To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what Government spending was on further education in the most recent period for which figures are available broken down by (a) Learning and Skills Council and (b) local education authority; and if he will make a statement. (108114)

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is the main funding body for post-16 education providers, which can include local authorities. Total further education (FE) expenditure made available by the LSC to further education colleges and other institutions was £5.59 billion in 2005-06. This includes participation and other FE funding and is a real terms increase of 48 per cent. compared with 1997-98.

The LSC may allocate FE participation funding to a local authority where they are offering FE provision in line with Government priorities. The Department does not hold information on individual providers' funding allocations, but the allocations for 2005-06 can be found at the following link:

http://readingroom.lsc.gov.uk/lsc/2005/funding/streams/fe-2005-06-allocations-at-26-july.xls