ESFA Update further education: 18 November 2020
Updated 18 November 2020
Applies to England
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1. Latest information on coronavirus (COVID-19)
The Department for Education has published guidance about COVID-19 in educational settings for staff, parents and carers, pupils and students on GOV.UK.
There is also guidance on the apprenticeship service about COVID-19.
Please check GOV.UK regularly for updates.
2. Information: Traineeships Framework for Delivery 2020 to 2021: information for employers and education providers
The Traineeships Framework for Delivery 2020 to 2021 has been updated and is now available on GOV.UK. This provides further detail and policy guidance for employers and training providers on the Traineeships employer incentive and the claim process.
The 2020 to 2021 Framework for Delivery covers the period from 1 September 2020 to 31 July 2021.
3. Information: 16 to 19 funding regulations update for coronavirus (COVID-19) and impact on planned hours for 2020 to 2021
We have updated the 16 to 19 funding regulations for 2020 to 2021 with some additional advice to assist any funded institutions having difficulty in calculating planned hours as part of their early ILR returns for this year. The advice is also available in the ILR funding returns guidance 2020 to 2021. Any institution who has already resolved these issues for themselves does not need to amend any planned hours.
This new advice, together with the additional advice we have already given in Funding regulations Annex B on evidencing planned hours to funding auditors, may also help in planning hours for students in these current difficult circumstances and avoiding any funding audit issues later in the funding year.
4. Information: qualification achievement rates (QARs) and achievement volumes
We have already announced that we will not publish ‘qualification achievements rates’ at institution level as part of the National Achievement Rate Tables (NARTs) for the 2019 to 2020 academic year due to the COVID-19. However, we will continue to publish achievement ‘volumes’ at provider level as part of our National Statistics release at the end of November 2020. This supports a range of uses including:
- transparency on where money has been spent
- an understanding of what skills are delivered to the market to enable skills planning
- detail on which areas or providers are supporting certain aims
Additionally, due to adult FE being a demand led system, ‘local area’ stakeholders such as Mayoral Combined Authorities will also be keen to show achievements. Achievement ‘volumes’ do not include grades achieved, only level, and are not be used for accountability purposes. It is also not possible to replicate the NARTs from this achievement data.
If you have any questions then please contact the DfE stats team.
5. Information: National Apprenticeship Awards 2020
We are pleased to announce that the 17th National Apprenticeship Awards final will take place on Wednesday 25 November 2020 at 7.30pm in a live broadcast. This year’s award winners will be recognised via a virtual ceremony for the first time, in an event that will celebrate employers, apprentices and apprenticeship champions from a range of regions and sectors. We will also be joined by our incredible sponsors whose on-going support has ensured the creation of this event.
We are delighted to announce that this year’s host will be BBC presenter Dan Walker.
We hope you will be able to join us, attending the event from home, alongside talented apprentices, outstanding employers and individuals who champion apprenticeships.
The awards will be hosted via the National Apprenticeship Awards website and you can watch via a simple registration process on the night.
For further information, follow our apprenticeships social media channels or should you have any queries please e-mail apprenticeship.awards@education.gov.uk.
6. Information: Find Apprenticeship Training redesign
We have redesigned the find apprenticeship training function in the apprenticeship service to make it easier for employers to find the information they need.
Our improvements will:
- make it easier for employers to compare training providers by displaying their overall ratings in a list.
- show information on a providers ‘strengths’ and ‘things to improve’, listing (up to) the top 3 for each section.
- order training provider results by considering employer reviews, achievement rates and distance.
For any queries please visit [help.apprenticeships.education.gov.uk](https://help.apprenticeships.education.gov.uk/hc/en-gb or contact the Apprenticeship Service on 08000 150 600.
7. Information: campaign to recruit next Further Education Commissioner – deadline this Friday
The FE Commissioner works with colleges to improve the quality of education for learners, strengthen financial resilience, improve the quality of leadership and reduce the risk of colleges requiring interventions. More details and how to apply are available online.
There are still two weeks left to apply to be one of the six new FE Advisers being recruited to the FE Commissioner’s team – these are finance and/or curriculum and quality specialists with a deep understanding of the sector, who support the FE Commissioner in his work. Further details, including an application pack, are available online.