South West Regional Skills Enterprise and Employment Analysis 2007/2008

Final Report

7.3 Related Public Expenditure in the South West

The table below shows Government expenditure for 2003-4 to 2005-6 for the broad areas relevant to this analysis. This shows a rise in expenditure in education and training, but with reductions in employment and enterprise over the period.

Table 22: Government Expenditure in South West Region

Source: Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA) 2006

7.3.1 LCS Expenditure

The most significant element of expenditure in relation to skills is that of the LSC. The table below shows the South West LSC expenditure between 2005-6 to 2007-8. At the time of writing, a few budgets were still to be confirmed. It should also be noted that the Capital spend is solely in relation to that wholly within the LSC's regional powers and represent Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs) and Neighbourhood Learning in Deprived Communities (NLDC). There is much additional expenditure in the South West on major capital projects at colleges, recommended by the region but within the budgetary control of the National Capital Committee.

Overall this shows an increase in the size of the budget in the period concerned. The allocation to individual budgets varies considerably within this, with some areas seeing an increase in resources (e.g. Train to Gain) while others see a decrease in the resource available (e.g. Leadership and Management).

Table 23:SW LSC - Year on Year Expenditure Comparison 2005-06 to 2007-08