David Lepper

Labour Party | Brighton Pavilion

Debate on further education

Mr. David Lepper (Brighton, Pavilion):

…My hon. Friend the Minister will know something of the variety of further education provision that exists in the city of Brighton and Hove, part of which I represent. …We have a long-established FE college.I am glad that the Minister was able to come down in November last year to open the refurbished and latest version of that college—City college Brighton and Hove. It was established in the late 19th century as one of the colleges funded by the tax on whisky, which was directed to increasing opportunities for those who might not otherwise have them. We also have two excellent and innovative sixth-form colleges—one in my constituency and one in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Hove (Mr. Caplin). ….in the Hove part of the city, we have secondary schools with their own sixth forms. Therefore we have a breadth of provision at that level.

My colleagues who represent the city of Brighton and Hove have made a point of regularly meeting representatives of all those institutions at least once a term.

I can attest to the welcome that was given in November last year to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State's announcement of the £1.2 billion increase over the next three years in funding for further education; the three-year funding system that is linked to performance agreement plans from each college and the extension of the educational maintenance allowance.

As I have said, there is a variety of provision in Brighton and Hove, and in the past that has presented problems. Last year, I corresponded with the Minister and drew her attention to some of the problems that can exist in capital funding when sixth-form colleges are governed by one regime, and schools with sixth forms by another. I thank her for the flexibility that both she and the officials in her Department showed in their discussions with the Learning and Skills Council nationally that led to a relaxation of some central Government funding restrictions to sixth-form colleges. We will wait to see what the impact of that will be on the colleges in my constituency but it is a welcome move.

…. the sector generally welcomed last year's changes with enthusiasm. John Brennan of the Association of Colleges, writing in the spring edition of FE Now!, describes it as "a major step forward". He refers to the 78 per cent. increase in cash terms, the 42 per cent. increase in real terms since 1996–97 and the increase both in cash and real terms of funding per student. He says in his article that

"The 1990's nightmare of the efficiency squeeze has been replaced by a steadily improving funding picture".

(but)…colleges are expressing worries about the impact on the funding announcement of factors such as employers' national insurance contributions, pension schemes, the effect of consolidation into core funding of allocations for pay, especially professional standards payments in sixth- form colleges, and the staff development component of the standards fund. Colleges are also expressing concerns about their ability to meet the participation targets of further education within the increased funding that is available, which they willingly embrace. I am sure that they will find ways of meeting them.

I understand that colleges have until August to set their budgets for the next year. I am sure that the Minister will be liaising with learning and skills councils throughout the country, as they in turn will be liaising with the colleges within their areas, so that we can ensure that, as we approach the August deadline, some of those problems in school funding that have hit the headlines recently do not occur in the further education sector as well. There is great enthusiasm, and I am sure that Ministers will be willing to listen to the reasonable approach that they will find coming from that sector, while welcoming the settlement announced last year.

There are some other concerns that affect sixth-form colleges in areas where there is variety of provision. These relate to the inequality of funding generally between sixth-form colleges and school sixth forms, and not only in respect of capital issues. I am glad that the Government are taking steps to reduce that inequality. The gap is likely to be down to about 5 per cent. in the near future, and we hope that further progress will be made. However, there is some concern on the part of colleges about what the impact will be on sixth-form colleges when funding for 16 plus is under the remit of learning and skills councils.

Before I leave this area of further education, I should like to put on record my family's debt of gratitude…My son, who is now an established journalist with a national magazine, received his initial training in journalism at City college Brighton and Hove. My daughter, having spent eight years as a poorly paid nursery nurse, went to Varndean college—a sixth-form college—to take an access course that gave her the opportunity to go to university. Such a debt of gratitude to our FE institutions is probably shared by families throughout the country.

The hon. Member for Twickenham referred to the research undertaken by the Foyer Federation. I chair the friends of the Brighton and Hove foyer. Its role is to secure support from the community for that excellent institution; it is one of 120 foyers throughout the country. There are 50 spaces at the Brighton and Hove foyer, and all respect is due to the manager of the foyer, Sheila Hall, and her staff for their excellent work in providing stability to young people who have faced either real hardship—of a sort that often we cannot imagine—or great instability and vulnerability in their lives up to the point when they arrive at the foyer.

The Brighton and Hove foyer caters for people with few, if any, formal qualifications. It gives people, as all foyers do, a second chance. They are young people who have reached the age of 17 or 18 and who have probably left school with no qualifications, or who may not have attended school for much of their last two or three years of formal education.

