Call for end to FE funding gap

Tuesday, 20 September 2005 12:00 AM

Funding for further education colleges should be raised to the level of that in schools to ensure Britain's workforce has the skills it needs, the Lib Dems said today.

Research by the Learning and Skills Council (LCS) put the gap between funding allocated to post-16 colleges and sixth forms in schools at about 13 per cent.

And with the majority of post-16 students taught in further education colleges, the Liberal Democrats warn that such a shortfall in funding has significant implications for the skills levels of the British workforce.

"The government has a duty to equip young people with the education and skills they need to succeed in adult life," said Lib Dem skills spokesman Edward Davey.

"The current situation is unsustainable. It's bad for young people, it's bad for business and it's bad for Britain."

More than 700,000 16 to 19-year-olds attend a further education or sixth form college, compared to just 345,000 who attend maintained sixth form schools.

And Baroness Sharp of Guildford noted that many of those attending FE colleges are from disadvantaged backgrounds, for whom returning to education later on in life was the only way out of a life of unemployment.

"With India and China on the horizon, life is not going to get any easier for these people. The college sector is vitally important in opening up opportunities for these people to go back to do GCSEs and the like," she said.

"Fundamentally for the Lib Dems, [this funding gap] is unfair for the college sector, which often provides second chance education for students who for one reason or another have been failed by the school system."

However, Laura Murphy, the delegate from Tunbridge Wells, insisted the party's conference motion calling for the funding gap to be closed was "totally inadequate" and failed to address the problems in delivering funding to FE colleges.

Colleges receive a lump sum for each student but if that student does not finish the course, the promised funding is often not allocated, she said. This creates uncertainty which in turn leads to low wages for tutors and poor employment practices.

She added: "This motion is too simplistic - an attempt to put a sticking plaster on a gaping wound."

But Mark Williams MP insisted that the motion was a step in the right direction and would mark the start of vigorous campaigning on the issue.

"And fundamentally it would sow the seeds for inclusion and access to education for those from more disadvantaged backgrounds," he said.

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