Adult Achievement under Threat

11.29.31am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 28th Feb 2005

After presenting certificates of achievement at Richmond Adult College on Friday, Vincent Cable, MP for Twickenham warned that a tight squeeze on funding for adult 'non-vocational' education was putting in jeopardy some greatly valued courses at the College.

The awards ceremony was to celebrate some remarkable achievements of pupils who, in some cases have triumphed over enormous adversity - disability, illness, illiteracy - Vincent Cable said that: "there were some truly remarkable people - including a young man with cerebral palsy who has developed the skills to run a business; another with serious motor and speech problems who has learnt advanced computing; and a man with special needs who travels over 5 hours to and from Essex to attend a language class. The College is a lifeline for them and many others. But the very mechanical and philistine way in which government funding is determined penalises courses which are not "useful" and the squeeze is intensifying.

"Local residents have already seen the consequences in the closure of needlework classes and gym for retired and disabled people. I hope before the end of this parliamentary session to secure a debate on Adult Education to highlight the problem. The Adult College is one of the most popular and well supported institutions in the borough and it is important that its work is properly supported."