We all welcome the Government's aspiration to ensure that, by 2010, 90 per cent. of young people will have participated in a full-time programme fitting them for higher education or skilled employment by the age of 22. Foyers have an important role to play in helping to meet that target, as young people who attend often have not only left school with little in the way of formal education, but, because of that, are likely to drift into low-paid employment with little chance of training on the job. Research that is quoted in the Government's skills strategy progress report, published earlier this year, found that 22 per cent. of people with a degree or its equivalent who are in work are likely to receive continuing training opportunities; only 5 per cent. of those with no qualifications are likely to receive continuing training opportunities when they find work.

… the problem is that at the age of 19 some of the excellent work that helps young people comes to an end because of changes in benefit rules, in particular access to housing benefit which come into force at that age if the person is in full-time education—that is, studying for more than 16 hours a week.

I shall cite the cases of two people at the Brighton and Hove foyer. Mr. X came to live at the foyer when he was 18. He was doing a full-time media course at City college. Whatever might be said in some quarters about media courses, I remind hon. Members that my son found gainful employment through taking one at City college. After doing very well in his first year, Mr. X went back to college in the second year. However, as the course was full time, when he reached his 19th birthday, he had to move out of the foyer because his rent could no longer be paid by housing benefit. Therefore, the stability that underpinned his education success was being undermined.

The second case is that of Miss Y, who came to the foyer from a difficult family background. She was entitled to income support and full housing benefit because of her family circumstances. She was in year 2 of a full-time HNC course in design. However, when she reaches her 19th birthday, she will no longer be entitled to those benefits. Under the current rules, as her studies are not considered to be vocational, she will not be allowed to continue them. Unfortunately, as she is in full-time education, the housing benefit department will not pay her rent, even if she is no longer claiming benefits. The skilful work of the staff at the foyer, and the helpful offices of the local new deal team, ensured that that young woman was able to continue her education and remain at the foyer. Such successful cases often involve staff turning a blind eye to certain regulations, or engaging in a degree of subterfuge, to ensure that the youngsters can continue studying: that should not be necessary.

… the Foyer Federation is proposing an extension of the education maintenance allowance, which the Government will be rolling out from 2004. I commend to my hon. Friend the Minister the submission from the federation, of which I am sure that she is aware. That submission is entitled "Second Chances", and is a response to the progress report on the skills strategy. It argues for an extension of the education allowance to people aged between 19 and 30 who are on courses leading to level 2 or 3 attainment. It would be a means-tested allowance, linked to attendance at, and completion of, those courses—so it would not offer something for nothing, but it would be tied to the study that the young people are doing. That—along with, perhaps, some change in housing benefit entitlement—would make a great difference to the life and education opportunities of some young people, many of whom are extremely vulnerable.

I hope that the Minister and her colleagues will carefully consider what the Foyer Federation has to say, and that they will discuss such matters with Ministers in the Department for Work and Pensions, because this is a cross-departmental issue. I believe that some announcements will arise from the skills strategy progress report that will be produced later this summer, and I look forward to seeing some acknowledgement of the Foyer Federation's findings in them.

The benefits that are to be gained will not be only for the young people themselves. Our economy will also benefit because there will be an increase in the skills base that underlies it, and an outlay at this stage will reduce the likelihood of later benefit dependency by those young people, because they will have been given a chance by the foyers, with their links to educational institutions.

I end by …welcoming much of what the Government have done over the past few years, and particularly the announcement in November. The Government have set high targets and expectations for participation in full-time education, because they know that the opportunities for the rest of our lives are often governed by those educational opportunities. I welcome the progress that has been made, and look forward to the Minister's comments on the issues that are raised in the debate this afternoon.

From the reply to the Debate by the Minister for Lifelong Learning Maragaret Hodge MP.

I had the great pleasure of visiting City college in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Mr. Lepper), and seeing much of the excellent work that he has done there. I congratulate him on his active engagement with the FE sector, which is apparent in our correspondence on various issues. He talked about the foyer, as did the hon. Member for Twickenham, and he asked whether we could move towards some kind of support beyond the age of 19. All hon. Members recognise that that is important. We will introduce the education maintenance allowances nationally by 2004 and I hope that we will have something further to say about our proposals beyond that point in the skills strategy paper we will publish in June or July. We recognise, as other hon. Members do, that for many disadvantaged people in our community it is not beneficial for support for individuals to be cut off at age 19.