Learning and skills council announces 13 colleges go through to next stage of building programme

The Learning and Skills Council has identified only 13 colleges from a total of 144 projects for a possible funding kickstart.An inquiry into the LSC's college re-building programme in England found that major mistakes had been made.The LSC's chief executive Mark Haysom resigned after 144 college building projects which had been approved were thrown into doubt because it did not have the money to fund them.

The projects approved will now have to reduce their costs, the LSC said.The Association of Colleges says the LSC had a duty towards those colleges which had already put money into projects which must now be abandoned.

The LSC examined all projects which are ready to proceed quickly and then applied the following criteria:

• the education and skills impact;
• contribution to local economic and regeneration priorities;
• co-dependency (for example, where there is significant leverage of third party funding or another important project that is dependent on the college project);
• the current condition of the estate; and
• value for money.

The 13 colleges that have been selected to proceed are:

• Barnsley College
• Bournville College
• Furness College
• Hartlepool College of Further Education
• Kirklees College
• Leyton Sixth Form College
• Manchester College – Wythenshawe
• North West Kent College
• St Helens College
• Sandwell College
• South Thames College
• Tresham Institute of Further and Higher Education, Corby
• West Cheshire College