Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to amend the adult education budget funding procurement process in the next six months.

The department has recently concluded a procurement exercise to award around £65 million of adult education budget (AEB) and £12 million of free courses for jobs (FCFJ) funding to 56 providers in non-devolved regions. These contracts are for a minimum of one year, with the option to extend for up to an additional three years. The department has no plans to amend the AEB procurement process in non-devolved regions for AEB or FCFJ in the next six months.