Department for Education | FE Week

Anne Milton launches £22m construction skills fund

The skills minister has launched a new £22 million fund to help tackle construction skills shortages. The 18-month scheme will be overseen by the Construction Industry Training Board and funded by the Department for Education. For our economy to thrive we need everyone, regardless of their age or background, to be able to get the […]

Urgent levy reform demanded for nursing degree apprenticeships

Nursing degree apprenticeship start targets will be missed without urgent reform to how the apprenticeship levy can be spent, MPs have been warned. There has been an extremely slow take-up so far, with only 30 starts up to the end of January this year, the Commons education committee was told in a specially convened hearing. […]

Early Ofsted monitoring report highly critical of airports apprenticeship provider

Ofsted has levelled stinging criticism at a provider that trains apprentices for Heathrow Airport, in a hard-hitting early monitoring inspection report. The report on Birkenhead-based Mooreskills Limited was published today. It follows a report in March on Key6 Group, from the same town, that found its apprenticeships were “not fit for purpose”. These have been […]

National Audit Office slams DfE oversight of Student Loans Company

The Department for Education has been heavily criticised for its oversight of the Student Loans Company during the tenure of its disgraced former chief executive, in a new report from the National Audit Office. The watchdog looked into how the DfE monitored the company while Steve Lamey, who was dismissed for gross misconduct last November, […]

Sixth-form colleges given access to government bailout fund

Sixth form colleges can now apply for government bailout cash, according to updated guidance published by the Department for Education this morning. The college financial intervention and exceptional financial support guidance, first published in 2015, has today been updated to “include sixth-form colleges, which are now eligible for exceptional financial support”. James Kewin, deputy chief […]

Applications open for nine new T-level employer panels

Representatives from business are being asked to apply to join panels that will help develop new T-levels. The Department for Education is establishing employer panels for T-level routes that will be delivered from 2022, in agriculture, environmental and animal care; business and administration; catering and hospitality; creative and design; and hair and beauty. “The DfE is […]

Minster launches consultation on college insolvency roll-out

The skills minister is asking for views on how new college insolvency arrangements should be rolled out. An eight-week consultation seeks views from staff at general FE colleges, sixth-form colleges, local authorities, financial institutions and others from across FE, as well as insolvency practitioners. Launched by Anne Milton and the Department for Education, it opened […]

£10m adult flexible learning fund launches

Up to £10 million is now available to help providers develop new ways of supporting adults to progress or retrain, the Department for Education has announced. The flexible learning fund, launched today, is part of a £40 million package piloting new approaches to lifelong learning that were announced in this year’s spring budget. The pilot […]

Government funding ‘high level’ T-level training for college staff

The Department for Education is forking out £95,000 to run “high-level message” sessions to train FE staff about T-levels. It has put out a tender looking for an organisation to create a “series of specialist events” to raise awareness about the reforms to technical education. These will also serve as information-gathering events for the public consultation […]