The September spending round, a college checklist for Treasury and DfE

The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced last week that there will be an accelerated spending round to ensure government departments know their 2020-1 budgets by September. This offers a great opportunity for him to honour his own (and the Prime Minister’s) promise to start to address the long term lack of investment in colleges. Their promises recognised the vital roles that colleges play in delivering key economic and social outcomes. We have produced a 7 page paper with 10 recommendations for Treasury and DfE. We believe that some longer term reform is necessary but also that there are areas where the governemnt could start now. Our proposals cover the full remit of college work and would add up to a one-off injection of £1,114m in revenue and £240m in capital to start to address the relative neglect colleges have suffered from. The paper is available here AoC spending round 2020-1 16.8.19.pdf AoC spending round 2020-1 16.8.19.pdf (PDF,168.17 KB) If you have any questions about the proposals, the details or the evidence, please contact us.For more information about AoC's Love Our Colleges campaign, look here AoC's 2019 spending review paper sets out the case for change. You can read it in full her: AoC spending review 2019 8.7.19.pdf AoC spending review 2019 8.7.19.pdf (PDF,336.73 KB) Our case covers four areas a significant increase in spending on the education of young people. increases in spending on higher technical education, adult education and apprenticeships to increase productivity. a capital budget to extend the life of buildings and equipment. a new strategic relationship between colleges and government Over 15 pages, the paper explains the case for raising 16 to 18 funding rates, for action to close socio-economic gaps, for apprenticeship reform and for full implementation of the government's Post -18 review in terms of adult further education and capital spending Treasury has not yet set out the terms for the 2019 spending review but the Chancellor indicated a plan for a three year review covering the period from 2020 to 2023. When HM Treasury, DfE and other government departments finally start the review, there will need to be a fresh approach to education spending in the 2020s.