To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many of the consortia which have been approved to offer diploma courses from September 2008 include at least (a) one further education college, (b) one school and (c) one private training provider; and if he will make a statement. (136674)

On 28 March I announced the first 145 consortia across 97 local authorities that have been given approval to offer one or more of the first five 14-19 diplomas from September 2008. There are a variety of different partnerships, based on local circumstances, but in most cases consortia are collaborates of more than one school, the local further education college and work-based training providers. Only those consortia who demonstrated they were able to provide high quality delivery across all the criteria from September 2008 were included in the first group.