11 MAR 2020
Budget 2020: What you need to know
The government will invest £1.5 billion (£1.8 billion including indicative Barnett consequentials) over five years in capital spending to refurbish further education colleges, and has committed to a new £2.5 billion National Skills Fund to improve adult skills (£3 billion including indicative Barnett consequentials).
It will also boost science, technology, engineering and maths teaching with capital investment for up to eight new Institutes of Technology and 11 maths schools.
New Chancellor, Rishi Sunak has delivered his first Budget today (11 Mar), in what was quite a difficult set of circumstances.
He has only been in the Chancellor's role for under a month, on Monday (9th March 2020) the stock market had the largest crash in share price since the 2008 Financial crisis.
Rishi Sunak earlier today, and prior to the budget, announced an emergency interest rate cut from 0.75% to 0.25% in a bid to support the economy during the Coronavirus outbreak across the globe.
The impact of Covid-19 was high on the Chancellor's agenda, as Health Minister, MP Nadine Dorries was diagnosed with Coronavirus earlier in the day and it was unknown if she had been in close contact with any of the Senior Government Minister's.
This was also the first budget in more than 40 years that the UK was not a part of the European Union. So, no pressure then, on Rishi on what was a very unique budget, let alone delivering his first budget to the nation!
Rishi Sunak called this budget the 'Budget to get it done' and announced massive capital expenditure around building roads, more houses and railway projects and he confirmed £1.5 Billion in capital funding to the FE College estate, to clarify this will be to improve the college buildings and not an increase in expenditure on learners or to be used by staff.
The breakdown for FE:
- £1.5 billion will be invested to upgrade Further Education colleges
- £120 million for up to eight new Institutes of Technology and £7m for a total of eleven maths schools, so students can access high quality STEM provision everywhere
- £95 million for providers to buy up-to-date facilities and equipment to support delivery of T Levels, our new technical education qualification
- £90 million per annum to fund arts activities for all secondary school pupils and £29 million to boost PE and competitive sport in primary schools
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