23 March 2001
The Public Accounts Committee found that 72 of England's 416 FE colleges were in 'poor financial health'.
The twin causes of the problems were the 'byzantine funding methodology' used to make allocations to colleges, and failings in management that were left unchecked due to weak audit procedures.
PAC chairman David Davis said the new Learning and Skills Council, which will assume responsibility for the sector from the Further Education Funding Council later this year, needed to focus its efforts on preventing problems from occurring, rather than dealing with their effects.
He added: 'This would allow central and college management resources to concentrate more on the delivery of their main objectives – quality, successful education.'
Davis also recommended that, as in Scotland, the auditor and comptroller general should be given responsibility for auditing all college accounts and funding claims.
PFmar2001
