Oral Answers to Questions

Nic Dakin Excerpts

Tuesday 11th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

My hon. Friend is exactly right. We also need to make sure that we are sharing the best practice of those authorities that are successfully helping to keep children out of care. We are also using the initiative of the children’s Minister to ensure that we are using independent school facilities better and helping with mental health problems. We need to do all those things.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

4. What recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the adequacy of funding for further education.

[Elizabeth Truss]

I regularly meet the Secretary of State for Education to discuss school and FE funding issues. We have protected the base rate of funding for 16 to 17-year-olds between 2015 and 2020.

[Nic Dakin]

The national funding rate for 16 to 18-year-olds has been frozen for five years. That is beginning to cause significant problems in delivering for this age group. Will the Government do something about it before it is too late?

[Elizabeth Truss]

What is important is that we are achieving better results for 16 to 18-year-olds. We are seeing more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds going to university and improvements in the quality of apprenticeships that are being taken up by young people. We are also putting extra money into the new T-levels, which are due to improve technical education.