Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to bring forward legislation relating to the finance and governance arrangements of further education colleges in England.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education recently set out (to the Education Select Committee) that we are working on a White Paper aimed at delivering ambitious reform in our vital further education (FE) sector.

The FE sector is playing a pivotal role in making sure more people can access the high-quality education and training they need to progress and will support our economic recovery following the COVID-19 outbreak. Our reforms will build on and strengthen the excellent work already happening across the country and will ensure the FE sector is at the heart of every community.

We have been working very closely with the sector on the development of the reform programme from the start and will continue to do so. We will outline further details in due course.