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Sean Farren, Northern Ireland's minister for higher and further education, training and employment, has announced that his department's spending will rise by 5.9 per cent next year to £543.6 million.

Dr Farren said the formula used to determine Northern Ireland's budget allocation did not allow it to match English spending increases. "This means we cannot, at this time, do as much on higher and further education and on adult literacy and numeracy as we would like."

Dr Farren is expected to seek more funds once his review of student support is complete.