Qualifications achievement rates data for 2015/16 will not appear in tomorrow’s FE statistical first release because of “technical issues”, the Skills Funding Agency has revealed.

The SFA announced last month that it would “shortly publish provisional 2015 to 2016 qualification achievement rates and minimum standards” covering apprenticeships and education and training.

It added: “We aim to publish the final QAR data following publication of the next SFR at the end of January 2017.”

But it has now conceded in its online Update bulletin, published this evening, that this will not happen.

This followed major problems reported on by FE Week that were experienced by providers, trying to upload QAR information onto troublesome online data collection system, the Hub.

The SFA added today: ““Due to some technical issues with provider access to the provisional data, we have extended the QAR provisional data window to allow sufficient time to deal with feedback and to implement corrections where necessary.”

FE Week reported on January 9 that there had been a week of problems, provoking repeated complaints though online forum FE Connect.

The main issue accepted by SFA was that the QAR was incorrectly only including learners as timely, where they had an actual end date in the 2015/16 year.

It meant, for example, that a learner who had a planned end date for example of July 31 last year (before the end of 2015/16), but actually achieved this in 2016/17 with an end date of August 1 or beyond (but within the required 90 days), wasn’t being recognised.

Issues were acknowledged as far back as January 4, when the QAR team announced on SFA forum FE Connect: “After investigation we found that the automated procedure to write and load the QAR data extract files to the hub had failed to include additional fields that allow you to arrive at the results displayed on the QAR dashboards.

“It also omitted age-bands for E&T. An amended extract file will be loaded onto the Hub today that fixes both these points.”

The SFA previously came in for fierce criticism on FE Connect in early December over its management of a key provider submission of learner data, which was labelled a “total farce” and “very disturbing”.

The agency’s online data collection system, known as the ‘Hub’, was understood to have initially gone down on December 5, when providers had less than a day left to submit their fourth Individualised Learner Record returns of the academic year.

It added an extra day in light of this, but providers still complained they were experiencing problems up to the 6pm deadline.

Despite this, the SFA opted against a further extension, even though the return that month, named ILR R04, was particularly significant – as it is used to calculate not only the SFA 16 to 18 monthly apprenticeship payments, but also by the Education Funding Agency to support the setting of allocations for the next academic year.

The Industrial Strategy Green Paper will be published tomorrow, with post-16 technical education taking centre stage.

A statement by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy says the strategy will “include plans for a radical overhaul of technical education to address its historic undervaluation in the UK and provide a credible alternative to the academic route for young people who choose not to go to university.”

The planned reforms to technical education were first revealed exclusively by FE Week last May and then announced by the government in a Post-16 Skills Plan in July.

This followed a review led by former Science and Innovation Minister Lord Sainsbury,  which was launched by the Department for Education in November 2015. At the time, the review was established to help the government create “up to 20 specific new professional and technical routes, leading up to employment or degree-level”.

The Government has said the Industrial Strategy Green Paper will put forward proposals including:

> “£170m of new capital funding to establish prestigious Institutes of Technology”
The government announced the plan for Institutes of Technology in July 2015, when they published a Productivity Plan. It was light on detail then, and there remains very little detail 18 months on. However, the link to the post-16 Skills Plan is now clearer, with BEIS saying “this is part of a new system of technical education which will replace thousands of qualifications, many of which are low quality, with just 15 core technical “routes”. The routes will be designed specifically to respond to the needs of industry and will help equip learners with the skills in demand from local employers.”

> “Testing ambitious new approaches to encourage lifelong learning”
The government says they will “consider the role of centres of community learning and will review the option to introduce maintenance loans for higher technical education, of the kind government already supports in Higher Education.” The mention of maintenance loans appears to be a reference to the very delayed response to the governments consultation. FE Week reported that last month the government’s failure to fulfill the promise of a decision in the autumn had left the sector “disappointed”, with the DfE simply saying an announcement would be in “due course”.

Prime Minister Theresa May (pictured) this weekend said: “Our modern Industrial Strategy is a critical part of our plan for post-Brexit Britain. As we leave the EU it will help us grasp the bigger prize: the chance to build that stronger, fairer Britain that stands tall in the world and is set up to succeed in the long-term. And it is a vital step towards building a country where prosperity is shared and there is genuine opportunity for all.

“Our action will help ensure young people develop the skills they need to do the high-paid, high-skilled jobs of the future. That means boosting technical education and ensuring we extend the same opportunity and respect we give university graduates to those people who pursue technical routes.”

The Industrial Green Paper, to be published tomorrow “will set out proposals for discussion and consideration and invite views from a wide range of individuals, businesses and institutions across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.”

