26 March 2004
The quango responsible for funding further education colleges in Scotland has been accused of being dilatory in its duty to identify essential costs of services.
In a highly critical report, the Scottish Parliament's audit committee criticises the Scottish Further Education Funding Council for slow progress in delivering key initiatives and of showing a lack of urgency in focusing on ministerial priorities.
The funding council, which distributes more than £400m a year to Scotland's further education colleges, said this week it was surprised by the criticisms.
According to the committee, the council is 'dragging its feet' in identifying what it costs individual colleges to deliver services. The committee believes this data is essential if colleges are to be funded fairly. It claims there is an 'inadequate fit' between the council's performance measures and ministers' priorities.
Brian Monteith, audit committee convener, said too many council initiatives were taking too long to come to fruition. He added: 'The funding council appears to be struggling to drive the performance agenda and ensure that ministerial priorities are being met.'
The council said it would work with the Scottish Executive in framing a suitable response. It pointed out that, earlier this year, Enterprise Minister Jim Wallace thanked the council for its progress in helping to work in partnership with colleges and other stakeholders.
The council added: 'The content of the committee's report is extremely disappointing and surprising. We shall be seeking an urgent meeting with the committee's convener to try to clarify the committee's understanding of the SFEFC's role and the evidence on which the report is based.'
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