§ Mr. HoramTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what arrangements are being made to help teachers in Further Education Colleges with their housing costs. [82475]
§ Margaret Hodge[holding answer 27 November 2002]: We recognise that staff in the further education (FE) sector need to be able to find affordable homes within a reasonable distance from their work place.
On 19 November the Secretary of State announced that the total funding for FE is set to rise by £1.2 billion between 2002–03 and 2005–06, a real terms increase of 19 per cent. From next year, colleges which have demonstrated their effectiveness will have three year funding deals allowing them to plan on a longer-term basis, with increases linked to performance. We will also consolidate the funds provided for the Teaching Pay Initiative into core funding. The substantial real terms increases in core funding, over and above the costs of additional students and inflation, and the three year funding agreements should enable colleges to deliver the improvements in pay that staff deserve.
The Government is also making an additional £1.4 billion available in the period 2003–06 to help improve the supply of affordable housing. As part of this, the Starter Homes Initiative (SHI) aims to help key workers to buy homes in areas where the high cost of housing is undermining recruitment and retention. While FE teachers are not identified as a priority for the SHI, they may be eligible for loans or cash grants in some areas because of local flexibilities in delivering the scheme.