Recommendation 57

We recommend that the Department for Education increases capital funding significantly to support further education providers with modernisation and expansion. The increase in post-16 student numbers will be temporary, however, and therefore in some cases funding should be allocated to allow for a temporary expansion to the college estate to avoid 101 ‘white elephant’ buildings as the impact of the fall in the birth rate comes through to the FE sector. The Department must also expand eligibility for capital funding programmes—including FE Capital Transformation and the Post-16 Capacity Fund—to specialist colleges and sixth form colleges. (Recommendation, Paragraph 212)