This year’s Autumn Statement included very little about education, despite calls from the sector to safeguard the Adult Education Budget (AEB), increase the levels of funding available for 16-19 year olds, and increase the amount the government will spend on English and Maths in the delivery of apprenticeships.
Chancellor Philip Hammond opened by talking about the state of the economy. He said that the UK has the ‘fastest growing major economy this year’, but growth will be downgraded next year to 1.4 % from 2.2%. He confirmed that there would be no surplus in 2019/20 – which was in the Conservative manifesto. Instead, the government budget is to be balanced ‘as early as possible’ in the next parliament – bringing the welfare cap back – and debt is to fall as a share of national income by 2020. The deficit is now projected to be £21 billion going into the next General Election.
Hammond then moved on to investment in productivity and innovation. He said that the government will form a new national productivity investment fund worth £23bn, which will focus on innovation and infrastructure. Investment in research and development will rise by £2bn a year by 2020. Devolution and city deals remain. In early 2017, the roll out of tax-free childcare across Britain will begin – ‘a saving of up to £2,000 per child.’
Even though Hammond made it clear that improving productivity would be a focus going forward, it was disappointing that he didn’t talk about how apprenticeships could play a key role in this. Of course, we shouldn’t just set our focus on apprenticeships as the only solution to the skills gap in the UK – technical education more widely is an equally important piece of the productivity solution – but neither was recognised in this Autumn Statement.
Announcements around education and skills specifically were very limited. Hammond confirmed that city regions will get new borrowing powers, and London will have a devolved AEB by 2019-20 (subject to readiness conditions).
Government departments will be ‘incentivised’ to find efficiency savings – this is concerning as it could mean more cuts for our sector to come in the near future.
The National Living Wage will rise to £7.50 next year – this includes an increase to the rate for apprentices from £3.40 to £3.50 per hour. While it’s a small increase, it’s good to see that apprentices have been considered in this.
Grammar schools were mentioned, with the news that the government will provide £50 million of new capital funding to support the expansion of existing grammar schools in each year from 2017-18, and has set out proposals for further reforms in the consultation document ‘Schools that Work for Everyone’.
Finally, the government will provide £13 million to support firms’ plans to improve their management skills by implementing Sir Charlie Mayfield’s review of business productivity.
Hammond finished by announcing that this would be the final Autumn Statement. He explained that from next year there’ll be a Spring Budget, followed by an Autumn Budget and then a Spring Statement.
What did you think of today’s Autumn Statement? Were you disappointed about the lack of education and skills announcements, or were you pleased to find that no further cuts to our sector had been confirmed? Feel free to comment below.
