To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the Learning and Skills Council news release of 9 February 2010, entitled “Learning and Skills Council Honours Commitment to Help Colleges with Financial Problems”, which of the 41 colleges to receive funding from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) are in London; which colleges in (a) England and (b) London were identified by the LSC as facing financial difficulty as a direct result of aborted capital spending; what assessment has been made of the extent of the financial difficulty faced by such colleges in (i) England and (ii) London; and how much funding will be provided to each college. (325568)

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is committed to ensuring that no college experiences financial difficulty as a result of decisions taken on capital. As a result the LSC has now paid all contractual obligations and has granted £43 million in additional support to 42 colleges identified as experiencing or anticipating serious financial problems as a result of the programme. The LSC will continue to work with the sector to ensure that no further colleges get into financial difficulty as a result of developing a capital proposal. I am unable to provide financial details relating to individual colleges as they are commercially sensitive to the colleges involved.