§ Linda GilroyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the resources available to the Learning and Skills Council. [22277]
§ Margaret HodgeToday, the Secretary of State issued the annual grant letter to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). In 2002–03, the Council will have available a resource budget of £7,310,890,000 to deliver the challenging objectives set out in the remit letter of November 2000 and the targets in the Council's corporate plan.
The Council has taken over many of the functions previously carried out by the Further Education Funding Council and TECs, as well as various activities carried out by the Department for Education and Employment and Government Offices. Our most recent estimate is that these organisations spent in total between £270 and £280 million on administering the functions which are now the responsibility of the LSC.
The Council takes on significant new responsibilities in 2002–03, including the funding of school sixth forms, further action to raise basic skills, and decisions at local level about the allocation of funds for young people's and adult learning provision. In total the new budget represents a 33 per cent. increase in funds compared with 2001–02, and even without school sixth forms represents a 6 per cent. real terms increase compared with the previous year.
In the light of these responsibilities, and the different VAT regime to which the LSC is subject compared with TECs, the Secretary of State has agreed to a £25 million increase in the administration budget of the LSC for 2001–02 and 2002–03, to £213 million and £218 million respectively.
This delivers the commitment given to Parliament during the passage of the Learning and Skills Act 2000 that there would be administrative savings of at least £50 million compared with previous arrangements.