Award-winning journalism from the only newspaper dedicated to further education and skills FEWEEK.CO.UK | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 | EDITION 126 Page 4 Pages Page 8 Adding value success Inspection 6 & 7 More sfc visits, in the South West results in depth more expected Main picture: Handbridge ‘MISTAKES’ LED TO ‘COSTLY AND and, inset, Ellesmere Port INEFFICIENT’ BUILDINGS One site ‘difficult’ for learners to get to and ‘unsuitable for provision’ £68m developments leave college with huge debts ‘Sell one off’ says commissioner @paulofford it with crippling debt as he called on Skills years after rebuilding it on a site “relatively
[email protected] Minister Nick Boles to order that one be difficult to reach by public transport”. sold off. It is also “unsuitable for the provision it Further Education Commissioner Dr David He described the buildings as “costly offers,” according to Dr Collins. Collins has told how a series of blunders and inefficient” — and the college has The building, in Chester, opened around over the “size, location and financing” of revealed plans to shut the Handbridge site, the same time as the college’s Ellesmere these £68m West Cheshire College builds left as recommended by Dr Collins, just four Continues on page 3 FE Week Annual Apprenticeship Conference and Exhibition 2015 THE FLAGSHIP CONFERENCE OF NATIONAL APPRENTICESHIP WEEK DON’T DELAY BOOK TODAY DATE: March 9 to 10, 2015 VENUE: Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Westminster, London For more information and to register visit feweekaac2015.co.uk 2 @FEWEEK FE WEEK MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 Edition 126 NEWS FE WEEK News in brief ‘OPEN TRAINEESHIPS UP’ PLEA AS FE loans top 52k FE WEEK team More than 2,300 applications for FE loans STARTS HIT 5K IN FIRST QUARTER in December have taken the total so far this Editor: Chris Henwood year to 52,670.