Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, by what average proportion adult learning services budgets have varied in (a) this and (b) the next financial year.

The total number of adults aged 19 plus participating in Government funded Further Education and skills learning in each of the last 5 years are as follows:

More detailed information on participation is available from the following website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/learner-participation-outcomes-and-level-of-highest-qualification-held

Details of funding allocations made available to further education providers in the 2014/15 financial year are available on the Skills Funding Agency website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2014-to-2015

Allocations for 2015/16 will be published in due course.

At the end of February 2015, 4 local authority providers of adult further education and training were judged as outstanding, 122 were judged as good, 11 were judged as requires improvement and four were judged as inadequate at their most recent Ofsted inspection.

Information on the numbers of people employed by local authorities across specific services is not collected centrally.