Savings threaten ability of colleges to deliver IAG

Quality, Choice and Aspiration, published last week, sets out the government's vision for a new era of personalised, impartial careers advice and IAG. It promises students access to individual tutoring from September 2010.

But the "enrichment funding" budget that colleges currently use to finance personal tutoring is feared to be under threat.

Malcolm Trobe, policy director at the Association of School and College Leaders, said colleges would find it hard to deliver more tailored IAG if their budgets were reduced. He said: "The government has said there has to be efficiency savings, so there is a real concern that the enrichment budget will go first."

Trobe added that the term enrichment is misleading, because the budget is actually used for core activities such as careers guidance, tutoring and activities that address life skills so students can achieve the Every Child Matters outcomes.

He suggested that the government should reduce college funding for learners across the board instead of cutting individual budgets such as the enrichment fund.

Joy Mercer, senior policy manager at the Association of Colleges, warned that any cut in the enrichment budget, which equates to around £200 for each student every year, would blight colleges' ability to fulfil statutory duties. She said: "On the one hand there is an obligation on impartial IAG and Ofsted are grading colleges on outcomes, but on the other there is this threat to enrichment funding."