South Thames College has become the latest victim of the government’s rudderless interpretation of the ship of state.
The college has been undergoing a dramatic makeover recently, with new facilities being built to the rear of their Wandsworth High Street site the next phase was on the listed front of the building. Despite having got agreement in principle and being told the money had been ringfenced for them, the college is now told the money just isn’t there.
The government were aware of the problems six months ago. On yesterday’s Today programme Education Minister Siôn Simon accepted that one of his officials had attended meetings, but that the minutes just weren’t very detailed, and didn’t really cover the funding problems until late last year. So that’s all right then.
All the time this gives the impression of a government that seems to know the game is up, and is just going through the motions until the electorate get the chance to blow the whistle. Unfortunately South Thames College, and the people employed on the work there, are amongst those paying the price on this one.
[…] month brought the news that the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) were freezing funding for building projects in colleges across the country. South Thames College was just one of the colleges affected, being […]