Further Education (Hansard, 22 November 2001)

§ 9. Mr. Watts
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has for increasing funding to further education colleges; and if she will make a statement. [14639]

§ John Healey
The Government plan to continue their substantial investment in further education. This year total further education funding via the Learning and Skills Council is up by £527 million compared with 2000–01, a 12 per cent. real terms increase. This brings the planned total to £4,029 million.
450W
Next year we plan a further 3 per cent. in real terms rise. These are resources to meet our ambitious aims for the learning and skills agenda and confirms the importance of FE in delivering it.

§ 10. Mr. Tynan
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent assessment she has made of the quality of teaching in further education. [14640]

§ 21. Mr. Bailey
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the quality of teaching in further education. [14651]

§ John Healey
Since the Learning and Skills Act 2000, Ofsted and Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI) inspect Further Education colleges under the common inspection framework. Each inspection includes an assessment of teaching quality. The first five college inspections under the new regime were published in the summer, when 16 per cent. of lessons observed were judged to be less than satisfactory. These are the only inspections published to date and might well not be representative.

§ 35. Mr. Grogan
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures she is taking to increase participation in further education. [14665]

§ John Healey
This year we have allocated the Learning and Skills Council an additional £527 million to fund increased participation in further education and raise standards and achievement, a 12 per cent. increase in real terms. Colleges are central to our plans to develop a coherent phase of education for 14 to 19-year-olds. For adult learners, colleges contribute to raising skill levels, improving basic skills, boosting employability and widening access. We have asked the Learning and Skills Council to examine the potential for FE to deliver further growth in adult participation in future.

§ Alistair Burt
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent representations she has received on the recruitment of further education lecturers in England; how many vacancies exist in further education colleges in England; and if she will make a statement. [17294]

§ John Healey
Neither my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State nor I have received recent official representations on this matter. We have both met with the Association of Colleges recently and my right hon. Friend spoke at the Association's Conference earlier this week. My hon. Friend the Minister for Lifelong Learning met with the Association for College Management earlier this month and is due to meet with the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education in December.
The Department does not collect information on vacancies centrally, as further education colleges are independent corporations. However, I understand from a recent survey by the Association of Colleges that there are 3,000 teaching vacancies in general further education colleges.
Work is under way to ensure that the further education sector benefits from similar recruitment initiatives to those already proposed for schools, such as "Golden Hellos" and the write off of student loans.