Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pieces of guidance have been issued by his Department to principals of sixth form colleges, excluding such guidance as relates only to particular individual schools, individual local authorities, or individual multi-academy trusts, in each of the last 36 months.

A database of publications by category can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/search/guidance-and-regulation?parent=department-for-education&level_one_taxon=c58fdadd-7743-46d6-9629-90bb3ccc4ef0&level_two_taxon=dd767840-363e-43ad-8835-c9ab516633de&organisations%5B%5D=department-for-education&public_timestamp%5Bfrom%5D=16/12/2018&order=updated-newest.

This database can be interrogated to identify specific guidance aimed at specific audiences, including education and training providers.

The database contains guidance which may have been updated on multiple occasions, for instance the guidance document ‘Actions for FE colleges and providers during the coronavirus pandemic’ has been updated 48 times since it was first published in March 2020: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-further-education-provision#history.

It includes guidance published by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) for a variety of audiences. The ESFA communicates all major guidance updates through ESFA Update, which is issued to providers weekly, and ESFA inform, which is issued monthly. It has issued 49 editions of ESFA Update in 2021, 49 in 2020 and 50 in 2019. It has issued 9 editions of ESFA Inform in 2021, 8 in 2020 and 10 in 2019.

The ESFA also publishes Business Update, which is aimed at FE providers and employers offering apprenticeships, highlighting related news and guidance updates. It issued 7 editions of Business Update in 2021, 15 in 2020 and 9 in 2019.