Merger emerger

Ruth Gee, former further education supremo, may have good reason to feel she is backing a winner this time round after turning her talents to helping Labour secure general election victory. Ms Gee, former Association for Colleges chief executive, is working three days a week as policy adviser to Stephen Byers, shadow training and employment minister and MP for North Tyneside.

It is a change of tack for Ms Gee, who played a key role in bringing further education together by merging the AfC and the Colleges Employers Forum last year. Unfortunately for her, it was CEF chief Roger Ward who won the battle to become the new head of the merged Association of Colleges.

Ms Gee, who is also enrolled for an MBA with the Open University, is coy about her future and, while busy, admits she misses the "cut and thrust".