§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he has taken to monitor the use of minor works funds in colleges; and what records are available to show the purposes for allocation of these funds in each college.
§ Mr. BoswellThe monitoring of the use of allocations from the Further Education Funding Council for England for minor works in colleges is a matter for the FEFC.
Minor works funds are paid to colleges by FEFC on production of contractors' invoices and architects' certificates. These are checked against a detailed schedule of works required at each college, prepared for FEFC by Hunter and Partners, chartered surveyors. The FEFC will also be conducting spot-checks of minor works at colleges in the coming months. Colleges are required as a condition of funding to have adequate systems of accounting, audit and internal control, and are thus in a position to demonstrate from their own records how their funds have been used.
Colleges are permitted to transfer recurrent funding received from FEFC to capital purposes, subject to any limits which FEFC may choose to impose. Colleges' 321W governing bodies have operational autonomy, and are free to decide how to spend such funding in the best interests of their college.
The FEFC must be consulted about transactions affecting land or buildings which involve capital sums in excess of £100,000, and where FEFC funds are likely to be required for maintenance of the property. Its consent is required where its funding is applied to developments significantly affecting the value of property, or where material disposals of publicly funded assets are envisaged.