Archive - Tuesday, 9 February 2010


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Enfield college faces £2m cuts to adult learning programme

ADULT learners in Enfield may be forced to give up their dreams of further education following stringent Government cuts, according to the University College Union.

The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London is facing £2.55million cuts for 2010-2011, of which £2m will be to its adult learning programme.

The cut amounts to ten per cent of its total budget.

Sue Ives-Moiba, UCU branch chairwoman for the Enfield campus, in Hertford Road, said: "This is a huge cut. It could well mean cutting classes and whole courses, so we need to find a way to lessen its impact in some way.

"We will be speaking to the local authority to find out if there are different ways they could allocate their money.

"They too provide English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) training, but they employ private training providers that do not have the same experience or expertise as further education colleges.

"Any funding they have should come directly to the college, as a centre of learning.

"Otherwise we will see adults left at home, without training, without teaching."

Paul Head, principal and chief executive of the college, added: “It is unclear how these changes will impact on the college since the announcement was made just last week.

"We are working as hard as we can to minimise the effects on our learners and our local communities.”

The funding allocations, announced last week by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), will mean cuts of between ten and 25 per cent for adult learning provision in colleges across the country, according to the UCU.

However, the Government stressed overall funding for adult learning had increased from £3.3 billion in 2009/10 to £3.5 billion in 2010/11 - a 2.9 per cent rise.

Funding for 16-18 year olds has increased from £7.8 billion in 2009/10 to £8.2 billion in 2010/11.

A spokesman for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills said: "We are making sure that the money we invest in adult training is money well spent, and is invested in both general skills and skills that will increase productivity across the UK economy.

"This training needs to be relevant and equip adults with the skills they need to succeed and progress within their place of work and make a valuable contribution to the UK's future economic growth."