Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Baroness Deech (Crossbench). It was answered on Monday, 20 April 2009.

Education: Further Education Building Programme

Question: My Lords, does the Minister agree that this latest failure is symptomatic of a general failure to fund education properly in recent years, especially higher education? We read in the recess of the failure to fund sixth-form students properly and of money being withdrawn at the last moment. This has happened in higher education over the years. Does the Minister agree that it is not satisfactory to build up expectations of higher education and then fail to fund them when the young people come forward?

Answer: My Lords, we are dealing here with further education rather than higher education. It cannot be said that we are not spending significant sums on further education, including over £1 billion on the apprenticeship programme and similar on the FE programme. Similarly, over £2.3 billion will be spent on modernisation in the current spending review period.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 709 c1243
Session: 2008-09
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: Construction Capital investment Further education Building colleges for the future programme Capital Programme in Further Education Review
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk