Will the Cabinet Secretary confirm that funding allocated to further education in the budget will provide sufficient resources for colleges to meet the challenges of increased costs of living, non-pay inflationary costs, increases in the cost of local government pension schemes, and the implications of the teachers’ pension scheme evaluation?
The additional funding allocated to further education specifically for FE Pay will provide sufficient resources for colleges to meet the challenges of increased costs of living and ensure parity with the settlement agreed with Teachers.
Non-pay inflationary costs were not included in this allocation and will need to be met by efficiency savings found by the sector itself.
With regards the likely increases in pension scheme contributions, these figures have not yet been fully quantified and my officials are maintaining a watching brief working with the sector and colleagues in England.