Recommendation 25

We asked about colleges’ ability to recruit and retain teaching staff. DfE explained that it was trying to promote teaching in the FE sector as a positive career, especially for people who were mid-career and could offer industry experience. However, it accepted that recruitment was a significant challenge, particularly because college pay would often not compete with pay in the industries from which colleges were seeking to attract potential staff. DfE also said that it had been working with colleges to develop options for 30 DWE0008 British Retail Consortium, Developing workforce skills for a strong economy, 17 October 2022 31 DWE0011 Heathrow Airport Ltd, Developing workforce skills for a strong economy, 17 October 2022 32 DWE0009 City & Guilds, Developing workforce skills for a strong economy, 17 October 2022 33 Q 81 34 Committee of Public Accounts, Managing colleges’ financial sustainability, Thirty-Eighth Report of Session 2019–21, HC 692, 27 January 2021 35 Committee of Public Accounts, Managing colleges’ financial sustainability, section 1 para 2 36 Q 52 37 Committee of Public Accounts, Managing colleges’ financial sustainability, section 1 paras 5, 8 38 Qq 21, 23 Developing workforce skills for a strong economy 15 potential staff who wanted to teach part-time but also stay in industry part-time. It told us that such initiatives helped with funding from the college’s point of view and income from the individual’s point of view, and they also helped to ensure that the skills being taught in colleges remained current and rooted in industry practice.39 DfE’s Unit for Future Skills