College review fairness probe

Conservative county councillor Joy Waite called for the team to look into accusations made by schools and parents that the review has been biased in favour of a new tertiary college, meaning Bexhill College would no longer be independent.

The proposal was backed by all parties but will only scrutinise the Local Education Authority's activities, who have been working closely on the review alongside the Sussex Learning and Skills Council.

Cllr Waite said: "I think both parents and the teaching professions would value an independent scrutiny board not only to look at the evidence for and against the proposals, but also to look into the consultation process itself, to see if it is being conducted in a neutral manner. I believe this exercise would go a long way to reassure everyone that the outcome is not a done deal, but is part of a live process that will deliver either a yes or no answer.

"It would also identify shortcomings either in the evidence, conclusions, or the process, and would be able to highlight problems before anything irrevocable happens."

Liberal Democrat county councillor Kathryn Field, backed the move. She said: "We knew that there has been a lot of disquiet about the situation, so we decided to appoint a committee to look at the LEA, as we have no power over the LSC.

"I think there are things which could have been done better, for example the main documents with all the evidence in has been very hard to get hold of. It's very hard to substantiate a lot of the criticisms without the evidence being available."

The board is made up of county councillor John Garvican, parent governor Sarah Maynard and Jeremy Taylor, who is on the board of education for the diocese of Chichester.

All three have no involvement in education in Hastings or Rother.

They met for the first time last Friday to set down which questions they wanted answered. The scrutiny committee meets on September 17 and if it is not satisfied will order a further investigation.

The next stage of the post-16 review is in mid-September when the project board makes its recommendation to the Learning and Skills Council and the Local Education Authority.

Rupert Simmons, lead cabinet member for education, said: "I think the review has been meticulous and provides a remarkable opportunity to improve standards of provision of post-16 education. A project board has been set up and I am very happy with that."