financial recovery,” the document said.
A spokesperson for the college insisted it was “working alongside the Department of Education in the normal timeframe for the application”.
The grade two-rated group – which includes Cornwall College, Duchy College, Bicton College and Falmouth Marine School – ended the year with just £760,000 in the bank, according to the accounts – almost £2.25 less than the £3 million that had been forecast.
The shortfall was blamed on a combination of property sales that raised less than was predicted, and staff redundancy costs.
But the college’s operating deficit was just £35,000 for 2016/17, compared with over £4 million the previous year.
Cornwall College emerged from the Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly area review with a plan to standalone but with a “fresh start approach to deliver financial stability”, a recommendation that the college said had not changed.
“With regard to financial sustainability, this college is not currently viable or resilient, with weak solvency and forecast operating deficits for the duration of the financial plan to 2019/20,” said the area review report, published August 2017.
FEWeek reported last week that Lambeth College was expecting to receive £25 million from the restructuring facility, which would be enough to cover the EFS it owes to the government as well as its bank loans.
Raoul Humphreys, principal and chief executive of The Cornwall College Group reflected on the “recovering” finances for his institution.
“Our financial position is recovering, with a turnaround to our operating position and a cash flow surplus,” he said.
“Last year we received £4.5m of exceptional financial support which we paid back in full by the end of August 2017. This year, it has reduced to £3.5m, which we will also pay back by the end of this financial year. This covers a working capital gap in the spring, a challenge for many FE Colleges.
“We are at an advanced stage in our discussion with the Transactions Unit and are seeking to achieve an outcome which will speed up our improving financial position.”
A high-profile ‘outstanding’ college has asked its influential local MP to help it overturn the decision not to give it any non-levy funding, after its appeal was rejected.
Exeter College, which FE Week recently crowned the best college in the country for the second year running, was denied a contract in the recent tender for delivering apprenticeships for smaller employers.
It appealed the decision before Christmas but FE Week understands it was unsuccessful in changing officials’ minds.
Determined not to give up, it has turned to Labour’s Ben Bradshaw (pictured above), Exeter’s MP and a former culture, media and sport secretary and shadow deputy Prime Minister, to take the battle to Whitehall.
He’s already written and spoken to Anne Milton about the damage this decision will cause if it is not overturned.
“It is inexplicable to me that the top-performing college in England, with an excellent record on delivering apprenticeships, has lost out in this way,” Mr Bradshaw told FE Week.
It is inexplicable that the top-performing college in England has lost out in this way
“Both Exeter College and local employers are aghast. I have written and spoken to the minister and officials in her department and at the ESFA to impress on them the importance of finding a solution to this problem and warned them that otherwise the provision of apprenticeships in the Exeter area will be seriously affected.”
Exeter College has an 81-per-cent overall apprenticeship achievement rate, well above the national average of 67 per cent.
“We have a live complaint logged with the ESFA and await the outcome,” said a college spokesperson.
“We are currently exploring all available options to resolve the present situation. At this stage we can confirm we have not yet been allocated a contract for new non-levy starts post March.
“However, we continue to recruit to all of our apprenticeship programmes and work with our employers as normal, as we resolve the current technical funding issue.”
As revealed by FE Week earlier this month, many providers have successfully appealed the government’s decisions not to award them contracts in the controversial non-levy tender, but others haven’t had such good news.
The much-delayed procurement process has tormented the sector all year and caused huge controversy when results were released in December.
A total of 714 providers were given allocations to train apprentices with small employers between January 2018 and March 2019, but 227, nearly a third, are on their first direct apprenticeships contract.
