'Deeply disappointing': Hampshire snubbed for Defence Technical Excellence College as ministers 'miss a trick'
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The entire south east of England missed out on new skills funding
Angry education officials and politicians have hit back at the government after a new technical excellence college was not set up in Hampshire.
South Hampshire College Group’s (SHCG) bid for a share of £175m of government funding fell on deaf ears. The organisation was seeking to operate one of five Defence Technical Excellence Colleges being established, aimed at boosting skills and providing career paths for young people in the sector.
Plans were in place for the hub to be established at Farnborough College of Technology, with courses delivered across SHCG close to employers. The organisation operates Fareham College, Civil Engineering Training Centre (CETC), and Centre of Excellence in Engineering, Manufacturing and Advanced Skills Training (CEMAST) in Lee-on-the-Solent.
Gosport MP Dame Caroline Dinenage, Conservative, was aghast at the decision as the sector supporting thousands of jobs in her constituency. She told The News: “I'm disappointed that the government didn't support Farnborough's forward looking and employer-friendly Technical College bid.
“Young people are already benefitting from technical education at CEMAST and CETC, but ministers have missed a trick by not building on their success.”
No Technical Excellence College for Hampshire
A total of 19 new technical excellence colleges are being established across the UK. Roughly 65,000 learners will have access to these facilities. High quality training will be delivered to young people in Britain’s fastest-growing industries, including advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and defence, as well as digital and technologies.
The five defence-focused colleges will be in Rotherham, Blackpool and The Fylde, Plymouth, Lincoln, and Yeovil. The Gosport area and the whole of Hampshire was snubbed despite having a thriving sector recently boosted by multi-million defence contracts.
A three-year £879m agreement was signed between the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Boeing to maintain Apache and Chinook helicopters, securing 150 Gosport jobs at Boeing and 300 at StandardAero in Fleetlands. UK Docks, based at Victoria Quay, was awarded an £84m deal to look after 194 vessels linked to the Royal Navy, Royal Fleet Auxiliary, and MoD Police.
Hampshire is home to several prestigious defence companies including BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, Airbus, QinetiQ, and others. Smaller firms such as Windracers, Subsea Craft, and SYOS are also thriving and on the lookout for new talent. It’s estimated that almost 600,000 additional workers will be needed by 2030 in key sectors covered by these colleges.
Reacting to SHCG’s bid being dismissed, Chief Executive Officer Andrew Kaye said: “It's deeply disappointing to see the region overlooked for investment in defence skills training in this way, given the deep-rooted history of defence in the area and the clear need for continuous development in this industry.
“South Hampshire College Group was part of a regional collaborative bid for the Defence Technical Excellence College (DTEC) programme, which would have added value to the college group's existing strong links with defence and defence supply chain companies to further develop training to meet the needs of this important regional industry. The college group has existing excellent facilities and a strong curriculum offer in Engineering and Digital, with strong links to defence, and will continue to support skills and training needs in this sector, exploring opportunities to work alongside the colleges successfully designated as DTECs in other regions, as the aims of the programme become more fully developed.
“The college group is the lead further education partner in the region's Institute of Technology and continues to provide high-quality technical skills training through that employer/further education/higher education partnership model. However, the absence of new investment in the south-east through the Technical Excellence College programme is a concern.”
When asked by The News for comment, minister for defence industry and readiness Luke Pollard said: “Every bid was considered and thoroughly marked. The decisions were made against a very clear criteria. We had five Defence Technical Excellence Colleges announced this week. We had dozens and dozens of applications. This is just the start of our skills journey. We know there’s more we want to do to increase the amount of skills available to the defence industry and our armed forces.”
He added: “There’s more work to be done. As we roll out more skills initiatives, every part of the country - whether they have a Defence technical Excellence College or not - will be benefiting from that increased investment. We’ve got £182m in our budget for skills. Areas around Portsmouth and Gosport will be benefitting from those as part of this wider investment across the country. We’ve seen a lack of investment in skills. If we want to maintain the best fighting forces in the world, which we have, we need to invest in skills for our people in and out of uniform.”