Our new Youth Guarantee will provide tailored support to young people aged 18 to 21 to help them access high-quality education, training and employment opportunities. £45 million has been allocated to test the Youth Guarantee in eight locations.

The extensive Multiply programme evaluation is ongoing and will conclude in winter 2025.

The final evaluation report will provide valuable lessons to take into future policy development and delivery of the adult skills fund (ASF) and Tailored Learning.

The government remains committed to ensuring opportunity for all as one of its key missions. This includes building a skills system for opportunity and growth, and delivering a stronger skills offer.

The department continues to support participation in mathematics provision through the essential skills entitlements which fully fund adults who do not have essential numeracy skills up to and including level 2. This allows learners to undertake a range of courses fully funded through the ASF, including GCSEs, Functional Skills and other relevant qualifications from entry level to level 2.

Tailored Learning also offers the flexibility within the ASF for non-qualification based provision that is similar to Multiply, including outreach and engagement. Tailored Learning is available to all grant funded providers. The ASF supports adults to improve their numeracy skills, including adults with learning difficulties.

Reducing unnecessary delays in family courts is a priority for this government. The Family Justice Board (FJB) meets quarterly to set direction and oversee performance in the family justice system. This includes progress in meeting the 26-week Public Law Outline.

The department is investing £10 million over 2024/25 to implement and test new solutions to address the causes of the longest delays in care proceedings. This work consists of the following three pilots.

The department is working closely with local authorities in five designated family judge ‘trailblazer’ areas to complete deep dive analysis as well as to develop and test targeted solutions to address the biggest local drivers of delays.

The department is piloting an initiative to bring the child’s Cafcass Guardian and Local Authority Social Worker together before the first case management hearing, to reduce delays caused at the earliest stage of proceedings.

Finally, the department is piloting the use of a new service for suspected inflicted injury in children within the NHS, to address delays caused by the lack of independent medical experts engaging in family court work.

These pilots are due to conclude at the end of March 2025, after which the department will receive an independent evaluation, which will help inform future decisions around reducing family court delays.

The government does not set or recommend pay in further education (FE). This remains the responsibility of individual colleges who are free to implement pay arrangements in line with their local needs.

The department recognises the vital role that FE teachers play in developing the skills needed to drive our missions to improve opportunity and economic growth. That is why we are investing around £600 million in FE across the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years, including extending retention payments of up to £6,000 after tax to eligible early career FE teachers in key subject areas. The department also continues to support recruitment and retention with teacher training bursaries worth up to £30,000 tax-free in certain key subject areas, and provides support for industry professionals to enter the teaching workforce through the Taking Teaching Further programme.

My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced a Budget on 30 October to be followed by a multi-year Spending Review in the spring of next year. Decisions about future post-16 funding and capital programmes will be subject to the outcomes of these fiscal events.

Funding for the number of 16 year olds entering further education in Southampton Itchen constituency is part of the 16 to 19 funding allocations, which uses student numbers from the previous year as a basis for the calculation. To support providers that have exceptional increases in the number of students, compared to their allocation, the department announced in year growth funding ahead of the GCSE results on 22 August. Details of the funding are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-funding-in-year-growth-for-2024-to-2025/16-to-19-funding-in-year-growth-for-2024-to-2025.

Capital investment to support the demographic increase in 16 to 19 learners has been available through the Post-16 Capacity Fund, which provides funding to schools and colleges. This includes projects by Itchen Sixth Form College to ensure enough capital capacity in schools and colleges to accommodate the additional learners. It has made available £238 million in capital funding since 2021.

All future funding commitments are subject to the Spending Review.

Reforming children’s social care is critical to giving all our children and young people the start in life they deserve. The government is committed to working in partnership with local government to support children in care across all settings, and to improve outcomes for care leavers.

The King’s Speech set out the government’s plans to introduce a Children’s Wellbeing Bill, which will help raise standards for children in care and ensure that every child can thrive in a safe, loving home as part of the government’s commitment to deliver high and rising standards in education for children and young people in England. The Bill is expected to be introduced within the first session of Parliament and will be a crucial step in breaking down barriers to opportunity for children and young people.