Further Education: Coronavirus

(asked on 1st July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support his Department is providing to residential colleges during the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
Gillian Keegan Portrait
Gillian Keegan
Secretary of State for Education
This question was answered on 9th July 2020

To help manage the pressures of COVID-19, we can confirm that the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) will continue to pay grant funded providers, including residential adult colleges, their scheduled monthly profiled payments for the remainder of the 2019/20 funding year. And for 2019/20 only, the ESFA will not carry out the final reconciliation for grant funded providers in receipt of ESFA funded adult education budget (AEB) and the advanced learner loans bursary (ALLB) fund, subject to them meeting certain conditions set out in the further education (FE) Operational Guidance on maintaining education and skills training provision, published on 23 March 2020.

ESFA has issued both AEB and Advanced Learners Loans funding allocations to residential colleges in preparation for 2020/21.

The government appreciates the importance of adult education to improving people’s life chances. We are currently reviewing funding for Residential Specialist Designated Institutions, focusing on the residential support for learners funded via the AEB and the ALLB. We will complete this review in autumn 2020.

As announced last summer, we will next year be increasing investment in education and training of 16 to 19 year olds by £400 million, including an increased base rate, and more funding for high cost and high value subjects, which will help the sector to deliver in the difficult circumstances we are facing during the outbreak. In March this year, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor announced that we are going to transform FE colleges across the country, investing £1.5 billion of new capital by 2025-6.

On 29 June my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister announced a transformative ten-year construction programme to deliver the world-class education and training needed to get Britain back on its feet. This includes £200 million for urgent repairs and upgrades to FE colleges this year.

We are also looking carefully at all elements of FE funding in preparation for the forthcoming Spending Review.

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