The Scottish Government

This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007

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Funding boost for post-school education

20/01/2003

An additional £26 million in funding this year to help ensure further and higher education opportunities are accessible to all members of society was announced today.

The funding will go to higher and further education sectors aimed at improving physical access for people with disabilities and financial security in further education institutions.

The Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Iain Gray said the funds included:

• £10 million for the higher education sector to improve disability infrastructure.
• £16 million for further education institutions primarily to strengthen their financial positions as well as allowing them to enhance disabled access.

The funds will help both sectors meet the requirements of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001, which requires educational institutions to remove physical barriers and alter premises that could prevent disabled access. Institutions must comply with the legislation by September 2005.

Mr Gray said:

"I am delighted to be announcing such a significant investment in our higher and further education sectors. These funds will help ensure education opportunities are accessible to all members of society and help guarantee the financial security of our further education institutions.

"The money that we are making available today demonstrates the strength of our commitment to closing the opportunity gap and ensuring people with disabilities will not be prevented from participating in higher and further education due to physical barriers.

"It will also allow institutions to start to meet disability legislation requirements ahead of the 2005 compliance deadline.

"Significantly, this announcement is being made in the launch week of the European Year of Disabled People. The Year provides us with a platform for tackling barriers of access and attitude, addressing inequality and promoting rights and participation. It provides us with a real opportunity to show that things can be different.

"The substantial level of funding for the sector will also help to ensure further education institutions will be able to face future challenges on a sound financial footing. It is important that our Colleges can confidently move forward and serve their students, the communities in which they operate in and Scotland as a whole. This new money will help them in doing this.

"The extra £26 million will further maintain the higher and further education sectors' indispensable role at the hub of learning and skills development in Scotland. By investing in these institutions, we are investing in Scotland's young people and the country's long-term prospects."

The £26 million in funding has been provided to the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council and the Further Education Funding Council. The £10m for higher education is specifically earmarked for tackling infrastructure investment to comply with disability legislation. FEFC will distribute the £16 million to further education institutions to be spent at their discretion on helping to ensure their financial stability and improve disabled access.

The additional £26 million going to the higher and further education sectors comes on top of more than £1.1 billion allocated for 2002-03. Record funding was announced in last year's Scottish budget, which will bring annual spending in further and higher education to £1.3 billion by 2005-06.

The £10 million for the HE sector is on top of an additional investment of £7.5m, which was announced in July 2002, to improve science and technology infrastructure in higher education institutions. This means a total of £17.5 million is being invested in the HE sector in 2002-03 to develop the infrastructure of institutions in key areas this year.

In the initial allocation to the HE sector in March for 2002-03, SHEFC was offered £718m. Since then, additional funding (including the £17.5m outlined above) has brought the total funds allocated to SHEFC to almost £740m.

European Year of Disabled People 2003 (EYDP) will be launched in Scotland on Thursday 23 January. The Executive set up a Scottish Steering Group with members from the majority of national disability organisations, CoSLA, the STUC and other interested parties. This Steering Group has set the aims and objectives and programme of activity for EYDP in Scotland.