Press Release: Government is playing politics with FE Capital Crisis
The 13 colleges whose capital projects have been given the go-ahead by the Government are all in Labour constituencies, Conservative research has revealed. The total planned cost of these 13 projects is almost three quarters of a billion pounds, with more than half a billion of this provided by the taxpayer.
David Willetts, Shadow Secretary of State for Universities and Skills, commented:
“The college rebuilding process has been a fiasco. Colleges were promised billions of pounds that never existed and ministers have been very slow to put matters right.
“Now, only 13 colleges out of 144 have been told they can go ahead with their planned rebuilding. Every single one of them is in a Labour-held seat. We accept that financial pressures and the chaotic nature of the programme mean some projects cannot go ahead. But it is inconceivable that the only college building projects which are necessary with an election due in the next year are the ones that happen to be in Labour areas.
“We are calling on ministers to reassess the criteria for college rebuilding so that it is fairer and more transparent, and so that it provides the best possible outcomes for students.”
Notes to editors
Overall, about 40 per cent of the frozen projects are in Liberal Democrat or Conservative-held seats. Yet every one of the projects approved on 26 June was in a Labour area.
The list of 13 approved colleges was given by Kevin Brennan, the Minister for Further Education, Skills, Apprenticeships and Consumer Affairs, in a Written Statement on 26 June (Hansard, 26 June 2009, Column 73WS)
The colleges given the go-ahead are as follows:
ENDS