FE Week 8 Dec
Bank of BIS launches emergency College loans (p1) – FE colleges that are in financial difficulty have a new line of support following the announcement of ‘Emergency Loans’ from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).
Rules for ‘exceptional financial support,’ released by BIS on the 4th December, outline the availability of ‘short term loans with up to 3 months repayment and longer term loans to be repaid within a year. A college applying for a loan is open to the risk of intervention from the FE Commissioner, and are provided ‘where a general FE college declares that it is encountering financial weaknesses which it cannot resolve from its own resources or through its usual borrowing facilities.’
The 157 Group’s executive director Dr Lynne Sedgmore said of the announcement: "The very fact exceptional support is being made available is a sign of the extent to which college funding has been disproportionately targeted over recent years…We will be monitoring the uptake as an indication of the financial stability of the sector to inform our very serious discussions with ministers and others in the coming weeks."
Loans response delayed (p2) - the government’s response to a consultation into the future development and expansion of FE loans has been delayed until the new year.
A Spokesperson for BIS, which is looking at extending the loans system, said: "We are taking the time necessary to fully analyse a diverse set of responses. We will publish the response early in the New Year."
Red tape reduction efforts need ‘democratic scrutiny’ (p4) – The government’s National Audit Office (NAO) has criticised BIS efforts to reduce red tape & bureaucracy in the funding of learners, qualification and quality assurance requirements.
The NAOs report into BIS’s Simplification Plan has made a number of recommendations to take forward, including asking BIS and the Department for Education to work together to streamline funding arrangements, and for more ‘joined-up working between awarding organisations to reduce administrative requirements.’
FE Week 15 Dec
JCP traineeship ‘target’ after ‘concerns scheme extends benefits claims’ (p1) - FE Week has revealed that Job Centre Plus (JCP) staff have been given restrictions to the number of traineeship referrals they can offer to claimants.
JCP staff have been set a target of 10,000 Traineeship referrals ‘amid concerns [Traineeships] had not been promoted to benefit claimants because it extended their time out of work.’ Both Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and DWP have declined to comments specifically to the claims about referrals. Chief Executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) Stewart Segal stated that: ‘Providers are creating flexible programmes that ensure young people get the skills they need to sustain employment in the long term and JCP must support this process. It is good that JCP will set targets for referrals, but this should not become a numbers game’.
Payment link to new outcome measures rejected (p2) – There’s going to be a follow up to the recent BIS consultation on outcome based success measures, the Skills Minister announced last week.
A paper published by BIS stated that they would consult in the New Year on the detail of and timetable for using the new accountability measures for 19+ learners.
BIS did clarify that, at least for the foreseeable future, they ‘expected that the outcome measures would not be used as part of a payment by results system; such a system must be able to track individuals learners and matched data cannot be used in that way.’
