My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (Ed Balls) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

Budget 2009 announced an additional investment of £655 million over the next two years to ensure that every young person aged 16 and 17 who wants to study or take up a training place will have their place guaranteed by the Government under the September guarantee. £251 million of this investment is being used to fund 54,500 places and additional support for young people from this September, bringing our total investment in the education and training of young people to £6.8 billion in 2009-10.

In March, schools, colleges and other training providers told us that the allocations they had received would not meet the increase in local demand they were already experiencing or were expecting from September 2009. Budget 2009 now allows us to provide funding for the additional 32,000 learner places schools and colleges notified us of earlier in the spring, and to make provision for a further 22,500 learners who we expect will want a place in learning later this year. This is necessary for us to meet the September guarantee.

I am today announcing the regional breakdown of the £77 million investment which is funding the further 22,500 places. The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has recently notified schools, colleges and training providers of these allocations, which are focused on supporting young people who would otherwise be at risk of becoming NEET (not in employment, education or training).

Our investment means we have increased the number of places available this September and next by 54,500 to an all time high of more than 1.55 million. Together with the 17,500 apprenticeships places for young people announced by the Prime Minister, that is 72,000 young people more than were first set out in the LSC’s annual statement of priorities in November 2008. This funding means that we can make sure that young people who are especially vulnerable have a suitable offer of a place by expanding the entry to employment programme by 13,000 places in 2009-10.

This is a huge investment in the skills of our young people to ensure that they can gain the skills and confidence to put them on the path to economic prosperity and to prepare the country so it is well placed for economic recovery with young people having the skills base it needs. We must make sure that every young person knows the wide range of education and training options open to them under the September guarantee. We expect the Connexions Service, schools, colleges and other providers to work with the local authorities to deliver the guarantee.

We know that the recession will continue to have an impact on the choices being made by young people over the summer and may increase demand further for learning and training places. I have therefore asked the Association of School and College Leadership, the Association of Colleges and the LSC to monitor the situation and to report to me after the bulk of the recruitment for the 2009-10 academic year has taken place this September. This will also inform our plans for the 2010-11 academic year and will be crucial as we make the transition from the LSC to local authority led commissioning. I will then make a further assessment of the situation, with my Cabinet colleagues, to ensure that all young people who want one can have a suitable place at school, college or training provider.

Regional analysis of 16-18 allocation to schools, colleges and other providers—excluding apprenticeships and entry to employment provision, 2009-10

Notes to table:

1. The matching to local authority and hence to region is done on best fit and derived from post code of the head office of the providers to whom the allocation is made. It is possible for these providers to operate across more than one authority area, although there is no double counting of the funding allocations.

2. The figures by region do not include allocations for entry to employment provision or apprenticeships.

3. The figures by region do not include any allocations for academies, SEN, or teacher pay grant.

4. The total figures shown for SEN and teachers pay grant are for the 2009-10 financial year as this is how this funding is allocated. As such they are not directly comparable to the other funding figures which are all 2009-10 academic year based.