Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will estimate the cost of raising the national funding rate for students in sixth form colleges to (a) £4,760 per year for 16 and 17-year-olds and (b) £3,000 per year for 18-year-olds.

The department has not made those specific estimates. I am aware of representations on the subject of funding for 16 to 19 year olds including the Raise the Rate campaign, and incoming letters from MPs and the 16 to 19 sector.

We have protected the base rate of funding for 16 to 19 year olds for all types of providers until the end of the current spending review period in 2020. We are considering the funding and resilience of the further education sector ahead of the next Spending Review, and as with other areas of departmental spending, 16 to 19 funding for subsequent years will be considered as part of that review.