Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of recent changes to pay levels in further education colleges on the ability of such institutions to recruit and retain staff.

Further education (FE) colleges are independent of government and are responsible for setting the pay and conditions of their staff, commensurate with their local workforce planning needs. We recognise that the FE sector faces cost pressures, which is why we are looking closely at funding to make sure that the system can support the delivery of sustainable, high-quality education. We have also been actively engaging with FE providers and representative bodies to understand the specific challenges and opportunities for FE teacher recruitment and retention, to see if there is more support we can offer. The forthcoming Spending Review will present an opportunity for us to make the case for investment in the sector.