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Refund demand for ‘betrayed’ colleges

10:30am Sunday 19th July 2009 in


SOUTHAMPTON City Council is calling on the Government to refund the millions of pounds spent by colleges preparing for rebuilding projects.

The call comes after Whitehall withdrew its funding promises for the schemes.

The council’s ruling Tories said the decision by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to pull the plug on funds to rebuild Taunton’s and Itchen colleges was a “betrayal” by the Government.

They said the buck stopped with Itchen MP and former skills secretary John Denham, pictured.

Taunton’s College wants £800,000 back from the £1.8m it spent on its £35m redevelopment package.

£1m has already been reimbursed.

It is understood Itchen College spent a similar amount on its planned £48m move from its Sholing campus to the Eastpoint Centre in Thornhill.

Southampton City College, Totton College and Brockenhurst College also applied for LSC cash towards multi-million- pound redevelopment projects.

The future of the five projects, worth more than £160m, is now uncertain.

The LSC froze a flagship college building scheme after it ran out of money.

More than 180 colleges applied. Out of the 79 colleges that were given “approval in principle” just 13 have been allowed to continue.

A cross-party council motion deplored the way the LSC promised substantial sums of cash then reneged on their promises causing “much abortive expenditure and serious demoralisation”.

Mark Haysom quit as LSC chief executive as a result of the debacle.

A probe by a committee of MPs last week blamed the LSC for wasting hundreds of millions of taxpayer cash through “catastrophic mismanagement”

and concluded Mr Denham’s former department “clearly failed in its oversight duties”.

The committee report said the Government will need to “ensure that compensation arrangements for sunk costs are settled as a matter of urgency”.

Comments(17)

Condor Man says...
12:42pm Sun 19 Jul 09

So much for Blair's Education, Education, Education. Denham is beyond saying sorry these days, he lost interest in Itchen when he joined the cabinet.

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News Fanatic says...
1:53pm Sun 19 Jul 09

Southampton City Council's Tory group has less than a year to wait for a Conservative government. Then money will flow like water to them and every funding wish will be granted.

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southy says...
2:31pm Sun 19 Jul 09

News Fanatic wrote:
Southampton City Council's Tory group has less than a year to wait for a Conservative government. Then money will flow like water to them and every funding wish will be granted.
very unlikely, if the torys gain power and thats very big if, all they will do is more privatizing, saumals if you remember has all ready gsff on that, thats why he has a spin doctor to make sure he dont slip up again. thats costing the tax payers money.

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Condor Man says...
2:42pm Sun 19 Jul 09

I went to Itchen College under the last Tory government and was taught in huts and prefabs. It may have been cold but the teaching was excellent. Buildings are a gimmick, colleges are swamped with poor grade students because the government have fouled up on adequate training post 16. These students don't want to be 'in school' so colleges have been forced into near bankruptcy to accommodate them. When the 6th form at Bitterne Park opens I can see other comps doing the same, thus killing off Itchen College.

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goard says...
4:17pm Sun 19 Jul 09

I shake my head in disbelief that the Colleges would go ahead with preparing for the rebuilding of the colleges. Where is the document that surely must have been given by the Government, what silly so and so would go ahead without assurances of the money forthcoming, and if they had said legal document then take the Government to task - perhaps there isn't a man big enough to do this - what sloppy housekeeping - its like a housewife filling her house with furniture without first having that document that the money is forthcoming.

goard

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The voice of the people says...
4:45pm Sun 19 Jul 09

This is typical of this bunch, no doubt this money will be spend on illegal immigrants

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bravebeth says...
4:45pm Sun 19 Jul 09

It was not necessary to spend so much money on preparations for future buildings. There was never any guarantee the plans would be funded. Buildings do not cover up an appalling educational system. It is what happens inside which is important. The children in third world countries, value education, work hard and achieve brilliant results. British Children need discipline from their parents and teachers so that they are ready to learn and get a real education. Look at the millions of pounds which have been spent on education during the Labour government - what has been achieved - absolutely nothing. Adults are illiterate and innumerate. The same adults have no social skills and certainly no common sense.

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MrGMan says...
4:58pm Sun 19 Jul 09

The government shouldn't have promised the money.

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Paramjit Bahia says...
7:40pm Sun 19 Jul 09

While brand new buildings may look nice, they do not add much to the education but contribute plenty to the building and demolition businesses. This ultra opportunistic government has been fooling the public and misleading the local authorities with sound bites for far too long. If even an ordinary old man like me can work that out, how come the high flyers of Southampton Council could not?

Denham’s dodgy policy on this issue was also criticised by another report, which appeared in the national press few weeks ago. Now even his fellow MPs have expressed concern. But nothing is going to happen because now he has moved to another post. What does that say about our democratic accountability?

Those who think simply replacing New Labour with Blair’s clone Cameron’s Conservative will resolve the problems should recall the memory of Thatcher years, which started the strangulation of local government by out of touch self serving mob in London. Those policies need reversing; otherwise we will continue getting more of the same.

