Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine West Excerpts

Tuesday 7th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Let us take somebody else then.

[Catherine West (Hornsey and Wood Green) (Lab)]

May I say how warm your words were, Mr Speaker, vis-à-vis the Australian Parliament and how well they will be received?

With regard to productivity, what plans does the Chancellor have in the upcoming Budget to tackle the lack of investment in further education? Investment has been cut by 50% since 2010, and productivity relies very much on colleges and high-quality education outside the university sector.

[Sajid Javid]

The hon. Lady is right to raise the importance of FE and technical skills—I went to an FE college myself—and it is one reason why, in the spending round back in September, I allocated an increase of £400 million for the forthcoming year to FE budgets, which is the biggest increase in a decade. In our recent party manifesto, we set out plans for £2 billion of investment in the FE estate throughout England.