Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chi Onwurah and Robert Halfon

Monday 6th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

Adult education can transform lives, address our skills gap and address technology change, yet the number of adult learners has fallen off a cliff and the industrial strategy does not even mention it. Can the Secretary of State have a word about that?

[The Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills (Robert Halfon)]

The hon. Lady will be pleased to know that by 2020 we will be spending more on the adult education budget than at any time in our island’s history. We are investing in skills, with millions of pounds for the national colleges and the institutes of technology; we are investing in apprenticeships, with 377,000 over-19s in apprenticeships in the past year; and we are investing in adult education—that is exactly what we are doing.