Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of funding for further education institutions.

The government’s Spending Round in August 2019 identified the need to increase funding for 16 to 19 year olds’ education to ensure that they fulfil their potential and develop the skills that the country needs. That is why we are investing an extra £400 million in 16 to 19 education in 2020-21.

We will increase the base rate of funding by 4.7%, from £4,000 to £4,188, for the academic year 2020/21. This is the biggest injection of new money into 16 to 19 education in a single year since 2010, with funding increasing faster for education for 16 to 19 year olds than in 5 to 16 schooling for 5 to 16 year olds.

Our manifesto committed to spending £1.8 billion on upgrading the further education college estate and we will make further announcements relating to this funding in due course. In addition, we have made available £38 million of capital funding to T level providers in 2020 to ensure they have the facilities and equipment they need to deliver high quality, industry relevant programmes. We have recently announced a further £95 million in capital funding for T level providers in 2021.