LIB DEMS SLAM LABOUR'S POST 16 FUNDING FIASCO

10.56.52am BST (GMT +0100) Sat 11th Apr 2009

Labour's post 16 education plans are in chaos due to poor planning & a failure to monitor changes effectively by ministers says Prospective Lib Dem MP for South Dorset, Ros Kayes.

The Learning & Skills Council has committed huge tranches of capital which it doesn't actually have to encourage building projects in colleges across the country, only for school & college managers to now discover that the money is no longer available. Some building programmes have already started, but no longer have the funds to finish !

The government has extended the future compulsory age of attendance from 16 to 19 but has disastrously underestimated the numbers planning to study. The newly introduced 14-19 curriculum requires complete restructuring & massive funding which has been completely underestimated & the Building Schools for the Future programme, that is partly dependent on funding from Private Finance Initiatives has stalled because in the recession no-one is prepared to invest in it.

Cllr Kayes, a teacher & lecturer in the sector for 20 years, describes the collapse of the plans as disastrous - "But it was a disaster waiting to happen, because the government failed to anticipate properly the rise in demand for education in the recession." , she said.

Sixth forms & Colleges were told last week that they would be receiving up to £200 million less in funding than they had expected, with 35,000 places on courses due to start in September threatened. Ministers have also been forced to reduce the expansion of university student numbers because of a separate £200 million shortfall in funding the higher education budget.

"In terms of the Further Education Colleges , it is not yet apparent who is to blame for not keeping proper account of the funds promised to institutions - the LSC for not keeping account of what they had promised, or the Government for not keeping proper account of the LSC ?

"A sector that has been vastly under funded since the Conservatives moved FE out of local authority control, which has over the years had to contort itself to jump through the hoops of a variety of government funding fads in order to secure the money to survive , is now going to be struggling once again to provide against even greater odds an adequate education to post sixteens struggling to get the right grades. Accessing places at university since the onset of recession will become more competitive than ever", she continued.

"Like the whole Building Schools for the Future & Diploma programmes this has been ill thought out, poorly planned for & even less effectively monitored. What have the ministers concerned been doing ? This is bound to have a negative effect on students & colleges throughout South Dorset at a time when we most need places to be available for school leavers", she said, "and when the County Council is already struggling to pay for school rebuilds across Dorset".