Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of implementing recommendation 68 of the House of Lords Select Committee on Citizenship and Civic Participation’s 2018 report in relation to funding for ESOL teaching.

This government remains committed to the 2019 manifesto commitment to boost English language teaching to empower existing migrants and help promote integration into society.

In 2018/19, the Department for Education supported 120,500 adult learners to improve their levels of English through fully and part-funded English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses.

The Department for Education funds ESOL through the Adult Education Budget (AEB).

Approximately half the AEB is devolved to 6 Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and delegated to the Mayor of London acting through the Greater London Authority (GLA). The authorities are responsible for the provision of adult education, including ESOL, and allocation of the AEB in their local areas. The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is responsible for the remaining AEB in non-devolved areas.

In non-devolved areas colleges and adult learning providers have the freedom and flexibility to determine how they use their AEB allocation to meet the needs of their communities and this includes planning, with local partners, the ESOL courses that they will deliver locally.