Recommendation 20

Colleges’ autonomy means that, for example, government does not have the power to appoint or remove college staff. Colleges can borrow commercially, and they may make financial surpluses or deficits.35 We asked the ESFA whether its intervention powers were adequate. The ESFA said that the combined efforts of its teams and the FE Commissioner ought to be enough, given the funding contracts it had with colleges, so long as they could maintain dialogue. It was, however, theoretically possible for a college to “bury its head in the sand” and to keep the ESFA away until the last minute.36 The Department stressed the importance of supporting good college leaders to make improvements and of building a sector that could sustain itself as far as possible.37