The Conservatives have presided over “five years of decline” in further education, and prime minister Boris Johnson’s rhetoric on creating opportunities is empty, the Labour Party has claimed. 

New analysis from the party shows the number of further education students has declined by a quarter since 2015, with the number of younger and poorer students declining fastest. Since 2015, the number of learners from the most deprived backgrounds has declined by nearly a third, with that figure climbing to almost 40 per cent among learners under the age 19. 

Tomorrow, Labour’s shadow education secretary, Kate Green, will visit Swindon College and call on the government to stop neglecting the further education sector and recognise the essential role that colleges have to play in enabling young people and adults to develop the skills needed for our economic recovery and future economy. 

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The analysis also shows that the number of further education colleges has fallen by a quarter, with numbers of full-time equivalent staff dropping by over 9,000.  

Labour says the Conservatives have slashed spending on 16-19 education by £710 million since 2010, a reduction of 21 per cent in real terms, which has taken training opportunities away from thousands of young people. 

Kate Green: Conservatives have ‘weakened the foundations of FE’

Ms Green said: “The Conservatives have weakened the foundations of our further education sector, exposing their empty rhetoric on creating opportunities and undermining young people’s life chances. 

“The ability to train and retrain will be essential to securing our economy, yet successive Conservative governments have hollowed out the infrastructure needed to reskill workers after this pandemic.

“With unemployment rising, the government should heed Labour’s call for a ‘jobs promise’ to avoid a lost generation of young people.”

At Swindon College tomorrow, Ms Green will restate Labour’s calls for a different version of the furlough scheme to include training, along with a “jobs promise” to provide opportunities for young people aged 16 to 24 to access quality education, training or employment after six months of being out of work, employment or training, after analysis showed that half a million young people could face long-term unemployment by 2022.

Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, said that, now more than ever, the government must commit to further education and ensure a stable future for staff in colleges. She said: “Funding for further education needs to be massively increased on a long-term basis. This government has overseen years of cuts to the sector which have led to lower pay, fewer staff and less opportunity for students. Now more than ever it is time for this government to prove it is committed to further education and ensure a stable future for everyone who works and studies in our colleges. 

“If the government were serious about the value of our colleges, the need to rebuild after the pandemic, and reskill the workforce for the jobs of the future, it would commit to this necessary long-term investment and insist that staff are properly paid.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The role of further education will be central to ensuring more people have the skills they need to succeed as we build back better from the pandemic. Our commitment to the 16-19 education sector has contributed to the current record high proportion of 16- to 18-year-olds who are participating in education or apprenticeships since consistent records began.

“Our Skills for Jobs white paper sets out our blueprint to transform post-16 education and training. It is focused on giving people the skills they need, in a way that suits them, so they can get great jobs in sectors the economy needs and boost this country’s productivity.

“In 2019 we increased 16-19 funding by £400m, the biggest injection of new money in a single year since 2010. This was followed up with a further increase of £291m in the 2020 Spending Review.”