A debate on a motion on e-petition 229744 relating to college funding

The e-petition in question can be read on the Petitions website. It reads as follows:

We call on the Government to urgently increase college funding to sustainable levels, including immediate parity with recently announced increases to schools funding. This will give all students a fair chance, give college staff fair pay and provide the high-quality skills the country needs.

Funding for colleges has been cut by almost 30% from 2009 to 2019. A decade of almost continuous cuts and constant reforms have led to a significant reduction in the resources available for teaching and support for sixth formers in schools and colleges; potentially restricted course choice; fewer adults in learning; pressures on staff pay and workload, a growing population that is not able to acquire the skills the UK needs to secure prosperity post-Brexit.

On 1 November 2018, the government published a response to the petition: this can also be read on the e-petitions website.

The Library has already published two briefing papers relevant to this debate:

• 16-19 education funding in England since 2010 (November 2018)
• Adult further education funding in England since 2010 (December 2018)

This debate pack pulls together further parliamentary material, reports and news articles relevant to this debate.