New Deal partners

Further education colleges are forging ahead with public-private partnerships under the government's New Deal for the unemployed. Rosemary Thew, New Deal project manager at the Department for Education and Employment, said: "It is either colleges or TECs taking the lead in their partnership groups." The Pounds 3.5 billion New Deal offers job or training to every 18 to 24-year-old unemployed for more than six months.