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Condor Man says...
8:34pm Sun 19 Jul 09

Paramjit Bahia wrote:
While brand new buildings may look nice, they do not add much to the education but contribute plenty to the building and demolition businesses. This ultra opportunistic government has been fooling the public and misleading the local authorities with sound bites for far too long. If even an ordinary old man like me can work that out, how come the high flyers of Southampton Council could not? Denham’s dodgy policy on this issue was also criticised by another report, which appeared in the national press few weeks ago. Now even his fellow MPs have expressed concern. But nothing is going to happen because now he has moved to another post. What does that say about our democratic accountability? Those who think simply replacing New Labour with Blair’s clone Cameron’s Conservative will resolve the problems should recall the memory of Thatcher years, which started the strangulation of local government by out of touch self serving mob in London. Those policies need reversing; otherwise we will continue getting more of the same.
Itchen College opted out of LEA control years ago- I would have thought you would have known that.

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the medic says...
9:20pm Sun 19 Jul 09

it could well be a LIB DEM GOV the Cons live up to the name and laber well they atr just out of it now they are s sham

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Condor Man says...
9:34pm Sun 19 Jul 09

the medic wrote:
it could well be a LIB DEM GOV the Cons live up to the name and laber well they atr just out of it now they are s sham
we could do with a government where our leaders worked for the good of everyone, not for their own self interest.

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eurogordi says...
10:03pm Sun 19 Jul 09

goard wrote:
I shake my head in disbelief that the Colleges would go ahead with preparing for the rebuilding of the colleges. Where is the document that surely must have been given by the Government, what silly so and so would go ahead without assurances of the money forthcoming, and if they had said legal document then take the Government to task - perhaps there isn't a man big enough to do this - what sloppy housekeeping - its like a housewife filling her house with furniture without first having that document that the money is forthcoming. goard
It was the soon to be abolished Learning & Skills Council (LSC) who gave the assurance to colleges that the money would be available and that colleges could start drawing up plans, gaining local planning permission etc. I understand this was done in writing, but whether the LSC actually had it in writing from central government is a different matter. Either way, it would appear that the LSC misjudged the cost of rebuilding in relation to the budget that had been made available - and it is the colleges rather than LSC who are now out of pocket. Fortunately the LSC, a virtually useless and expensive government quango, will soon disappear, leaving the colleges to recover their losses in whatever why they can.

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Andy E says...
11:19pm Sun 19 Jul 09

Perhaps these colleges should have taken a look at Peter Symonds College in Winchester.

Is it one of the top 5 colleges in the UK by exam results? YES.

Was every aspect of its work graded as "outstanding" in its latest Ofsted report? YES.

Has it felt the need to expensively bulldoze its campus and rebuild with snazzy new buildings in order to achieve this success? NO.

Was it planning to do so under this scheme? Not 100% sure, but I haven't seen any mention of it in the reporting.



There are simply more important and useful things for these colleges to be focussing on. Whilst I cannot comment on all of them, I am very familiar with Taunton's and Brockenhurst, and frankly I just cannot see what is wrong with there existing buildings.

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Paramjit Bahia says...
1:39am Mon 20 Jul 09

Condor Man wrote:
Paramjit Bahia wrote: While brand new buildings may look nice, they do not add much to the education but contribute plenty to the building and demolition businesses. This ultra opportunistic government has been fooling the public and misleading the local authorities with sound bites for far too long. If even an ordinary old man like me can work that out, how come the high flyers of Southampton Council could not? Denham’s dodgy policy on this issue was also criticised by another report, which appeared in the national press few weeks ago. Now even his fellow MPs have expressed concern. But nothing is going to happen because now he has moved to another post. What does that say about our democratic accountability? Those who think simply replacing New Labour with Blair’s clone Cameron’s Conservative will resolve the problems should recall the memory of Thatcher years, which started the strangulation of local government by out of touch self serving mob in London. Those policies need reversing; otherwise we will continue getting more of the same.
Itchen College opted out of LEA control years ago- I would have thought you would have known that.
Thanks for waking me up. I really did not know that Itchen had opted out.

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MaxxieO says...
12:30pm Mon 20 Jul 09

I agree that rebuilding these colleges is an extravagance. The money would be far better spent on education-related issues rather than paying to replace perfectly usable buildings with new ones just because the old buildings are no longer fashionable.

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Vconfused says...
5:52pm Tue 21 Jul 09

Do you know for a fact that the money was going to be used to demolish old buildings just because they were unfashionable MaxxieO? I find that highly unlikely. Colleges are having to expand the type and number of courses they offer, sometimes requiring new or specialist facilities. And if building is 'extravagance' what particular 'education-related issues' do you think the money should be spent on? Excepting of course, if the govt or LSC says x amount is available for new building, colleges themselves can't decide to spend it another way.

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