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.

More to follow.

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”.

His criticisms join those of Ofsted’s chief inspector Amanda Spielman, who asked last month for an increase in the base funding for 16- to 18-year-olds.

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 FE Week, 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.

Its former principal Amarjit Basi – who had been one of the most high-paid in the country – resigned from the college in July 2016, after a tumultuous few months.

This included calls by the University and College Union for Mr Basi to take a pay cut as up to 60 members of staff faced losing their jobs just a month after the college was served with a notice of concern for financial health from the SFA in April 2016.

FE Week 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.

And Telford College of Arts and Technology received £21 million as part of its merger with New College Telford, to form Telford College.

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.

The AELP asked former education secretary Justine Greening to review its outcome when many ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ providers were not given contracts, as several feared they would be “wiped out” as a result.

Meanwhile, one organisation that went out of business in October was awarded a contract in the procurement.

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.

The new education secretary will ensure that every apprentice affected by the collapse of outsourcing giant Carillion will be found new employment to complete their training, he has claimed.

Damian Hinds responded this afternoon to a letter sent last week by Robert Halfon, the chair of the education select committee, who asked him to guarantee that no learner would lose out, after the UK’s largest employer of construction apprentices closed down.

“Following Carillion entering compulsory liquidation, we have implemented contingency plans to protect learners,” Mr Hinds wrote.

“The Construction Industry Training Board has been identified as the best placed alternative provider for the training of Carillion apprentices.

“We will continue to work closely with the CITB to support apprentices to remain in existing placements or to find new employment with other local organisations, so they can complete their training.”

As the construction industry’s skills body, he said the CITB “should be able to maximise” every possible opportunity to secure new employment for Carillion apprentices in construction.

Mr Hinds added that if apprentices in the wider Carillion supply chain in England are affected, the ESFA has “well established processes to support them find alternative placements”.

Carillion went into liquidation on January 15, leaving the future of around 1,400 trainees, mostly 16- to 18-year-olds, uncertain.

Since then, FE providers started rallying behind the CITB to help those affected by opening their doors.

Today’s commitment will be music to the ears for many former apprentices, who feel they have been left in the dark since the collapse.

Liz Green, the mother of one former Carillion trainee, told FE Week last week that the whole situation “is a mess” and “has been handled badly from the start”.

Mr Hinds claimed today that all apprentices and other learners have now been contacted to “reassure them and advise them on next steps for the transfer to CITB”.

He said that the CITB’s centres are “geographically situated within what is anticipated to be a reasonable travel time for the apprentices, and critically they have the capacity and capability to take on displaced apprentices and study programme learners”.

The CITB is also supporting any 16-to-19 study programme learners affected.

Carillion was the second biggest construction firm in the UK. Its apprentices learned at its training division, Carillion Training Services, primarily in bricklaying, carpentry and joinery.

It held a £6.5 million ESFA contract last year and was rated ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted in December 2016.

Affected apprentices can contact the CITB on carillion.apprenticeshipsupport@citb.co.uk or 0344 994 4010.

Peter Lauener, the busiest man in FE, has bagged himself yet another job, this time as chair of one of the largest college groups in the country.

The former ESFA and Institute for Apprenticeships boss will take up the role at NCG in the spring, taking over from Jamie Martin.

He retired from both government roles in November last year but then took on the interim chief executive role at the Student Loans Company after the sudden departure of Steve Lamey, and will see out that post until a permanent replacement is recruited.

“I am looking forward to taking up this new role at NCG and getting to know the different colleges and organisations in the group,” Mr Lauener (pictured above left) said.

There is nothing more important than developing the skills of all our people

“There is nothing more important than developing the skills of all our people and NCG has a critical role in supporting learners, businesses and communities.”

Mr Lauener is also the official delegate for Worldskills UK and was a key architect in establishing the IfA last year while he was interim chief executive.

Before leading the ESFA, his career included the implementation of the Youth Training Scheme and of adult training when working for the Manpower Services Commission in the 1980s, the setting up of Training and Enterprise Councils in the 1990s.

“Peter has played a leading role in the shaping of education and training in the UK for some years now,” said Joe Docherty, NCG chief executive (pictured above right).

“He has steered a course for the Skills Funding Agency and the Education Funding Agency through a period of great political and economic change, and consequently made a positive impact on the education and training of people across the country.

“Peter’s insight and experience across the top of tiers of the education industry will be hugely valuable to NCG as we continue to grow and develop our offering.”

Mr Martin is the managing partner of law firm Ward Hadaway and has held the position of chair at NCG for 11 years.

“It has been a great experience to have been involved with NCG’s expansion and growing success and to have seen the difference which it has made and continues to make to the career prospects and the lives of thousands of people not just in the North East, but across the country too,” he said.

NCG is comprised of Carlisle College, Kidderminster College, Lewisham Southwark College, Newcastle College, Newcastle Sixth Form College, and West Lancashire College. It also runs two training providers in Rathbone Training and Intraining.          

