Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the validity of the findings of the Institute for Fiscal Studies 2018 annual report on education spending in England that funding for further education has been reduced more than other areas of education since 2010.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies report uses published data on funding and student numbers to derive a trend in real terms expenditure per student. Their report shows that funding for school pupils aged 5 to 16 will be more than 50% higher in real terms per pupil in 2020 than in 2000. The government chose to prioritise pre-16 schooling because that is absolutely fundamental to later learning and achievement.

We have protected the base rate of funding for 16 to 19 year olds for all types of providers until 2020. Our commitment to the 16 to 19 sector has contributed to the current record high proportion of 16 and 17 year olds who are participating in education or apprenticeships.

We are investing in the sector to support providers to deliver the new T level qualifications from 2020. This will mean an additional £500 million every year once they are fully rolled out. We recently announced a further £38 million for the first wave of T level providers to invest in equipment and facilities to support the roll-out of T levels.

We are currently considering the efficiency and resilience of the further education sector and assessing how far existing funding and regulatory structures meet the costs of delivering quality further education.