Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michelle Donelan and Stephen Crabb

Monday 6th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Crabb (Preseli Pembrokeshire) (Con)]

20. What steps his Department is taking to promote lifelong learning and skills development.

[The Minister for Further and Higher Education (Michelle Donelan)]

We are supporting adults to get the skills they need through the adult education budget, and we are delivering on the Prime Minister’s lifetime skills guarantee, which includes the offer of free level 3 courses for jobs, skills bootcamps and, from 2025, the introduction of a lifelong loan entitlement, enabling more flexible and modular study across higher and further education.

[Stephen Crabb]

Giving people greater choice over how and where they study is one of the keys to improving the skills of our workforce and opening up new opportunities, especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Government’s new lifelong learning entitlement has the potential to transform options for learners across the whole of their lives?

[Michelle Donelan]

I could not agree more with my right hon. Friend. The LLE is at the heart of our skills revolution and will open up higher and further education by allowing people to study in a more modularised fashion. With that extra flexibility, it will be much easier for people to reskill and upskill, which will in turn support our businesses, our productivity and job creation.