Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on how many FE colleges in England have had an increase in funding smaller than their estimated increase in energy bills in 2022.

The department does not collect data regarding energy costs and contracts at institution level that would enable the accurate estimates of increased energy bills required for a direct comparison with allocated funding for the year 2022.

Funding allocations for 16-19 education are published annually here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-education-funding-allocations#published-allocations.

Comparison of the allocations for academic years 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 will show the 16-19 education funding increases for all institutions.

Until 31 March 2023, further education colleges will continue to benefit from the Energy Bill Relief Scheme. This will reduce how much they need to spend on their energy and give greater certainty over budgets over the winter months. A new energy scheme for businesses, charities, and the public sector was confirmed on 9 January, ahead of the current scheme ending in March. The new scheme will mean all eligible UK businesses and non-domestic energy users will receive a discount on high energy bills until 31 March 2024.