Select committee: Education Committee
Recommendation 67
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 ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Funding for adult education and skills must increase to meet demand and to ensure that those over the age of 19 are able to participate in, and benefit from, the Government’s national missions. The Government must assess demand for adult education and increase funding over the period of the current Comprehensive Spending Review to align with the Government’s missions. We expect Skills England to set out a clear articulation of the resources that are needed and to advocate within Government for increased funding. (Recommendation, Paragraph 244)
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.