Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to introduce demand-led funding arrangements for further education colleges enrolling additional 16–24 year old learners in priority skills sectors.

We are providing nearly £9 billion in 16 to 19 programme funding in the 2026/27 academic year. This includes the high value courses premium to encourage and support delivery of selected study programmes and T Levels.

We recognise that where an institution makes a significant expansion in student numbers in a single year, that can cause cost pressures, so we provide exceptional in-year growth funding for institutions that grow student numbers above a certain level. We are investing £87 million to fund exceptional in-year growth for the 2025/26 academic year.

The Adult Skills Fund (ASF) fully funds or co-funds education and skills training for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3 including the Free Courses for Jobs (FCFJ) offer. FCFJs cover a wide range of sector subject areas including engineering, construction, health and social care and accounting. The government is investing more in FCFJ through the construction and engineering skills packages.

Providers in receipt of an ASF allocation from the Department for Work and Pensions may earn up to an additional 10% on top of their ASF allocation for over-delivery. They have the freedom and flexibility to determine how they use their ASF allocations to meet local needs and support learners.