Adult Learning: Union Learning Fund

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth Excerpts

Tuesday 24th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My Lords, I can reassure the noble Baroness that it is absolutely not a political decision. Many Conservative Governments have supported Unionlearn over the years with over £70 million of funding. The decision was taken based on the fact that we want to increase the scale and reach of our offer. The £2.5 billion national skills fund is illustrative of our ambitions in this area. One of the limitations of Unionlearn is that it is reliant on a trade union presence in the workplace, which can often be more focused on larger employers. For example, it does not necessarily reach unemployed or self-employed people, start-ups, tech, and many more small and medium-sized businesses that do not have union representation.

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Con) [V]]

My Lords, given that not just individual trade unions but major employers such as Tesco, Heathrow, Tata Steel, and indeed many others, have raised concerns, can my noble friend tell us what discussions there have been with the TUC and the CBI about the future of the Union Learning Fund?

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Education met Frances O’Grady of the TUC to discuss this very matter in November.