Institutes of Technology re-announcement will do nothing for the overwhelming majority of providers and students - Angela Rayner

Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Education, commenting on the announcement of the first twelve Institutes of Technology, said:

“While investment in further education is desperately needed, this announcement will do nothing for the overwhelming majority of providers and students in technical education. The £170 million re-announced today is nowhere near to the £3 billion in real terms cuts to further and adult education since 2010.

“When they first announced this policy years ago the Government said they would make higher-level technical education available in all areas, yet this list does not include a single university or college in the north west. 

“A Labour government will invest in the entire sector, including scrapping advanced learner loans and increasing teacher numbers, and ensure widespread collaboration across the higher and further education sectors as part of a National Education Service.”

Ends

Notes to Editors

• ·       Labour analysis of data from the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies has shown that further education and skills funding has been cut by £3 billion in real terms since the Conservatives came in to office in 2010. 
  https://labour.org.uk/press/education-skills-cut-3-billion-tories/
• ·       In the industrial strategy green paper in 2017, the Government said that “The Government will support the creation of new Institutes of Technology. These institutes will increase the provision of higher-level technical education, which only exists on a limited scale in the UK today, to ensure that it is available in all areas.”
  https://beisgovuk.citizenspace.com/strategy/industrial-strategy/supporting_documents/buildingourindustrialstrategygreenpaper.pdf, p42