§ Mr. Liddell-GraingerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what meetings she has had with the Association of Colleges to discuss the shortage of(a) teachers and (b) lecturers in further education. [23545]
§ John HealeyThe Secretary of State met David Gibson from the Association of Colleges (AOC) on 14 November 2001 and also addressed the AOC Conference on 20 November. Additionally, my colleague the Minister for Lifelong Learning and I have each met twice with representatives from the AOC, on 15 June and 31 July, and 12 July and 10 October respectively.
403WDiscussion at these meetings covered a wide range of issues about the FE sector, including recruitment and retention difficulties in some subject areas and the initiatives that Government have introduced to attract new staff to the profession and reward and retain excellent teachers and lecturers, including the Teaching Pay Initiative, Golden Helios, Student Loan Write Off and Training Bursaries.