Lewisham defends franchising blueprint

LEWISHAM College of Further Education has defended its controversial discussion paper on franchising in the face of legal threats. Principal Ruth Silver rejected claims from the 21 Group of colleges that Lewisham's registrar Julian Gravatt had painted an ill-informed picture of arrangements between colleges and external organisations in his paper Deepening the Divide: Further Education Franchising and the Diversion of Public Funds. Lewisham has offered the 21 Group the chance to contribute to a second Praxis Paper putting forward an alternative view on franchising.