devolution | FE Week

Khan criticised as being ‘wasteful’ for £40k splurge on AEB consultant

London’s mayor is planning to spend up to £40,000 of the capital’s adult education budget on hiring a consultant to review a consultation – despite employing more than 50 staff to manage the policy. The move has been slammed as “wasteful”, with one college principal labelling it as “just wrong”. Newly published agenda papers for […]

London will be first to launch regional AEB learner survey

The Greater London Authority is planning to become the first devolved area to launch a regional adult education budget learner survey. This would likely be in addition to the three separate surveys already undertaken annually by colleges, contractors on behalf of the Department for Education and by Ofsted during inspection. The plan for a London […]

One in five providers concerned about procurement process for devolved AEB

A fifth of providers believe adult education budget tenders run by devolved authorities need to be improved, with one saying bidding was a “nightmare”, according to new Association of Employment and Learning Providers research. Ahead of their autumn conference in Manchester today, the AELP surveyed 93 providers on devolved AEB procurement after the budget was […]

Revealed: London AEB tender funding allocations

The sums being handed to providers under the Greater London Authority’s adult education budget tender have been revealed. In August, the Department for Education devolved the capital’s £306 million adult education budget to the GLA; £130 million of which is being devolved over four years. The tender was launched in October, and the GLA said […]

Revealed: The 17 winners of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s AEB tender

The providers which have won adult education budget contracts from Greater Manchester Combined Authority have been revealed. The providers will share up to £25 million of the authority’s total devolved AEB, which is worth an annual £92 million from August, after winning contracts under a competitive tender. Contracts will run from 1 August 2019 to […]

Revealed: The 5 winners of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough AEB tender

The five training providers that have won contracts with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to deliver its devolved adult education budget have been revealed. The combined authority will take control of an annual £12 million budget to deliver to deliver adult education from September. Just over £2 million of it was put out to tender in January. […]

AELP appoints a devolution director to represent independent training providers

The “real fear” that independent training providers wouldn’t get “representation around the table” in adult education budget devolution has prompted the Association of Employment and Learning Providers to appoint its first devolution director. Harminder Matharu takes up her post on December 19, just two days before bids are due in the Greater London Authority’s tender […]

Fears over ‘market instability’ in rush to roll out AEB devolution

The rushed timeframe ahead of next year’s devolution of the adult education budget means providers will struggle to “hit the ground running” next August and may lead to “market instability”, an expert has said. The warning comes as the first combined authorities are gearing up to start their tender process this month, with contracts due […]

Londoners on less than the living wage of £19,890 can access free training next year

Adults in the capital who earn less than the London living wage will have their training fully funded from 2019/20. The commitment was revealed this morning at the launch of the mayor’s new Skills for Londoners plan. It follows an announcement made by Education and Skills Funding Agency last week that low-paid workers across the […]