Teather raises plight of College of North West London
June 22, 2005 12:41 PM
By Sarah Teather MP in Hansard
By Sarah Teather MP in Hansard
Sarah Teather raising the plight of the College of North West London
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) on securing such an important debate. I shall have to be extremely brief, so I should like to highlight the impact of the Government's priorities on my constituency, which is an area that the Minister might expect would benefit from prioritising training in level 2 and basic skills. The problem in my constituency is that the demand is for construction skills and basic skills, particularly English as a foreign language, which both require high-cost training.
The college of North West London in my constituency outperforms against all targets. There is a massive demand, but it cannot meet that demand. The high cost of such courses and the requirement on the college to provide them free of charge mean that it is penalised for meeting the Government's targets. The principal of the college must either turn away the students whom the Government have told the institution to recruit or risk its financial viability. That is a ridiculous situation, as I am sure the Minister will agree.
As in the constituency of the hon. Member for Worcester (Mr. Foster), the need in my constituency is for pre-entry or level 1 training. There is a huge waiting list for level 1 training, but there is now a push to move people through to level 2, which is not where the need is. That makes it difficult for the college to meet local need. Long-term unemployment in my constituency has jumped by 50 per cent. since 2001. The college is ready and able to train the young people and adults who need those skills so desperately, but because of Government priorities, it finds that it is unable to meet that need.
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