157 Group welcomes new 'City Deals' launched today to boost growth
8th December 2011
For immediate release: Thursday 8 December 2011
157 Group welcomes new 'City Deals' launched today to boost growth
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The 157 Group welcomes announcements made today by the Deputy Prime Minister to set free cities from Whitehall control with the aim of stimulating growth. The first wave of deals will be with the eight largest cities and their surrounding Local Enterprise Partnerships.
Lynne Sedgmore CBE, executive director of the 157 Group said, "We support with great enthusiasm today's announcements on 'City Deals' which reinforce not only the government's continuing commitment to boost growth with skills and jobs but drive for further freedoms and flexibilities in addition to those demonstrated in the New Challenges New Chances FE reform publication last week.
The recent Colleges in their Communities Independent Inquiry, for which 157 Group was a joint commissioner alongside AoC and NIACE reinforces how FE colleges are central hubs within their communities and less restrictions for cities will enable colleges to work together powerfully to deliver efficiency, innovation and strong leadership, benefitting UK plc. It is clear that the government is listening to the needs of communities across England in the spirit of the 'Big Society'."
Marilyn Hawkins, chair of 157 Group and principal of Barnet and Southgate College said, "We wholeheartedly welcome City Deals and the impact they will have on driving up growth in this country. In particularly we support the introduction of City Apprenticeship Hubs to incentivise small businesses to take on more apprentices, the streamlining of services such as JobCentre plus under one roof to make it easier for people to get back into work and opportunities to bid for a share of the £100 million capital investment pot to spend on broadband infrastructure projects."
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---About the 157 Group---
The 157 Group represents 27 of the most influential colleges in the FE sector. It was formed in 2006 in response to paragraph 157 of Sir Andrew Foster's report on the future of further education colleges, in which he argued that principals of large successful colleges should play a greater role in policymaking.
---CONTACT---
Gemma Knott
Tel: 07581354750
Email: [email protected]
The 157 Group Limited P O Box 58147
London
SW8 9AF
Website: www.157group.co.uk
