Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether there will be further investment funds, such as a new Post-16 capacity fund, for sixth form colleges to bid from in future.

Sixth-form colleges have been eligible to bid into all rounds of the Post-16 Capacity Fund to date, for a share of £238 million to increase the capacity of their estate due to demographic increases in the local 16-19 population. The current bidding round, which will distribute funding secured in this spending review period, closes on 11 November 2022.

Funding beyond this spending review period is subject to consideration in future spending reviews.

Sixth-form colleges are also eligible to bid to the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) for estate expansion projects. The CIF 2023/24 application round is currently open for applications, and eligible sixth form colleges have been invited to submit an application.