Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people have obtained qualifications using the Union Learning Fund since 1998.

Unionlearn and the Union Learning Fund provides very little training and education itself, but instead supports, encourages and mentors individuals to undertake learning. In most cases, the actual learning is funded through the Adult Education Budget.

In the financial year 2019/20, our grant to the Union Learning Fund allowed Unionlearn to support 189,094 people in learning. The learning itself is provided by a range of providers including colleges, independent training providers and others. The type of learning is very wide and covers informal Adult Community Learning, basic skills, continuing professional development, as well as learning which leads to a formal qualification. We do not keep records on the actual qualifications gained.