Deputy Minister for Skills John Griffiths has announced an additional £8.93 million for Further Education Institutions and sixth forms.

The announcement follows weeks of protests from college staff over this year’s settlement. The effect of this additional allocation is that, in almost every case, Further Education Institutions and local authority sixth form provision will be funded at or above the same level for 2009/10 as they were for 2008/09. Originally, the total allocation for colleges in 2009-10 had been setat £283m –£3m less than last year.

The extra support will provide funding for at least a further 2,500 places for young people and adults at FE institutions and school sixth forms.

Further information is available on the Welsh Assembly Government website.