ASCL joins call for less bureaucracy in FE sector

17 February 2006

The Association of School and College Leaders is supporting the call for less bureaucracy and simpler funding and accountability systems in the FE sector. The issue was highlighted in today’s Public Accounts Committee report on FE colleges.

Said ASCL deputy general secretary Martin Ward:

“It is unfortunate that the concentration has been on a very small number of relatively poorly performing colleges. As the report states, the great majority of colleges are performing extraordinarily well in difficult circumstances. The problem is not so much with or in the colleges but with a system that leaves colleges starved of funds and mired in bureaucracy.”

“The LSC is trying to introduce simpler systems of funding and accountability, but the good effects of this have  not yet reached colleges. College leaders are happy to be accountable for their use of public funds, and the overwhelming majority are doing exactly what the committee wants - adapting themselves to the needs of learners and employers - but limited resources curtail what they can do.”