Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to embed the importance of community education in the successor policy to the European Social Fund programme.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is the domestic successor to the EU’s Structural Fund programme. It will maximise the benefits of leaving the EU through quicker delivery of funding, better targeting, better alignment with domestic priorities and by reducing EU bureaucracy.

The Department for Education is working closely with other government departments including the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Work and Pensions on the development of the UKSPF. As set out in the Heads of Terms published in the Spending Review 2020, a portion of the fund will be targeted to people most in need through bespoke employment and skills programmes that are tailored to local need. This will support improved employment outcomes for those in and out of work in specific cohorts of people who face labour market barriers.

The government will publish a UK wide investment framework later in 2021 and confirm the quantum funding amount at the next Spending Review.