Education secretary Gavin Williamson has promised the further education sector “the largest capital investment in the sector in a generation” - but the Labour Party has said the government’s investment is “neither transformational nor record breaking”.

Responding to a written response to a parliamentary question by Labour’s shadow apprenticeships and lifelong learning minister Toby Perkins, apprenticeships and skills minister Gillian Keegan set out the capital funding awarded to further education since 2001. 

The data shows that the Labour government invested £3.6 billion over 10 years, including £899 million of investment in 2009-10 alone. 

Between 2010 and 2020, the Conservative government invested £1.9 billionn. 

News: Colleges raise time pressure concerns on capital funding

More: Capital and National Skills funding confirmed

Background: Colleges to receive £200m in capital funding

Ms Keegan said that from 2015-16 until 2020-21, £980 million had been devolved through the Local Growth Fund to Local Enterprise Partnerships to allocate to local skills and growth projects, including supporting skills capital projects.

This year, the Conservative government has delivered £200 million to colleges to spend on capital funding as part of a £1.5 billion investment over five years. 

In a speech on 1 October, Mr Williamson said that it was “the largest capital investment in the sector in a generation”.

Mr Perkins said that the figures reveal that the rhetoric on the government’s capital investment is “neither transformational nor record breaking”.

He said: “For the education secretary to claim that it will ’enable colleges everywhere in England to have buildings and facilities that can deliver world-class tuition’ or that it is ‘the largest capital investment in the sector in a generation’ simply shows how far detached from reality he really is.

“Labour have been calling for a strategic approach to developing the skills our country needs throughout 10 years of Tory chopping and changing, and the need for investment and urgency is greater now than ever, but the government needs to come clean about the fact that it has neglected this sector, and that the money they are currently talking about is small change in historic terms.”

Concerns with capital funding

Last week, Tes revealed colleges’ concerns over the detail of Mr Williamson’s capital funding announcement. 

In August, the Department for Education published the list of 186 institutions that would share the £200 million capital allocation announced by prime minister Boris Johnson in June. Individual allocations to colleges, paid last month, ranged from over £4.5 million to £7,649 - and the government’s deadline for this to be used is 31 March 2021. 

However, colleges told Tes they may not have enough time to utilise the capital funds allocated to them by the deadline. 

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We recognise that FE colleges need investment in facilities and buildings to deliver the best education and training possible.

“That’s why we are investing £1.5 billion over the next five years to transform FE colleges across the country. As part of this, the prime minister announced that we will bring forward £200 million of capital funding this year for FE colleges in England. All providers have now received their allocation, enabling them to undertake immediate remedial work to upgrade their buildings and facilities.”