Oral Answers to Questions

Rushanara Ali Excerpts

Monday 4th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

2. What steps his Department is taking to upgrade the further education estate.

[Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)]

23. What assessment he has made of the quality of further education buildings in England.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Alex Burghart)]

We want all colleges in England to be able to provide a world-class education, which is why we are delivering our manifesto commitment to offer £1.5 billion to upgrade the further education college estate over the next six years. We have surveyed the condition of FE estates—all colleges received their own survey—and we intend to publish a national overview of the results in the next academic year.

[Alex Burghart]

I thank my hon. Friend for his interest in this agenda. I would be delighted to meet him and his college.

[Rushanara Ali]

The match funding required for major works is unaffordable for colleges such as New City College. We have two of its campuses in Tower Hamlets, and the college no longer has the facilities to provide the education required for the modern workplace because of redevelopment costs. The maximum grant available through the FE capital transformation fund for this one college is £20 million, but the redevelopment work on the college’s buildings is estimated at £85 million. Will the Minister meet me and the principal of New City College to discuss a way forward, and will the Secretary of State take a close interest in addressing this major outstanding issue for FE college funding?

[Alex Burghart]

I was delighted to visit New City College during Education World Forum week. I took a number of Education Ministers from across the world there to see its excellent facilities and the wonderful, world-class education it offers its students. I was pleased that it received, I think, £5 million in phase 1 of the FE capital transformation fund. We continue to be in dialogue with the college into the next rounds. I am obviously happy to talk to the hon. Lady and the principal at any time. We are committed to doing whatever we can to make the necessary upgrades and improvements to the FE college estate.