§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many individual courses have been(a) commenced and (b) completed in further education each year since 1997–98. [12566]
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§ John HealeyThe information requested is contained in the table:
Total number of qualifications: starts and completions for council-funded provision in FE sector colleges Number 1997–98 Starts in the academic year 4,716,573 Completions in the academic year 3,932,800 1998–99 Starts in the academic year 4,497,223 Completions in the academic year 3,599,593 1999–2000 Starts in the academic year 4,463,154 Completions in the academic year 3,581.458 Notes:
1. The data are taken from the Individualised Student Record (ISR)
2. Starts and completions figures are based on a different student cohort—i.e. enrolments that start in a particular year do not necessarily end in the same year
The Learning and Skills Council recently published data on retention rates which are based on qualifications over the whole length of the course, which includes those courses that are longer than one year. Using this definition, the retention rates are as follows:
- 1997–98: 85 per cent.;
- 1998–99: 84 per cent.; and
- 1999–2000: 84 per cent.
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what the cost was of the Further Education Funding Council(a) for all purposes and (b) for administration in the last year of its operation;[12929]
(2) what grants were made to training and enterprise councils (a) for all purposes, (b) for further education and (c) for administration in the last year of their operation;[12928]
(3) what the budget is of the Learning and Skills Councils (a) at national level and (b) at local level for (i) all purposes and (ii) administration (A) in the current year and (B) in the coming year. [12930]
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§ John Healey[holding answer 6 November 2001]: The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has taken on a range of functions previously carried out by a number of bodies, including the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC), 72 Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs), the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE), Government Offices, and the National Advisory Council on Education and Training Targets (NACET"T), as well as new work. For the latest year for which we have robust estimates available (1999–2000), our assessment is that the total spent on administration by the predecessor bodies, in relation to the relevant functions, was between £270 and £280 million.
The LSC' s resource budget nationally for the financial year 2001–2002 is £5.5 billion. Of this, local LSCs have so far been allocated £4.955 billion. The LSC anticipates that the majority of the currently unallocated total funds will be directed to local LSCs during the remainder of the financial year. The LSC has been allocated £188 million for administration, of which £144 million has been allocated to local LSCs.
These amounts increase in 2002–2003 to £7.4 billion in total (which includes programme funding of £1.35 billion funding for sixth forms) and £193 million for administration. It is not possible to disaggregate these figures to local level, because the LSC has not yet allocated next year's budget to local LSCs.
We do not yet have final expenditure details for further education in 2000–01. Planned total funding for the FEFC for all purposes in 2000–01 was £3,530 million, excluding student support funds and employer contributions, of which £27 million was for administration.
In 2000–2001, the last year of TECs' contracts with Government, the DIES paid them a total of £1,270 million for all purposes in cash terms. There were no specific grants to them for further education. No specific amount was set aside for administration within this figure—it was up to individual TECs to allocate their overall budget according to need. However, we know from the most recent consolidated TEC accounts, that TECs spent over £260 million in total on staffing in 1999–2000.