The FE commissioner has said his team has paused most of its work in colleges, in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
In a tweet this morning, Richard Atkins said his team “has paused all activity in colleges except where we can, with their consent, provide support to those colleges we are already working with”.
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Support amid coronavirus outbreak
Mr Atkins added the commissioner’s team was also providing information and support to Department for Education and Education and Skills Funding Agency colleagues “as required”.
While there has been no government advice that colleges should close, a number of institutions have started moving away from face-to-face lessons or have closed some sites in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
On Monday, the prime minister said social contact should be reduced to help slow down the spread of the virus.
Today, the government published the FE commissioner’s report on Richmond Upon Thames College, which has been placed into supervised college status as a result. It highlights the college’s financial challenges and governance issues, which it says are now being addressed.
The report recommends that the college should complete work on its revised financial plan and detailed staff restructuring proposals by February 2020 to confirm the scope to achieve a sustainable operating position by 2020-21. This should be informed by “an urgent review of campus redevelopment costs, phasing, financing and outputs working closely with the GLA in order to confirm scope to reduce the net impact on college cashflow”.
Subject to the outcome of the commissioner’s other recommendations, the report says the FEC team should “undertake a structure and prospects appraisal to identify options for structural change including merger (for implementation by December 2020)”.
In a letter to the college also published today, apprenticeships and skills minister Gillian Keegan said that following a recent visit to the college by the FE commissioner’s team in January 2020, it was “clear that despite some improvements, difficulties in securing the long-term sustainability of the college remain”.