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Reaction, as FE Week receives it:

From the UCU
Responding to government plans to invest £170m in technical education as part of an industrial strategy, University and College Union (UCU) general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: ‘It is encouraging that the government has recognised the importance of vocational education and improving skills. However, this sounds like a relaunched skills strategy rather than any new thinking or proper funding. This is a drop in the ocean that will do nothing to solve the funding crisis in further education, which has seen 1 million adult places lost since 2010. If government wants to support technical education it should invest in our further education colleges who desperately need thousands more teachers rather than another set of gimmicks.’

From the Association of Employment and Learning Providers
AELP chief executive, Mark Dawe, said it was “very encouraging that the government sees technical education and skills as such a key component of its industrial strategy” but cautioned against using the £170m in capital funding to “waste time reinventing the wheel”. Mr Dawe said, “buildings are really important focal points, but we must not forget that some of the best training and development is in the workplace and not the workshop, and the Industrial Strategy must keep this at the forefront.”

Two of the three independent training provider full inspection reports published this week have resulted in a two grade crash to inadequate.

And two other providers have lost their outstanding rating in another less-than-positive week for the FE and skills sector.

Just one of the 11 full reports published between January 14 and 20, based on inspections carried out late 2016, resulted in a higher grade – while five stayed the same and five went down at least one grade.

But after last week’s bad start, general FE colleges have had a breather as no inspection reports have been published this week.

Ineffective safeguarding and poor achievement rates were among the issues that led to Bradford-based Bowling College plummeting from grade two to four in a report published today.

Meanwhile, poor teaching, learning and assessment were among the concerns leading to Sheffield-based SYTG’s two grade tumble to inadequate in a report published January 19.

City Lit, a community-based learning provider in central London, swapped its grade one – which it had held since 2011 – for a grade two overall in a report published January 19.

And employer provider British Telecommunications also lost the grade one it had held since 2012, as it was rated good in a report also published January 19.

This week saw the publication of three sixth form college reports – including the only inspection to result in a higher grade.

Leaders at Strode’s College in Surrey were found to have “pursued improvement with energy”, leading to a one grade rise from three to two in a report published January 17.

New College Telford retained its grade three rating, while East Norfolk Sixth Form college held on to its grade two.

Also maintaining the same grade this week were adult and community learning providers Adult College of Barking and Dagenham and North East Lincolnshire Council, with grade two and grade three respectively, and independent provider The Virtual College, with a grade three.

Meanwhile, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council slipped one grade from two to three.

And Chiltern Training Ltd was the only short inspection published this week – meaning it remains a grade two.

Britain celebrated the best of its vocational education on Friday night, when the country’s top three apprentices and its six best employers were crowned the winners of the National Apprenticeship Awards.

London’s Grosvenor House hosted a ceremony with the theme ‘Nation of Champions’, which showcased the success stories of individuals and employers.

The victorious apprentices went through a tough process to make the finals, in which they had to demonstrate how they have benefited from their apprenticeship and detail their contribution to their employers’ business objectives.

Charlotte Blowers, from Exceed training academy and salon, won ‘intermediate apprentice of the year’, while Adam Sharp from nuclear decommissioning company Sellafield Ltd picked up the award for ‘advanced apprentice of the year’.

Holly Broadhurst, who works for manufacturer J C Bamford Excavators Ltd, was named ‘higher or degree apprentice of the year’. 

After these individual triumphs, six employers were then recognised for their commitment to apprenticeships at the 13th annual awards ceremony, which was once again run by the National Apprenticeship Service. 

‘Small employer of the year’ went to Ebsford Environmental Ltd, the ‘medium employer’ award was taken home by Troup Bywaters + Anders, and Mercedes-Benz UK won ‘best large employer’. 

‘Macro employer of the year’ was won by Mitie Group Plc, Craggs Energy Ltd was named as ‘best newcomer SME’, and the award for ‘newcomer large employer’ was snaffled by Bond Dickinson LLP. 

Sam Lee, head of recruitment at  Bond Dickinson, said his law firm took on apprentices because it was “the right thing to do; for social mobility, improved staff retention and for the future of our business”. 

The ‘apprentice champion’ award was then handed to John Clarke, a technical manager with BT. 

He was recognised for his commitment to apprenticeships, which included working evenings and weekends to organise career seminars and educational visits to inspire BT apprentices to “make the most of their programme”. 

Skills and apprenticeships minister Robert Halfon told everyone assembled he was “absolutely delighted” to be with them to “celebrate the magnificent achievements of employers and apprentices from up and down the country”.