Select committee: Education Committee
Conclusion 54
6th Report - Further Education and Skills
Published 23 Sep 2025
Addressed to Department for Education
Education Committee Further Education and Skills All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The further education sector faces significant funding challenges due to prolonged real-terms cuts since 2010, with per-student funding still below 2009–10 levels. A rise in the number of 16–18-year-olds over the coming years will continue to increase pressure on colleges and other providers, yet per-student funding has not kept pace with the consequences of this population bulge. Although the Chancellor promised additional investment in the 2025 Spending Review, this is only a modest increase after adjustment for inflation, and details about how the extra money will be allocated are unclear. Without substantial investment, per-student funding will fall further, undermining the Government’s reliance on the further education sector to achieve its national missions. (Conclusion, Paragraph 204)
From: Education Committee, 6th Report - Further Education and Skills (HC 666), 23 September 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 9 December 2025 (deadline 23 November 2025).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's report and shares its views on the importance of skills and the FE sector, accepting some recommendations, saying others are already in place or under review, and not taking forward several others.
- It accepts the recommendation to monitor and report annually on compliance with provider access legislation, with the Careers and Enterprise Company data publication "expected to be in spring 2026".
- On Skills England, it says the review committed to by Ministers is due "within 18 to 24 months" of it becoming an Executive Agency, and that leadership structure is best considered within that broader review.
- It does not take forward devolving 16 to 19 funding, stating "it is important to maintain a national offer which is consistently high quality across the country" and that "16 to 19 funding has not been devolved".
- It does not take forward re-introducing all-age Level 7 apprenticeship funding, saying public funding should be prioritised "towards those at the start of their working lives", and says there are "currently no plans" for a pay review body for FE.