Further Education Debate

Full Debate: Read Full Debate
Department: Department for Education

Further Education

Paula Sherriff Excerpts
Wednesday 18th November 2015

(8 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Baroness Morgan of Cotes Portrait Nicky Morgan
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. Young people, post-16, will have a mixture of face-to-face tuition, study in smaller groups, study in larger groups and their own study time, which prepares them for the next stage. The funding that colleges receive is for 600 hours, which enables them to teach a number of A-levels or technical qualifications.

Paula Sherriff Portrait Paula Sherriff (Dewsbury) (Lab)
- Hansard - -

How does the Secretary of State respond to the suggestion of Professor Alison Wolf that Britain’s supply of skilled workers may vanish into history if looming cuts to further education go ahead?

Baroness Morgan of Cotes Portrait Nicky Morgan
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

What I would say to the hon. Lady is that we helpfully had the support of Professor Alison Wolf in the last Parliament in getting rid of 3,000 qualifications that did not prepare our young people for the world of work at all. The EBacc subjects that I have been talking about—the core subjects of science, technology, engineering and maths: just what we need for the future of our country—are exactly what our education system is rightly focusing on.