§ Mr. Bryan DaviesTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate of the likely size of the claim for the funding of the demand-led element of colleges by the Further Education Funding Council was made by her Department prior to the submission of the claim. [13565]
§ Mr. PaiceExpenditure on the demand-led element programme depends on the termly claims made by individual colleges to the Further Education Funding Council for England. The funding council then advisers the Department of its net funding requirement in February, April and July each year. The next claim from the funding council is therefore expected shortly. On the basis of advice from the funding council, the Department estimated that it would need to provide an additional £82 million to meet the likely size of the February claim.