Coleg Gwent could lose 88 staff

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 22nd Oct 2009

Local Liberal Democrat Assembly Member Michael German has slammed the decision by the Labour-Plaid Government to force a 5% cut on local colleges across the Gwent area.

Mr. German said, "In our communities, I know many people who have benefited from going to Coleg Gwent and benefited from the excellent standard of teaching. To cut their budget like this will cost £2.65 million - the equivalent of 88 of lecturers.

"Further Education plays a valuable role in helping people across Gwent to reach their full potential. As well as this they are going to be an essential component in the economic recovery. To cut their budgets by 5% when the rest of the Labour-Plaid Government is receiving many smaller cuts shows how skewed the Government priorities are."

He added, "To force these huge cuts on important colleges at this time is short-sighted and wrong. We will be fighting these cuts every step of the way."

Coleg Gwent was in the news earlier this year as it announced a range of closures and cuts, including the decision to close the residential college The Hill in Abergavenny in order to balance the books in response to funding issues form the Welsh Assembly Government.