Call for inquiry into Gwent principal's pay-off

The anger at Wirral comes as MPs urge a government inquiry into the pay-off and lucrative new job of Sue Parker, the former principal of Gwent Tertiary College, another college in trouble.

A report by the National Audit Office last month detailed how Ms Parker presided over a financial collapse at the Welsh college. Ms Parker was suspended after an external inquiry revealed a catalogue of mismanagement and procedural breaches, leaving debts of about Pounds 7 million.

Despite an explicit, but ineffective, demand from Welsh Further Education Funding Council chief executive John Andrews that Ms Parker should not be awarded any more than her contractual entitlement of sixth months' pay, the governors agreed a "compromise agreement" to give her an eight-month salary package of Pounds 41,858.

It has now emerged that Ms Parker is working in a "senior position" at college examinations and awarding body Edexcel. An early day motion signed by 22 MPs has condemned her appointment, after "almost destroying Gwent tertiary college". The MPs call on the government to investigate the appointment "as a matter of urgency".