TREASURY RELEASE AN EARLY TASTER OF COMPREHENSIVE SPENDING REVIEW

The Association of Colleges (AOC) in England highlight the Treasury has released an early taster of some of its Comprehensive Spending Review commitments in advance of tomorrow’s full announcement. “It includes a number of things that have already been trailed previously, and things that we (AOC) will be working with officials for more details on, but the headlines are:

• £400m investment in 2021-22 – the first step in the £2.9 billion three-year Restart programme
• £1.4bn to build on the Plan for Jobs commitment to increase capacity in Job Centre Plus and double the number of work coaches
• £375m skills package which will start delivering on the Prime Minister’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee
• This skills package includes £138m to fund in-demand technical courses equivalent to A-levels, and expand the employer-led boot camp training model
• It also includes £127m funding to continue skills measures in the Plan for Jobs into 2021-22, investing in sector-based work academies and traineeships, and investing in the National Careers Service to enable more adults to access high quality careers advice.

It is not surprising that in the context of the ongoing pandemic and immediate economic repercussions that the government focus seems to be on meeting immediate challenges – this was reflected in their downsizing to a one-year CSR period. We should find out several things tomorrow, including:

• DFE’s total revenue budget for 2021-2 (it’s £67.6 billion in 2020-1)
• whether there’s an increase in the non-school part of the DFE revenue budget (there’s already a 3 year deal for schools)
• whether there are funds to extend any of the short-term Covid programmes or address short term Covid-related costs (we think this is unlikely)
• any new direction in terms of the National Skills Fund, FE capital fund or other areas where there’s a strong Treasury interest
• the updated economic forecast from OBR and the government’s response to this
• the Shared Prosperity Fund plans

There might be more; there might be less. The largest sum in this evening’s announcement is the extension of the DWP Kickstart programme and the launch of a new Restart programme for unemployed adults which looks to be mainly about job search rather than new skills. The two month apprenticeship incentive extension is a step in the right direction but a small one and the confirmation of funding for Lifetime Skills Guarantee/National Skills Fund is helpful but there is a lot of detail we have been told will be announced in the coming weeks on funding rates, eligibility, fundable qualifications and so on.

It’s unlikely that details on a number of things such as next year’s 16-19 funding, the National Skills Fund and future TPS contribution grant will be made tomorrow. We may have to wait for DfE to digest what the settlement means across its responsibilities.” 24/11/20