Rare prominence was given to technical education in the Spring 2017 budget, as the Chancellor promised a cash boost for the 15 technical routes previously outlined in the Skills Plan.

Describing the new technical education qualifications as ‘T Levels’, Philip Hammond, outlined a phased budget of £500m over the next few years.  With this additional funding came a commitment to increase by 50% the number of hours of training for every 16-19 technical learner and a three-month work placement.

Other budget news for education and skills included:

• Maintenance loans, like those available to university students, will be available to FE learners from 2019/20, for those undertaking higher level technical qualifications at the new Institutes of Technology or National Colleges 
• Up to £40m will be made available for pilots to test the effectiveness of different approaches to lifelong learning
• The government reaffirmed its manifesto commitment to open 500 new free schools by 2020, extending the free schools programme with an investment of £320m in this Parliament to help fund up to 140 schools, including independent-led, faith, selective, university-led and specialist maths schools. Of these 140 schools, 30 will open by September 2020.  A forthcoming Schools White Paper will ask universities and private schools to sponsor new free schools.