After calls for clarification from Labour MP Jeff Rooker, a governor at North Birmingham College, education and employment minister James Paice has reinforced the Government’s view that individual governors will not be held liable, providing they fulfil their duties honestly and carefully.

But ministers have still not shifted the liability burden to the Government, as the Colleges’ Employers’ Forum wants. The CEF claims uncertainty over how far governors’ own assets would be protected is deterring many from joining college corporations.

Roger Ward, CEF chief executive, said: “Governors remain in a position of great insecurity. It is simple to cure. Why doesn’t the Government cure it?”