Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of further education college funding for (a) 16-19 provision, (b) adult education and (c) apprenticeships.

The department is investing a further £3.8 billion in further education and skills over this parliamentary session to ensure people across the country have access to the skills they need to build a fulfilling career in jobs the economy needs. Providers of post-16 education, including further education colleges, can benefit from the investment announced in the 2021 Spending Review, which made available an extra £1.6 billion for 16-19 education in the 2024/25 financial year, compared with 2021/22 - the biggest increase in 16-19 funding in a decade. This will help to fund the additional students anticipated in the system, 40 extra hours per student, and provide an affordable increase in funding rates per 16-19 student, including an up-front cash boost which will see the national rate of funding increase by over 8% in 2022/23, from £4,188 to £4,542 per student.

The department are continuing to invest in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Education Budget (AEB) at £1.34 billion in the 2022/23 academic year. The AEB fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3, to help them gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning.

As part of the department’s £2.5 billion investment aimed at re-skilling and up-skilling opportunities for adults, we have introduced the Free Courses for Jobs offer and Skills Bootcamps. The Free Courses for Jobs offer enables learners without a level 3 qualification (or learners with any qualification level but earning below the National Living Wage) to gain a qualification for free. Skills Bootcamps are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and fast-track to an interview with an employer.

The department is committed to supporting more employers in using apprenticeships to develop the skilled workforces they need, and to supporting more people to benefit from the high-quality training that apprenticeships offer. To support more employers and learners to access apprenticeships we are increasing funding for apprenticeships in England to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year.

The department is also investing £2.8 billion of capital funding for skills over the Spending Review period, including to improve the condition of further education estates, create more post-16 places and support the rollout of T Levels.