A week after education ministers had identified four more further education colleges with serious weaknesses, David Blunkett said "we cannot and will not tolerate unacceptable standards, nor will we hesitate to act when colleges are failing".

The government wants an expansion in places available in further education

The government wants a rapid expansion in places in further education, but there has been concern about the quality of courses provided by some colleges. In a number of well-publicised cases, colleges have been accused of mismanagement and ineffective use of public money.

In an effort to ensure that college expansion is also accompanied with an improvement in standards, Mr Blunkett said the Further Education Standards Fund had been given �115m to encourage good practice.

These funds, to be spent over the next two years, will be targeted at tackling weaknesses in colleges, improving college management, improving teaching and rewarding examples of excellence.

Emphasising the importance of the further education sector to the government's plan for a more highly-skilled workforce, Mr Blunkett told college principals that they needed to provide high-quality courses.

"High quality further education is the key to boosting the nation's skills base, to improve the life chances and employability of people who need to improve their basic literacy and numeracy and to combat social exclusion.

"There should be no tension between improving college results and bringing people with a previously poor educational history back to learning. It's no good if such students then drop out again or fail."