Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 29
29
The Department has not had a clear long-term strategy covering the college sector’s role, structure...
Conclusion
The Department has not had a clear long-term strategy covering the college sector’s role, structure and funding in an integrated way.56 The Department said that there had been individual elements of long-term strategy, such as giving employers more of a voice about skills and reviewing the number of qualifications on offer. It also highlighted that the impact of COVID-19, together with concerns about productivity, meant there was now a huge amount of focus on setting a strategy for further education and skills development.57 The ESFA told us that it hoped the White Paper resulting from this work would be published before the end of March 2021. It said that the White Paper would articulate the role of FE in the education landscape, the importance it must have, and the things it needed to deliver for the future success of the country.58 48 Qq 94–95, 100–103 49 Qq 96–97 50 C&AG’s Report, para 3.14 51 Association of Colleges, para 4 (MCF00001) 52 Qq 97, 104, 111 53 C&AG’s Report, Figure 8 54 Q 114 55 Qq 83, 90, 106, 108–109, 113; C&AG’s Report, para 3.11 56 C&AG’s Report, para 3.10 57 Qq 64, 80 58 Qq 65–66, 89 Managing colleges’ financial sustainability 15
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
Between November 2014 and March 2019, the ESFA paid £253 million to 36 colleges which had serious cashflow problems. The purpose of this emergency funding was to help the colleges maintain their teaching and other services for learners. At the beginning of this period, government’s intention was that all the emergency funding would be repayable. However, at March 2020, the ESFA had categorised 39% of the total (£100 million) as non-repayable.42