The government has come under fire from Training and Enterprise Council leaders over proposals to give ministers unprecedented powers over the assets and reserves of TECs, writes Tony Tysome.

The proposals are contained in eleventh-hour amendments to the Learning and Skills Bill, which started its report stage in the House of Commons this week.

One amendment gives the secretary of state power to determine the future use of TEC assets where "agreement cannot be reached" on their use.

TEC National Council chairman Neville Chamberlain warned that if widely used, the proposed new powers "would be like using a steamroller to crack a walnut".

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Lifelong learning minister Malcolm Wicks said the government had been pleased with the response to its post-16 reforms from TECs, which are to be wound up when the new Learning and Skills Council regime is established next year.

He added: "These additional powers simply reflect the complexity of the task we are managing and the fact that our contractual framework does not cover all the possible situations that may arise.

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"Our aim is to reach agreement with each TEC on the future use of assets and I would only use this power as a last resort."

However, Mr Chamberlain said the TEC National Council "would hope that in order to avoid taking any action of last resort that there would be an effective consultation process established to resolve any potential problems before the secretary of state invokes these new powers".