Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the national funding rate for sixth form students.

We have protected the base rate of funding for 16 to 19 year olds for all types of providers until the end of the current spending review period in 2020. We are actively exploring the efficiency and resilience of post-16 education and will be assessing how far existing and forecast funding and regulatory structures enable high quality provision. As with other areas of departmental spending, 16 to 19 funding from 2020 onwards will be considered as part of the next Spending Review.