Mr Lauener will take up his post from March 1, 2018.

Three providers have lost their ‘outstanding’ grades this week – while another earned the lowest possible grade at its first ever inspection.

Selby College, St Charles Catholic Sixth Form College and Aspire Training Team Limited all fell from grade one, while City of London College Centre for Advanced Studies was branded ‘inadequate’.

In its first full Ofsted visit for more than 10 years, Selby College was rated ‘good’ across the board in a report published on January 18 and based on an inspection in early December.

Leaders and managers at the college – which had held its previous grade since November 2007 – were praised for creating a “positive culture and ethos of tolerance and respect” and managing the “financial position of the college carefully”.

But while the 16-to-19 study programmes were deemed to “prepare learners very effectively for their next steps”, not enough of the teaching, learning and assessment on the programmes “challenges the most able learners sufficiently”.

And managers’ failure to “accurately” identify areas for improvement meant that any actions taken to address the issues were not “precise enough”.

St Charles Catholic Sixth Form College fell to ‘requires improvement’ also from a grade one it had held for more than 10 years, in a report based on an inspection in early December and published January 18.

“Too few” A-level students “achieve the grades expected of them” – with achievement rates having “recently declined on the majority of courses”.

Managers were criticised for failing to use their observations to “secure improvements in teachers’ practice”, while governors were found not to be using the information they received from managers “well enough to support and challenge the senior leaders effectively”.

But inspectors noted that high-needs students and those in need of extra help were “very well” supported, and students’ behaviour was “excellent”.

Aspire Training Team Limited was rated grade two across the board in a report published this week, in its first inspection since it was rated ‘outstanding’ eight years ago.

The “vast majority” of learners at the Bournemouth provider, which mainly delivers apprenticeships, “make good progress and secure full-time employment with their current employer” – and “most” also “grow in confidence quickly”.

Directors and managers were praised for providing “good development and training for staff which improve their skills in teaching and management”.

But inspectors also noted: “Learners’ achievement of functional skills qualifications in English, mathematics and information communications technology is not high enough.”

City of London College Centre for Advanced Studies was heavily criticised in a report, published January 15 and based on an inspection in late November, that branded it ‘inadequate’ in all areas.

Leadership and management at the independent learning provider was deemed “weak”, while safeguarding arrangements were found “ineffective”.

“Governors are not effective in holding leaders and managers to account and do not ensure that learners receive a good learning experience,” the report said.

There was better news for Leicester College and Lakes College – West Cumbria this week, as both went up a grade from three to two.

Leaders and managers at Leicester College were found to have “effectively tackled” the main areas of improvement identified at its last inspection, in a report published January 19 and based on a visit in early December.

The “large majority” of students make “good progress” thanks to “challenging and stimulating learning”, while apprentices “develop good work-related skills, which employers value”.

However, “too few” apprentices finished their courses on time.

Governors and senior leaders at Lakes College were praised for promoting a “culture of high expectations”, in a report published January 18 and based on a visit in early December.

Courses at the college “meet local, regional and national skills priorities very well” thanks to “highly effective partnerships with local and regional stakeholders”, the report said.

Learners’ and apprentices’ achievement was found to be “good”, and they “develop successfully the practical skills and technical knowledge they need for work”.

The Consortium of Vocational and Educational Trainers Limited held onto its grade two this week, in a report based on an inspection in mid-December and published January 19.

Apprentices at the Oxfordshire-based independent learning provider “develop a very good range of technical skills that prepare them well for working in prestige car dealerships”, and “benefit from supportive and effective off-the-job training”.

The small number of adult learners at the provider make “good progress and swiftly achieve their qualifications”, the report said.

City College Nottingham, an independent learning provider, received a grade three following its first inspection in late November.

The report, published January 17, noted that “quality assurance and improvement arrangements lack rigour”, and failed to “secure consistently high standards of teaching, learning and assessment”.

A “minority” of lessons were “uninspiring”, while learners’ “attendance and punctuality” was “too low.

However, managers were praised for developing a “curriculum that supports social and economic inclusion”.

The Workers’ Educational Association also held onto its grade two this week, following a short inspection.

GFE Colleges	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Leicester College	05/12/2017	19/01/2018	2	3
Selby College	05/12/2017	18/01/2018	2	1
Lakes College – West Cumbria	05/12/2017	18/01/2018	2	3

 

Sixth Form Colleges	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
St Charles Catholic Sixth Form College	05/12/2017	18/01/2018	3	1

 

Independent Learning Providers	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Consortium of Vocational and Educational Trainers Ltd	12/12/2017	19/01/2018	2	2
City College Nottingham	28/11/2017	17/01/2018	3	–
Aspire Training Team Limited	05/12/2017	15/01/2018	2	1
City of London College Centre for Advanced Studies	29/11/2017	15/01/2018	4	–

 

Short inspections (remains grade 2)	Inspected	Published
Workers Educational Association	29/11/2017	17/01/2018