Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) sixth forms and (b) further education colleges in the provision of education for refugees.

Refugee students are eligible for funding, and they are funded on the same basis as all other 16 to 19 eligible students.

The 16 to 19 funding arrangements for school and college places include an element of disadvantage funding. This element of the funding is for providers to attract, retain and support disadvantaged students and to support students with lower-level special educational needs and disabilities. Disadvantage funding is provided to institutions either for students with low prior attainment or for students who live in the most disadvantaged areas, and refugee students may attract this funding. In the 2018/19 academic year, we have allocated around £510 million to 16 to 19 institutions to provide extra support for disadvantaged students.

In addition, the department provides a number of financial support programmes for economically disadvantaged 16 to 19 year olds. This support aims to help with the education-related costs associated with staying in post-16 education such as travel and course equipment. These programmes aim to enable 16 to 19 year olds to participate in education regardless of their financial situation. They are available to refugee students who meet the qualifying criteria for each scheme.