Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much has been allocated from the public purse for 16 and 17-year olds studying in further education per capita in (a) England, (b) Cornwall and (c) North Cornwall in each of the last five years.

Allocations for students studying at post-16 institutions are not available separately for students aged 16 and 17, although data on allocations and student numbers are available for 16 to 19 year olds as set out in published allocations data. The following allocations show the average funding per student in England, Cornwall and North Cornwall for the last five academic years.

The above figures exclude high needs funding but include both full and part-time students, and allocations for the 16 to 19 bursary fund and free meals funding.

Institutions in Cornwall and North Cornwall are funded through the same national funding formula as the rest of England and have received the same £4,000 base rate of funding for full time 16 and 17 year olds throughout the period. Average funding per student in Cornwall and North Cornwall is lower due to other factors in the 16 to 19 funding formula, for example, institutions in Cornwall do not attract an area cost uplift for higher delivery costs like those in London and South East England.