Education and training
- The Government is providing a £7.1 billion (£4.6 billion above inflation) increase in funding for schools by 2022-2023, which includes an increase of the minimum per pupil amount to £4,000 for primary schools and £5,000 for secondary schools
- The Government is giving additional £700 million to support the education of children and young people with special educational needs
- The Government is adding a further £400 million into further education funding, with £210 million of it going into targeted interventions such as English and Maths resits and T levels
- The Government is increasing early years spending by £66 million to improve the hourly rate of childcare providers delivering the Early Years Free Entitlement
- The Government is providing £7 million to expand Jobcentre adviser support in schools for young people with special educational needs and extending eligibility for Access to Work to internships for disabled people
“Removing the college sector's monopoly on automatic funding allocations will help transform skills provision in the UK and do a service to independent providers, FE colleges and learners themselves.” Lawrence Barton
Lawrence Barton, Managing Director, GB Training, said:
"While the Government's intention to increase investment in further education is welcome, key questions remain.
"How the money will be apportioned is fundamental. How much funding will be allocated to FE colleges and how much will be delivered to the hundreds of independent training providers on the frontline in delivering our country’s much needed apprenticeships revolution.
"Another central question is whether this extra investment in the sector will be met with funding reform. Additional funding is all very well, but without changing how that money is channelled to learners the Government will be throwing more taxpayers money after bad. The existing further education funding system is broken. Its heavy bias in FE colleges' favour undermines independent providers and removes the incentive for colleges to drive up standards.
"Removing the college sector's monopoly on automatic funding allocations will help transform skills provision in the UK and do a service to independent providers, FE colleges and learners themselves."
