Williams supports City of Bristol College to reverse funding cut proposal

1.15.00pm GMT Mon 15th Feb 2010

The City of Bristol College

Bristol West Liberal Democrat MP, Stephen Williams, councillors and community organisations have pledged to support City of Bristol College in its attempt to reverse proposed funding cuts that could affect thousands of adults who want to retrain. Stephen joined Council members, representatives from 14 community organisations and College leaders on Friday to discuss a potential £3 million cut to the College's adult funding allocation.

The funding cuts are aimed at work-focused courses that lead to jobs in areas such as care, plumbing and electrical installation, teaching, accountancy and book-keeping. The College would also be required to cut provision such as full vocational qualifications and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).

The proposed cuts would impact most heavily on adults seeking to retrain and could result in 3,000 fewer adult places at the College from September 2010. The cuts would also affect the College's partner organisations that deliver courses to some of Bristol's most disadvantaged communities and would lead to redundancies among College staff.

Stephen Williams, commented: "At a time when our economic climate is so fragile there need to be more opportunities for adults to retrain, not fewer. I am encouraging fellow MPs to raise questions about how these funding allocations fit with the stated Government policy of protecting front line services and avoiding public service cuts now."

Bristol City Council Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Cllr Clare Campion-Smith said: "Funding cuts of this size would have a far-reaching effect on the city and would damage Bristol's recovery from recession. We are committed to working closely with the College to oppose the proposed cuts."

Keith Elliott, Principal at City of Bristol College, commented: "Such a huge reduction in funding for adult courses would be extremely harmful for Bristol. We cannot understand why the Government is cutting adult training in a recession and we are pressing for an improved allocation at national and local levels. We are also continuing to discuss the consequences of the proposed cuts with our staff and unions."

In addition to the proposed cuts to funding for adult courses, the College is facing cuts to its Train to Gain allocation and the funding it receives for 16-18 year old students. These additional proposed cuts would result in a total loss (including adult funding cuts) of more than £4.5 million for the College compared with this academic year's budget.