Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of not returning VAT costs of sixth form colleges on competition in the market for education provision for 16 to 19 year olds.
All 16-19 providers are funded on an equal basis in relation to the students that they recruit but the Department for Education does not factor into funding the costs of the different legal and corporate status of 16-19 providers. The Department has not looked specifically at the impact of not paying VAT on competition in the market.