Support for Further Education colleges

That this House recognises the unique role that colleges play in supporting people, employers and communities to thrive and central role in rebuilding the economy; endorses the vision of the Independent Commission on the College of the Future for a strategic and expanded role for colleges in empowering people with opportunities for lifelong learning, boosting business productivity and innovation, and strengthening every community; welcomes the Government's Lifetime Skills Guarantee to allow adults to retrain and reskill through fully-funded technical college courses and the £1.5 billion capital fund to repair and upgrade college estates; but notes with concern that the recent National Audit Office report into the financial sustainability of colleges in England cites a 7 per cent real-terms decrease in funding per learner aged 16 to 19 between 2013-14 and 2018-19; further notes with concern that adult funding was cut by 40 per cent in the first half of the last decade and has been fixed in cash terms since then; recognises that colleges can only play their full role through long-term sustainable funding and a long term strategy which enjoys cross-party support; and calls on the Government to celebrate and support colleges by ensuring that colleges are empowered to deliver their full potential for people, productivity and place through adequate and sustainable funding and a new trust-based relationship with colleges seen as key strategic partners.