Up to 35 jobs could be lost after the Government decided to close a training HQ it opened just 18 months ago.

The Department for Education and Employment said yesterday it will close Oxford's Training Standards Council headquarters with the service moving Coventry's Learning and Skills Council office, where the Adult Learning Inspectorate will also be based.

The TSC building, on the Oxford Business Park, off Garsington Road, Cowley, was used by inspectors monitoring in-house company training.

The closure was condemned by Oxford TSC chief executive David Sherlock. He said: "We have built up an efficient and dedicated team in Oxford over the past 18 months.

"We want all of them to transfer to Coventry, but personal circumstances make it unlikely that we will achieve that."

Oxford West and Abingdon MP Evan Harris said: "It is very disappointing that these jobs will be going from Oxford.

"The Training Standards Council, which I have visited, has done an excellent job in monitoring and inspecting the quality of in-work training across the industry. "While the Government re-organisation of post-16 education and training is broadly welcome, It is a pity that a building opened in a blaze of glory by a Labour education minister just over a year ago has now had its closure announced by another education minister."

A letter sent to Dr Harris by minister Baroness Blackstone said there was no "significant difference in short-term or long-term costs or operational risks" between Coventry and Oxford.

She added: "I believe there are important opportunities for synergy and close working of locating the Inspectorate HQ in the same town as the LSC HQ. It is expected that this decision will impact on approximately 35 jobs currently in Oxford."

Story date: Saturday 30 October

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.