Government revises post-16 education cost report

Objections by training and enterprise councils have forced the government to revise a report showing that further education colleges are the cheapest means of delivering post-16 education.

The TEC National Council, which represents the 78 TECs in England and Wales, was unhappy with the comparisons made between TECs and colleges in a government comparison of the costs of providing education.

The government report, showing cost comparisons for 1996-97, is the latest in the series. It is now seriously overdue: the previous report, with figures for 1995-96, was published in March 1997. The Department for Education and Employment insisted no date was set for this year's report.

When a draft report was published for consultation about three weeks ago, the national council complained that the figures failed to compare like with like. They argued that TECs trained a higher proportion of people with learning difficulties and special educational needs than colleges. It was important therefore to put the higher cost of TEC training into context. The report has since been amended.

Mary Lord, director of training and education for the national council, said: "It is important when making comparisons of costings that these comparisons are accurate. I do not doubt the accuracy of the (government's) figures but we thought that the report did not fully explain the different routes. It could have been misleading and extremely disadvantageous to young people with special needs."

The DFEE said a revised version is out for consultation: a final version is expected by Christmas.

TECs have come under fire recently from a number of sources claiming that their combined Pounds 1.4 billion budget could be better spent. Most recently, the Confederation of British Industry said that TEC performance was patchy. The government is reviewing TEC funding and the national council has been keen to defend its members' work and budgets.

MP David Chaytor (Labour, Bury North), chairman of the Commons' all-party further education group, is sceptical. Mr Chaytor intends to introduce a ten-minute-rule bill tackling funding inequalities between colleges and TECs. His first ten-minute-rule bill was introduced last week and called for a common funding formula for all post-16 education.