EFA e-bulletin for schools, colleges, local authorities and other 16 to 19 providers: 10 December 2015
Published 10 December 2015
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/efa-e-bulletin-10-december-2015-issue-111/efa-e-bulletin-for-schools-colleges-local-authorities-and-other-16-to-19-providers-10-december-2015
1. Reminder: how to submit sixth-form colleges’ audited accounts
As confirmed in the Education Funding Agency (EFA) e-bulletin in November, the process for sixth-form colleges to submit their audited accounts to EFA has changed this year.
Sixth-form colleges must submit their accounts for the year ended 31 July 2015 using the document exchange in EFA Information Exchange. We have published guidance about how to do this.
The college accounts direction sets out which documents must be submitted.
The deadline to submit your accounts is 31 December 2015.
2. Information: exceptional growth in traineeships in 2015 to 2016
We will continue to ensure that funding for institutions supports growing traineeship numbers, and in March 2016 will review the position based on R06 data received in February.
If you do have exceptional growth in traineeships in the 2015 to 2016 academic year, please contact us via the EFA enquiry form.
3. Information: changes to traineeships for the 2016 to 2017 academic year
Skills Minister Nick Boles has written to the sector on the removal, from August 2016, of the requirement that providers are graded ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted in order to deliver traineeships.
This fulfils a commitment to review the criteria once traineeships were fully established and getting excellent results for young people.
In terms of Ofsted grades, traineeships will be treated the same way as other study programmes.
4. Final reminder: applying for the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) 2016 to 2017
If you are applying for the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) for 2016 to 2017, you must complete and submit your application by midday on 16 December.
If you are applying for the first time, you must set up your CIF portal account. We recommend you register well in advance or you will risk having to make enquiries that could lead to missing the submission deadline.
If you have an existing CIF portal account you do not need to re-register.
You can read the Condition Improvement Fund guidance for applicants on GOV.UK. This sets out the application process and assessment criteria.
5. Information: local authority actual expenditure for 2014 to 2015
We have published the local authority actual expenditure tables (known as Section 251) for the 2014 to 2015 financial year.
These tables include details of local authority revenue expenditure on education and children’s and young people’s services. This includes information showing expenditure against specific spending lines, and includes a workbook showing the expenditure detail for each local authority.
These tables are published in conjunction with the official statistics on schools, education and children’s services spending for 2014 to 2015.
Any questions about these tables should be raised via the online EFA enquiry form.
6. Information: 2016 to 2017 authority proforma tool
We will be releasing the final 2016 to 2017 authority proforma tool (APT) via the data collection portal. We will send an e-mail to local authorities with log-in details and the password for their APT.
We have updated the APT 2016 to 2017 instructions for local authorities and published the schools block dataset 2016 to 2017 technical specification.
The APT will contain the updated Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) published in September 2015. Local authorities using IDACI should review their unit values to make sure that the amounts allocated to individual schools and the total allocations are in line with the authority’s intended use of this factor.
7. Reminder: English Baccalaureate (EBacc) consultation
The Department for Education (DfE) is consulting on implementing the English Baccalaureate (EBacc).
The government’s goal is that over 90% of pupils in mainstream secondary schools will enter the EBacc. We are seeking views on proposals to achieve this.
The consultation was launched on 3 November and runs until 29 January 2016. Please respond to the consultation or email us at English.BACCALAUREATE@education.gsi.gov.uk.