Guernsey's private colleges grants to be based on student numbers
Private colleges in Guernsey will still get States funding in future - but will no longer receive a lump sum.It follows a call to end government grants given to the island's three independent colleges.Instead politicians agreed to replace the lump sum with a per student grant system - so if the colleges take fewer in the future they would receive less money.The changes to the proposals from the education committee mainly came through an amendment laid by Deputy Gavin St Pier who said the move "really acknowledges that we need to recognise the role that they play and ensure their stability".
He said: "The colleges play a significant role in our education system, whether you like it or not."The Committee for Education, Sport and Culture had hoped to reallocate a the money to States-run schools.The grants totalled £723,000 in the 2019/20 academic year and are expected to total about £2.85m for the 2025/26 academic year.Going forward the grant will increase in line with inflation and the money will be ring fenced and the maximum grant on this model cannot exceed the total for the 2025/26 academic year adjusted annually by RPIX.Each year's subsidy is to be calculated based on the number of qualifying students on the 31 October in the preceding academic year. Politicians also agreed to give the colleges a five-year notice period if they wanted to reduce or withdraw the grant to allow them time to plan for any change.
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Wales Online
2 days ago
- Wales Online
Lack of parks in part of Swansea 'a disgrace' but things are set to change
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The National
2 days ago
- The National
SNP activists reveal HQ silenced Reform strategy concerns
Davy Russell had won the by-election for Scottish Labour, becoming the party's 23rd MSP with 31.5% of the total vote. The SNP were second, with their candidate Katy Loudon picking up 29.4% of the vote, while Reform UK's Ross Lambie was a close third with 26.2%. The SNP had been the bookies' favourites to retain the seat, which was won by the late Scottish Government minister Christina McKelvie in the 2021 elections, and the result was a shock for campaigners and leadership alike. Just after the results were announced, an SNP source told The National it was "time to hit the independence button," and since, other activists reacted to the news. READ MORE: What the Hamilton by-election tells us about SNP chances for 2026 One member who was regularly on the doors said the campaign shift in the last two weeks, from highlighting Labour failures to focussing on Reform UK, "doesn't look like the smartest move in hindsight". Campaigners and elected representatives in the party raised the issue with the campaign team, the activist revealed, adding: "It felt like HQ were not receptive to that". Another echoed these claims, telling The National activists were "publicly shut down" for questioning the strategy. They said: "I was deeply sceptical of the whole "two-horse race between us and Reform" narrative when it was being first pushed. I wasn't alone. Several of us felt the same way. "At one point, a well known activist was publicly shut down by the campaign management team for merely questioning the strategy. "Throughout the campaign, it felt like if you weren't a paid staffer, your opinion meant nothing. That needs to change, in my view. Especially since this time, they were clearly very wrong." "In my view, the real issue was the campaign's shift in focus toward Reform in the final two weeks," an activist from Glasgow tells me. "Early on, when we concentrated on holding Labour to account -particularly by highlighting the failures of the Labour-run South Lanarkshire Council – we saw much more enthusiasm on the doorstep. "Dropping the focus on local issues like school bus cuts and garden waste charges in favour of putting Farage front and centre on our leaflets and comms doesn't look like the smartest move in hindsight." They added: "I'm not entirely convinced that going nuclear on independence now is the right approach." Another agreed, saying the party didn't "need to have a knee jerk reaction to it". "A definite 'back to the drawing board' needed but hinging the outcome of one by-election result on the future of Scotland isn't practical. Independence does need to be the focus," they argued. Several others shared the sentiment, but others called on leadership to "put independence at the centre of what we do". One SNP candidate said: "I can't stand 'vote X to stop X' as a message no matter who is using it. It was a big mistake for us to talk up Reform rather than hammering Labour on their dreadful record in government and betrayal of their voters. "Every SNP campaign needs to put independence at the centre of what we do. We need to make it clear that we are forced into mitigating Westminster policies and are opposed to the managed decline of their austerity agenda." An SNP staffer shared that while they don't like being negative, their initial thoughts were "this was one of Labour's best-performing central belt seats in 2021" and "it would also be one of Reform's best performing seats in a Scottish Parliamentary election". They stressed that this was important, despite it being "undoubtedly discouraging", as it is "far too early to say the roof is caving in as I've seen some others suggest". They added: "That being said, I do think the party needs to be a bit more inspirational, and there needs to be a concerted effort by Scottish Government to materially deliver on past promises. "In my view, the churn at the top over last few years has meant promises have often been dropped just as quickly as they've been made." READ MORE: I was there as SNP vote collapsed in Hamilton by-election Others called for "more snappy, positive messages", and questioned John Swinney's stabilising leadership as enough to head into 2026 with. Swinney spoke to journalists at the SNP headquarters in Edinburgh, and defended his narrative over Reform. He told press: 'Clearly, we're disappointed that we didn't win last night, but we made progress in the election compared to the general election last summer, and we've got to build on that and make sure that we strengthen our support in advance of 2026. 'So the SNP made progress last night, but it's not nearly enough and we've got to build on that.' Asked if it was a mistake to call the by-election a 'two-horse race', he said: 'I called it the way I saw it. 'The way I saw it was the Labour vote was collapsing compared to the general election last summer, which it did, it was down 20%. We saw the Reform vote surging, which it has. 'And in that context, I thought the SNP was best placed to see off Reform because of the scale of collapse in the Labour vote.' The SNP's campaign chief Jamie Hepburn also reacted to his party's by-election loss, addressing the lack of focus on independence during the campaign. MSP Hepburn, who previously served as Scotland's first independence minister before First Minister John Swinney scrapped the role last year, said that when looking towards the 2026 election, "I think when we get into that context, people will be thinking differently and independence will be part of that campaign." Hepburn added: "We'll need to consider the proposition that we've laid out at this by-election, and how that may influence the propositions we lay out at the coming general election next year that we know is ahead of us. "It's just the morning after the night before, so we'll take some time to consider that."
NBC News
2 days ago
- NBC News
Israel has ‘activated' some Palestinian clans opposed to Hamas in Gaza, Netanyahu says
Abu Shabab and around 100 fighters have been active in eastern parts of Rafah and Khan Younis, areas under Israeli military control, according to Nahed Sheheiber, head of the private transportation union in Gaza that provides trucks and drivers for aid groups. He said they used to attack aid trucks driving on a military-designated route leading from the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, the main entry point for aid. 'Our trucks were attacked many times by the Abu Shabab gang and the occupation forces stood idle. They did nothing,' Sheheiber said, referring to the Israeli military. 'The one who has looted aid is now the one who protects aid,' he said sarcastically. Jonathan Whittall, head of the U.N. humanitarian office OCHA for the occupied Palestinian territory, said Thursday that 'criminal gangs operating under the watch of Israeli forces near Kerem Shalom would systematically attack and loot aid convoys. .... These gangs have by far been the biggest cause of aid loss in Gaza.' The war between Israel and Hamas erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-linked militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Israel responded with an offensive that has decimated Gaza, displaced nearly all of its 2.3 million people and caused a humanitarian crisis that has left the territory on the brink of famine. Gaza's Health Ministry says over 54,000 Palestinians have been killed, more than half of them women and children. The ministry, which is led by medical professionals but reports to the Hamas-run government, does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally. Hamas is still holding 56 hostages. Around a third are believed to be alive, though many fear they are in grave danger the longer the war goes on.
