ESFA e-bulletin for academies: 13 July 2017
Published 13 July 2017
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2017
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-e-bulletin-13-july-2017-issue-178/esfa-e-bulletin-for-academies-13-july-2017
1. Information: technical education work placement funding
On Thursday, 6 July, Education Secretary Justine Greening confirmed a £50 million investment from April 2018 to fund high-quality work placements, a key component of every T-Level, to help prepare young people for skilled work.
All 16 to 19 students following a new technical education route will be entitled to a substantial work placement to arm them with the technical skills that they need to give them the best possible chance for entering skilled employment.
This funding will be available to providers currently delivering the technical programmes we expect could evolve over time to T-Levels. Guidance and details of provider eligibility will be issued in September.
Further information is available on GOV.UK.
2. Information: academies land and buildings collection tool
We’ve published a guide to completing the 2016 to 2017 academies land and buildings collection tool (LBCT).
To help you prepare, we’ve also published an Excel workbook that shows the information required.
The online LBCT form will be available from 1 October 2017. The deadline for trusts to complete the online form is 31 October 2017.
3. Information: update on business cases for 2017 to 2018 academic year post-16 funding allocations
We have reviewed and confirmed the outcomes of most business cases received, relating to post-16 funding allocations for the 2017 to 2018 academic year. Only cases which were submitted after the published deadline or where we are still waiting for additional information from institutions are outstanding. Once we have received this information we will review business cases and respond within 4 weeks.
Where allocations have been updated following a business case, a revised allocation statement will be available on the Information Exchange in the revenue funding folder under AY 2017-18 (2017/18).
If you have any queries about the outcome of your case, please contact us using our online enquiry form.
4. Information: finance online returns user testing
As part of our commitment to improve our online financial returns, we’re seeking volunteers from academy trusts to help with user acceptance testing in August.
We’ll be testing the online forms for the academies accounts return and the new land and buildings collection tool. Both forms are due to go live on 1 October 2017.
If you’re available and would like to help, please contact Ellen Buck in our Academies Financial Reporting Division.
5. Information: customer engagement user research
Many thanks to those of you who have already volunteered to host or attend one of our customer engagement focus groups, or to be interviewed by phone.
As you will be aware, we are looking at how we engage with our customers. We want to understand your experience of engaging with us, identify what works well for you and where we may need to make improvements. To achieve this aim we would like to speak with you directly.
We still have a few spaces on focus groups and for interviews. Volunteers should ideally be people who have the most contact with ESFA within your organisation.
If you are able to take part, either in a focus group or on the phone, please contact us at ESFA@education.gov.uk by 12pm on Friday, 14 July.
| User group(s) | Host and area | Date and time |
|---|---|---|
| Local authorities, maintained schools and academies | Kent County Council, South East – Swanley | Tuesday, 18 July at 11.30am to 2pm |
| Local authorities, maintained schools and academies | Tupton Hall School, North – Chesterfield | Thursday, 20 July at 10am to 12.30pm |
| FE colleges and sixth forms | College of North West London | Wednesday, 19 July at 10am to 12.30pm |
| FE colleges and sixth forms | Prior Pursglove and Stockton Sixth Form College (Stockton Campus) | Monday, 17 July at 2pm to 4.30pm |
| Training providers (independent and charitable) | Appris Management Limited, North East – Bradford | Tuesday, 25 July at 2pm to 4.30pm |
| Training providers (independent and charitable) | Qube learning, Midlands – Abingdon | Monday, 31 July at 10am to 12.30pm |