Council urges Government to explain post 16 decision

The Council is very concerned that the proposed Government changes will not improve educational standards compared to the original plans. The Council believes the original proposals put forward by the Learning and Skills Council and County Council would have lead to higher quality courses and greater opportunities for students across the whole of Hastings and Rother.

The County Council has also asked the Government about the legal basis of their decision and the timescale the Government has proposed for the Council and LSC to reply.

Councillor Keith Glazier, lead cabinet member for children's and adults' services, said: "This is a hugely important issue not only for the future of young people in Hastings and Rother but also for the regeneration of the area.

"We are very concerned that the Government's new set of proposals will not stack up in terms of educational improvement. We are asking for an explanation regarding the reasons for their decision, the legal basis for it and the extremely tight timescale for us to reply. If you take out the school holiday period, we only have three working weeks to discuss this with our schools and colleges and other partners before we have to go back to the Government at the end of September.

"It has taken three years to develop these proposals through local discussion and we now have three weeks to respond to a completely new set of proposals from central Government.

Education chiefs at East Sussex also want to reassure students and parents and carers that there will be no immediate changes to their education.

"We would like to make it clear that it's business as usual," said Councillor Glazier. "No changes have been made to post 16 education and any students starting their studies this September will not see any differences in their arrangements. This will apply for this and the next academic year as it is unlikely any possible future alterations will affect sixth formers in those intakes".