Today, the Education Committee has published its Further Education and Skills inquiry report, expanding on last week’s Solving the SEND Crisis recommendations. This new report takes that progress further, firmly embedding awareness of learners with SEND in FE policy and acknowledging the crucial role of specialist colleges.
Bringing specialist colleges into FE policy
The report addresses the fragmentation of FE and SEND policy by recommending that the DfE consolidates FE SEND policy under the Minister for Skills’ portfolio. We have long argued that the current split leads to policy fragmentation and weak accountability. Bringing SEND firmly within FE and Skills will help ensure that specialist colleges are recognised as a core part of the national skills system rather than as an afterthought in policy.
High needs and capital funding
Among the report’s most important proposals for specialist colleges are those on high-needs and capital funding. The report recognises significant funding challenges for the wider FE sector, noting the “prolonged real-terms cuts since 2010”. The report’s recommendations for a ring-fenced national high needs fund for specialist colleges, along with the call to increase per-student funding and adjust it for inflation, would go a long way to address the chronic underinvestment in FE.
For specialist colleges, the focus on capital funding is particularly welcome, with the Committee recognising the years of inequity in capital funding policy by recommending that specialist colleges get access to existing capital programmes, including the FE Capital Transformation Fund and the Post-16 Capacity Fund. The report also recommends a one-off capital grant for specialist FE colleges to “address the serious and urgent concerns around the condition of buildings and facilities”.
The call for pay parity with school teachers, and the inclusion of specialist colleges in recruitment and retention incentives would also help to tackle the staffing pressures faced by the sector.
Transport for post-16 learners with SEND
The call to extend the statutory duty on local authorities to provide home-to-college transport for learners with SEND up to age 25 is equally important. The Committee explicitly cites Natspec’s report into transport for post-16 learners with SEND, underlining the strength of the case for a national entitlement with clear criteria.
Curriculum, VAT and mental health support
The report also includes several other positive recommendations. We are pleased to see an emphasis on a broad a flexible curriculum through retention of AGQs, modular T Levels and alternatives to A Levels, which will create more personalised learning routes. The report also highlights the injustice of the current VAT system for colleges, arguing that they should benefit from a VAT exemption. Finally, we support the call for increased investment in Mental Health Support Teams and improved access to wider mental health services.
Responding to the report, Natspec Chief Executive Officer Clare Howard said:
“This report represents a pivotal moment for specialist FE. Too often SEND in general, and specialist colleges in particular, have been an afterthought in FE policy or completely overlooked, but in this report the Committee has truly listened to the needs of the sector and has embedded SEND provision within their thinking on FE and skills reform.
It is a testament to the evidence provided by the sector, and we are delighted to see the Committee making strong, specific recommendations on specialist colleges, bringing them into scope for capital funding, and recommendations on high needs funding, teacher pay, transport, and more—all of which would have a real, positive impact on specialist colleges and the young people they support.
It is now vital that the Department for Education takes these recommendations on board to deliver the fundamental change that is needed to build a genuinely inclusive and effective skills system for all.”