Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:28 pm on 23 November 2022.
I thank Jenny Rathbone for that question. They can expect our commitment to further education to continue; I was determined that we would reflect that commitment in our budget settlement for this year. So, for the 2022-23 year, you will see investment of over £400 million directly to colleges for core provision and support, which is the largest increase, actually, in many years, and that was to reflect our commitment to the work that further education colleges do, in particular reaching parts of our communities that sometimes schools may not be able to always reach, because of the breadth of the offer in the way that she mentioned in her question. But my officials are working closely with the sector to identify the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and to look for opportunities to reduce costs to the sector through joint procurement, joint negotiation. I'll shortly be announcing further funding for innovation in this space, so that FE colleges can look at how they can deliver things differently, to release, perhaps, some longer term savings. And I'll also be announcing some further funding to colleges that will benefit learners who are most impacted by the cost-of-living crisis by means of an additional £1.3 million to increase the funding available for financial contingency funds, and an additional £2.5 million to contribute towards the increased costs of consumable materials, which are absolutely critical in the delivery of some of the vocational programmes that FE colleges deliver so well.