Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what budget was set for capital expenditure, including improvements, in the further education and sixth form college sector in the financial years 2021–22, 2022–23, and 2023–24; and what proportion of the budget was spent in each of those years.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
Ensuring schools and colleges have the resources and buildings they need is a key part of this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every young person the best start in life.
As announced at the Autumn Budget 2024, the government is providing £6.7 billion of capital funding in 2025/26 for education in England, a real terms increase of 19% from 2024/25. This includes £1.4 billion for the continuing school rebuilding programme, which also includes sixth form colleges and 16-19 academies. The settlement also invests over £2 billion to improve the condition of school and sixth form college buildings, and £950 million for skills capital. Skills capital includes £300 million of new funding to support further education (FE) colleges to maintain, improve and ensure suitability of their estate.
The department provides capital funding to FE colleges and sixth form colleges through a wide range of programmes. The department does not publish the budgets and spend of capital programmes by provider type, however, we do publish provider allocations and awards on GOV.UK and report departmental spending through the annual reports and accounts each year.
The total departmental capital budgets and expenditure for the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years are provided in the department’s annual reports and set out in the table below.
Financial Year | Budget (£ million) | Spend (£ million) | Proportion of budget spent |
2021/22 | 5,267 | 4,798 | 91% |
2022/23 | 6,269 | 5,948 | 95% |
2023/24 | 6,780 | 6,636 | 98% |
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the apprenticeship budget was for the Department for Education in the financial year 2023–24; what proportion was spent in total; and what proportion was spent on (1) training for apprenticeships with levy-paying employers, (2) training for apprenticeships with non-levy-paying employers, and (3) other activities.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
In the 2023/24 financial year, 99% of the revised end-of year English apprenticeships budget of £2,525 million was spent, an underspend of £16 million (£60 million was surrendered in year).
The following table provides a breakdown of total spend for the 2023/24 financial year, including the proportion of total spend on training for apprenticeships with levy paying employers and training for apprenticeships with non-levy paying employers in England. In addition, the table reflects the spend on apprenticeships that started prior to the introduction of the apprenticeships levy and new funding system, as well as non-apprenticeships participation spend, such as the cost of running digital services and marketing and communications campaigns.
Apprenticeships spend from the department’s ring-refenced apprenticeships budget | 2023/24 financial year (£million) | Proportion of total spend (%) |
Levy paying employers | 1,760 | 70 |
Non-levy paying employers | 695 | 28 |
Pre-reform apprenticeships | 1 | <1 |
Non-apprenticeships training | 53 | 2 |
Total | 2,509 | 100% |
Where the department’s apprenticeships budget is underspent by the end of the financial year, funds are returned to HM Treasury in line with standard practice set out in the published consolidated budgeting guidance.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have received any formal reports on the findings of the second longitudinal study of young people in England from the contractors who carried it out, or commissioned any research using the data from it; and, if so, where the relevant reports and output can be found.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The department has commissioned or supported the production of 22 research reports based on analysis of the second Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE2). Of these, three are being finalised and will be published in early 2025 and 19 have been published on GOV.UK or elsewhere. The relevant links are provided below:
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many academic and other external researchers have been granted access to and are analysing Longitudinal Study of Young People in England data from (1) LSYPE2 waves 4-6, and (2) LSYPE2 waves 7-9.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The total cost of the contracts for the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England 2 (LSYPE2) Waves 1 to 9 is £9,688,223.
Data from Waves 1-9 of LSYPE2 is available to researchers via the Office for National Statistics’ Secure Research Service and can be accessed here: https://ons.metadata.works/browser/dataset/1405106/0.
Data from Waves 4 to 6 of the LSYPE2 has been shared by the department with nine academics and other external researchers. In contrast, data from Waves 7 to 9 has been shared with five academics.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether all data from waves 1-9 of the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England: Cohort 2 (LSYPE2) are now available to researchers.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The total cost of the contracts for the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England 2 (LSYPE2) Waves 1 to 9 is £9,688,223.
Data from Waves 1-9 of LSYPE2 is available to researchers via the Office for National Statistics’ Secure Research Service and can be accessed here: https://ons.metadata.works/browser/dataset/1405106/0.
Data from Waves 4 to 6 of the LSYPE2 has been shared by the department with nine academics and other external researchers. In contrast, data from Waves 7 to 9 has been shared with five academics.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the cost to date of the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England: cohort 2 (LSYPE2) waves 1–9.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The total cost of the contracts for the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England 2 (LSYPE2) Waves 1 to 9 is £9,688,223.
Data from Waves 1-9 of LSYPE2 is available to researchers via the Office for National Statistics’ Secure Research Service and can be accessed here: https://ons.metadata.works/browser/dataset/1405106/0.
Data from Waves 4 to 6 of the LSYPE2 has been shared by the department with nine academics and other external researchers. In contrast, data from Waves 7 to 9 has been shared with five academics.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of the adult education budget was, or has been, allocated to Combined Mayoral Authorities in (1) 2023–24, (2) 2024–25, and (3) 2025–26, under devolution agreements.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The adult skills fund (ASF), formerly the adult education budget (AEB), is worth £1.34 billion this year, and funds education and skills training for those aged 19 and above to help them gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning. The AEB transitioned into the ASF as of this academic year 2024/25.
The proportion of the AEB that was allocated to Mayoral Combined Authorities in the 2023/24 academic year was 58.96%. In the 2024/25 academic year this was 62.00%. Decisions about the 2025/26 academic year are subject to the forthcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the effect of restricting eligibility to the 'Free courses for jobs' to those earning under £25,000 on the number of courses offered which deliver qualifications covered by the initiative.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
In the academic year 2022/23 there were 24,740 enrolments on the free courses for jobs programme.
The department does not collect salary data on individual learners and are unable to answer how many of these learners were earning more than £25,000.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people were enrolled on courses funded under the 'Free courses for jobs' scheme in 2022–23; and how many of them were earning more than £25,000.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
In the academic year 2022/23 there were 24,740 enrolments on the free courses for jobs programme.
The department does not collect salary data on individual learners and are unable to answer how many of these learners were earning more than £25,000.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many private sector organisations operating as independent training providers supplied publicly funded training to apprentices in the financial years (1) 2018–19, (2) 2019–20, (3) 2020–21, (4) 2021–22, and (5) 2022–23; and of those, how many (a) supplied such training in 2018–19 but not 2022–23, and (b) supplied training in every one of those years.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The number of providers in the 'Private Sector Publicly Funded’ provider type with participating apprentices between the 2018/19 and 2022/23 academic years are shown in the table below. A category that corresponds to 'Independent Training Providers' is not available
Academic Year | Number of providers |
2018/19 | 1021 |
2019/20 | 1073 |
2020/21 | 1112 |
2021/22 | 1053 |
2022/23 | 1030 |
Of the 1021 providers in the 2018/19 academic year, 373 did not have any participating learners in 2022/23, whilst 642 providers had participating learners in each of the years shown.
Please note:
(1) Data source is the Individualised Learner Record.
(2) Figures are derived from the ‘Underlying data - apprenticeship participation’ supporting file that accompanies the Apprenticeships statistics publication, found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships.
(3) Providers have at least one funded apprenticeship in the academic year shown.
(4) Providers are identified based on unique UK Provider Reference Number (UKPRN) number. Providers that have merged and changed UKPRN will not be matched as the same provider between different academic years.