Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the underspend against his Department's adult education budget in the academic year 2016-17.

The underspend against the mainstream participation element of the Adult Education Budget for the 2016 to 2017 academic year was £63 million. This was less than 5 per cent of the total contracted value.

A portion of the underspend was reallocated within the further education sector, providing the opportunity for providers to expand provision through growth bids, funding over delivery in providers who exceeded their delivery aims, and support other provision.

This excludes growth deals and other funding support because these programmes are managed on a financial year basis.