Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will extend eligibility for Early Career Payments to teachers in sixth form colleges.

Sixth form colleges have a different legal status and relationship to government when compared with schools. They are independent of government and the department plays no role in setting teacher pay and conditions. Therefore, sixth form colleges are not eligible for the teachers' pay grant or the early-career payments for school teachers. We continue to work closely with the further education sector to consider how best to support its needs.

We have announced a 16-19 funding increase of £400 million for 2020-21. This includes a 4.7% increase in the 16-19 base rate of funding and £20 million of new funding for the further education workforce.