Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Further Education: Revenue Funding

Monday 16 January 2023 · 4 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 4 Partly answered 0 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Minister highlighted investment in skills funding by 3.8 billion over the Parliament.
  • Investments include T-levels, higher technical qualifications, free level 3 courses, bootcamps, and apprenticeships.
  • Government committing 1.5 billion to upgrade the FE college estate.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Peter Aldous Con
Education
Context

The MP is concerned about the need to address skills shortages and increased funding for further education.

Question

Whether her Department plans to increase revenue funding for further education. My right hon. Friend highlighted the importance of investment in skills in his autumn statement. I would be grateful if my right hon. Friend could set out the work that has been done to meet this challenge ahead of the spring statement.

Answer from Robert Halfon

We are investing in resources, increasing skills funding by £3.8 billion over the Parliament, investing in quality qualifications such as T-levels, higher technical qualifications, free level 3 courses, bootcamps and apprenticeships. We are also investing in infrastructure, rolling out 21 institutes of technology, spending £290 million.

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Q2 Peter Aldous Con
Education Economy
Context

The MP highlights the urgent need to address skills shortages in key sectors of the economy and notes a significant drop in adult education participation.

Question

Taking into account both the urgent need to address acute skills shortages in key sectors of the economy and the fact that participation in adult education fell from 4.4 million in 2003-04 to 1.5 million in 2019-20, it is vital that further education capacity is significantly expanded. My right hon. Friend highlighted the importance of investment in skills in his autumn statement. I would be grateful if my right hon. Friend could set out the work that has been done to meet this challenge ahead of the spring statement.

Answer from Robert Halfon

We are investing in resources, increasing skills funding by £3.8 billion over the Parliament, investing in quality qualifications such as T-levels, higher technical qualifications, free level 3 courses, bootcamps and apprenticeships. We are also investing in infrastructure, rolling out 21 institutes of technology, spending £290 million.

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Q3 Barry Sheerman Lab
Education
Context

The MP urges the Minister to increase investment in the further education sector to address skills shortages.

Question

Further education is still a Cinderella service. When will he wake up to the fact that we desperately need more skilled people in our country and that the FE sector is the one area where we could do real investment that would pay back quickly? I like the Minister a lot—we are old friends—and urge him to get his act together and put some real heft into further education.

Answer from Robert Halfon

The Government are increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024-25, investing an extra £1.6 billion in 16-to-19 education over the same period of time including £500 million a year for T-levels and committing £1.5 billion to upgrade the FE college estate.

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Q4 Toby Perkins Lab Chesterfield
Education
Context

The MP criticises the Government's funding settlements for FE colleges, citing an independent analysis that shows per-student funding fell by 14% in real terms between 2010 and 2019.

Question

The Minister was a huge champion for the FE sector when he was Chair of the Education Committee. Their funding settlements for FE colleges are the worst in post-war history, according to the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies. Is not the reality that only the election of a Labour Government will allow our colleges to play the role we truly need from them?

Answer from Robert Halfon

The Government are increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024-25, investing an extra £1.6 billion in 16-to-19 education over the same period of time including £500 million a year for T-levels and committing £1.5 billion to upgrade the FE college estate.

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