When it comes to the UK’s financial relationship with the European Union, it’s quite difficult to have a sensible debate. Not least because of a certain slogan slapped on the side of a campaign bus about the extra £350 million a week we’d supposedly gain to spend on the NHS after Brexit (it’s controversial former Department for Education spin-doctor-turned-Vote-Leave-mastermind Dominic Cummings we have to thank for that one).
But one funding stream that has proved to be rather more popular over on this side of the Channel is the European Social Fund (ESF). Between 2014 and 2020, the programme is due to invest £2.4 billion in England. And the FE sector is one of the principal beneficiaries.
English providers have collectively been awarded some £446m in co-funded ESF provision for this six-year period.
Not surprisingly, then, concerns are growing about how this funding gap will be filled after Brexit. Accordingly, a coalition of more than 200 organisations and individuals has been assembled by the Learning and Work Institute, calling for replacement funding of at least an equal amount to ensure providers can address the problems caused by the 9 million English adults with low levels of literacy or numeracy.
And a high-profile figure last week lent his support to the campaign, in the shape of London’s deputy mayor Jules Pipe. Mr Pipe, responsible for planning, regeneration and skills in the capital, told the institute’s IntoWork Convention that the ESF should be replaced “in its entirety” after Brexit to support the most disadvantaged people in society.
The fund, he told the audience at London’s Kia Oval, was “hugely valuable” in filling “gaps in mainstream provision”.
That’s a veritable hotbed of heavyweight support for the campaign that’s brewing.
And just think about that extra £350m we’ll soon have to play with each week. We only need 10 days’ worth to continue the worthwhile work of the ESF for another six years. A bargain, surely?
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