Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve access to further education facilities for young people in rural areas.

This government is committed to driving economic growth and supporting opportunity for all. To help achieve these missions, we announced £300 million in the 2025/26 financial year for further education (FE) at the Autumn Budget 2024. We will set out how the additional funding will be distributed in due course.

The department has a number of schemes available to support young people in accessing FE facilities.

The Residential Bursary Fund (RBF) provides financial help towards the costs of accommodation for students attending a number of designated institutions delivering specialist provision. These specialist colleges mainly offer support for study programmes in the land-based sector, for example agriculture and horticulture.

The Residential Support Scheme (RSS) provides financial help for students aged 16 to 18 with the costs of living away from home to participate in a study programme where the substantial level 2 or level 3 qualification within their study programme is not available within daily travelling distance.

The department recognises that the cost and availability of transport can be difficult for some students in rural areas.

The 16-19 Bursary Fund helps young people who couldn’t otherwise afford the costs of education to participate. In the 2024/25 academic year, over £166 million of bursary funding has been allocated to institutions to help disadvantaged 16 to 19 year olds with costs such as travel. The allocation to institutions is based, among other factors, on whether students live in rural areas and how far they travel to learn.

It is the responsibility of local authorities to put in place transport arrangements to help young people aged 16 to 18 to access education or training, using funds they have available locally. All local authorities have to prioritise their spending carefully. Local authorities in rural areas face unique challenges, but in these difficult economic times authorities in other types of areas face challenges too.

The actual transport provided by local authorities varies, but sometimes involves giving 16 to 18 year olds access to school transport or bus travel for payment of a flat fee. Unlike for school travel, provision does not need to be free.

Many young people in rural areas have access to a discount or concession on local bus or train travel, either from their local authority or local transport providers. The government also supports local bus travel, including in rural areas, through the Bus Service Operators Grant.

The government publishes guidance for local authorities on their post-16 transport duty. Guidance makes it clear that local authorities need to look at the transport needs of those who live in particularly rural areas where the transport infrastructure can be limited.