Correspondence

ESFA e-bulletin for schools, colleges, local authorities and other 16 to 19 providers: 24 May 2018

Published 24 May 2018

This correspondence was withdrawn on 23 December 2019

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date. The EFA e-bulletin has been replaced by ESFA Update.

Applies to England

1. Information: ESFA e-bulletin subscriptions

As a result of a recent review of how we send out information, we have decided to change the way in which people subscribe to the ESFA e-bulletin. This new process will take effect next week and we will now publish the newsletter each Wednesday.

If you are a head of organisation, finance director, chair of governor at a 16 to 19 provider, a director of children’s services or an officer at a local authority, you will not need to do anything and you will continue to receive the email.

To make sure we have the most up to date contact information for you please update your contact information through the My Contact Information feature on the Information Exchange.

If you are not one of the roles listed above and you want to continue receiving an email when we have published our newsletter, then you will need to subscribe to GOV.UK alerts. This way you will find out when we have published it online for you to read.

2. Action: Asbestos Management Assurance Process (AMAP) – closes Thursday 31 May

We are asking all responsible bodies to complete the AMAP. Responsible bodies have a duty under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 to manage any asbestos in their school buildings. The assurance process is aimed at Responsible Bodies to enable them to provide an assurance that their respective schools are compliant with asbestos management regulations.

We expect all responsible bodies to complete the AMAP and submit an assurance declaration by midday on Thursday 31 May 2018, unless we have advised otherwise.

The AMAP will not apply to other types of nursery schools or early years providers, FE and HE institutions and independent schools. While specialist post-16 institutions may have eligible state-funded pupils, those institutions will not be included.

Please contact asbestos.AMAP@education.gov.uk if you have any questions.

3. Information: direction published about T Levels

A Direction was published today by the Secretary of State for Education in relation to T Levels.

A Ministerial Direction is an established part of departmental business. It is used by Ministers to request that their Accounting Officer (AO) proceed with a course of action.

We have always been clear that the T Level programme is ambitious. We remain absolutely committed to its successful implementation and will continue to monitor progress to ensure that we are on track to deliver successful, sustainable reforms in 2020. Our delivery partners have been central to helping us develop our plans and the commitment they have shown in ensuring successful delivery is incredibly valuable. We will publish further details of our plans for implementation shortly, in our government response to the T Levels consultation and the announcement of the first providers selected to teach T Levels from September 2020. Outline content for the first 3 T Levels will also be published later this week.

4. Information: Care to Learn scheme for the 2018 to 2019 academic year

The Care to Learn application form for the academic year 2018 to 2019 is now available for students to complete online.

The Care to Learn guide for the academic year 2018 to 2019 includes good practice examples on how to:

• raise awareness of the scheme
• support young parents with their applications

Please make eligible students aware of the scheme and how it can help them access education and training. You might also like to display the Care to Learn poster to raise awareness.

5. Information: advice for schools on cyber attacks

You may be aware of recent bomb hoax emails being sent to a large number of schools. These emails are suspected to have been sent by an online group calling themselves Apophis Squad and that this group is linked to other cyber activity, including Ransomware and Denial-of-service attacks.

We would suggest you are extra vigilant when dealing with emails. Do not open emails if you are unsure about the source or open attachments within emails, unless you are sure it comes from a trusted source.

If you suspect you have been contacted by Apophis Squad in any form, report this to Action Fraud.

You can find further information including best practice for protection on the National Cyber Security Centre website.