It is often said that a week is a long time in politics, and yet it is now almost four years since the former Prime Minister Theresa May announced a review of Post-18 Education and Funding to be led by Philip Augar. 

The Review, which was completed in May 2019, provided a detailed analysis of the whole post-18 education sector in England including universities, colleges and apprenticeships. In fact, it was so detailed that it offered 53 separate recommendations on the future structure and funding of post-18 education. 

But two and a half years after the Review was published, we are still waiting for the government to decide how they are going to respond to some of the biggest questions raised by the Augar Review. Will university tuition fees be cut, will student loans be reformed, and will money be taken away from universities and given to colleges instead? These questions and many more remain unanswered. 

To help us understand what has happened with the Augar Review and why it is taking so long for the government to make up their mind, we are joined by two guests who have been following the Augar Review ever since it was announced. 

Rachel Hewitt is Chief Executive of MillionPlus, the Association for Modern Universities and previously worked at the Higher Education Policy Institute and the Higher Education Statistics Agency  

And Dr Gavan Conlon is a partner at London Economics and a specialist education and labour market economist who has written extensively about higher education fees and funding.

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On Wednesday this week, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled the government’s Autumn Budget and the outcome of their 2021 Spending Review. The Budget described the upcoming changes to taxation while the Spending Review set out how much money each government department will get over the next three years.

There were certainly some eye-catching announcements including big increases in government spending and investment, tax cuts for businesses and an increase in the national living wage. But what did the Budget and Spending Review mean for our education system from primary schools all the way up to universities and beyond? Which education institutions are the winners and losers from the Chancellor’s decisions? And should headteachers, college principals and university vice-chancellors be feeling optimistic or pessimistic about the months ahead?

To help us unravel the contents of the Spending Review in this inaugural episode of the EDSK think tank’s new podcast, we are joined by two guests who know all about Spending Reviews from their own careers in and around government. Jonathan Simons is a Partner and Head of the Education Practice at Public First, a specialist public policy consultancy, and Andy Westwood is Professor of Government Practice at the University of Manchester and a Director of the Productivity Institute. 

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