Colleges chief hails victory in free meals fight

The announcement yesterday ends a disparity between 16 and 18-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds who received a free meal at school but not in college.

The decision to extend it will benefit more than 100,000 students nationally including 10,000 in Yorkshire.

Yorkshire college boss Michele Sutton, who has just taken up the role of president of the Association of Colleges, told the Yorkshire Post it showed what the further education sector could do if it campaigned effectively.

She said: “This is very welcome news which will mean that thousands of students will be guaranteed at least one square meal a day. It shows what can be done through lobbying and that if you present the evidence to the Government they can respond in a way which meets our needs.

“I hope this is the first of many victories for us.”

After 30 years in the sector she has swapped the campus for the corridors of power as she meets politicians to make the case on behalf of an organisation that represents around 400 colleges across the country.

She said she would use her term as national president to champion the further education sector and she urged colleges to do more to promote their importance to their local areas and the broader economy.

Ms Sutton is the principal of Bradford College – one of a consortium in West Yorkshire – which has commissioned a report showing that they contribute more than £1.5bn to the area’s economy.

She said: “We have figures which demonstrate the value of what we do.

“But further education does not get the attention from the media or politicians that higher education or schools do.”

She highlighted a disparity in the funding that colleges receive for post-16 students compared with schools as one example of this.

She also said the sector would have a key role to play in helping the country to raise the education participation age from 16 to 17 and then 18 and to bring down the numbers of young people who are classed as Neets ( not in education, employment or training.)

Ms Sutton began work as the president of the Association of Colleges last month and now spends her time divided between London and her day job at Bradford College in her final year before retirement.

“I have met various ministers from both the Department for Education and Business Innovation and Skills,” she said. “I have also been attending the political party conferences to make sure our voice is heard.

“After 30 years it is strange not being in college, especially at this time of year where this a real buzz around enrolment time but my time is split 50-50 between my role at the Association of Colleges and Bradford College.”

The announcement on free meals for disadvantaged further education students marks a victory for both the Association of Colleges and an MP for the region.

Nic Dakin, Scunthorpe MP and a former principal of John Leggott College in the town, has campaigned on the issue and raised it in a debate in the House of Commons last year.

He told MPs that ending this “long-standing injustice” was more important than ever now that the education participation age had been raised.

The Association of Colleges’ No Free Lunch? campaign had also called for an end to the disparity.

Association of Colleges chief executive Martin Doel said: “This is great news and something we have been working towards for some years through our No Free Lunch? campaign.

“This announcement by Nick Clegg addresses an indefensible disparity affecting disadvantaged 16 to 18-year-olds choosing to study at a further education or sixth form college instead of remaining in a school sixth form.

“The extension of free meals will be good news for some 103,000 students from poorer backgrounds who study in our colleges and the 10,000 students, MPs and members of the public who signed our No Free Lunch? e-petition on the 10 Downing Street website. It marks the end of a fundamental funding anomaly that saw students penalised based on their choice of academic institution and is a clear sign that the Government is serious about creating a level playing field between colleges, sixth form colleges and schools.

“We look forward to seeing the finer details about the funding arrangements in the Autumn Statement.”