Adult Education: Staffordshire

(asked on 30th September 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to help ensure that adults in (a) Stoke-on-Trent, (b) Kidsgrove and (c) Talke can access education throughout their lives.


Answered by
Gillian Keegan Portrait
Gillian Keegan
Secretary of State for Education
This question was answered on 9th October 2020

The government appreciates the importance of adult education to improving people’s life chances across all areas of the country.

To better equip people to use digital tools and to adapt to the social distancing measures of COVID-19 the government launched The Skills Toolkit in April 2020. This offers a wide-range of digital and numeracy courses for all skills levels.

Starting this Parliament, we are providing £2.5 billion (£3 billion when including Barnett funding for devolved administrations), for the National Skills Fund to help adults learn valuable skills and prepare for the economy of the future. We are continuing to engage closely with local areas and stakeholders and remain committed to consulting on aspects of the fund, to ensure that we develop a fund that helps adults learn valuable skills and prepare for the future economy.

My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, recently announced that for adults over the age of 23, who do not currently have a level 3 qualification, the government will be funding their first full level 3 through the National Skills Fund. We will target this level 3 entitlement at areas with economic value and the strongest alignment with government priorities, to ensure the best possible returns for individuals, employers and the nation.

The Prime Minister, also announced the launch of digital bootcamps, in 6 areas, to support local regions and employers to fill in-demand vacancies. The bootcamp training courses will provide valuable skills, based on employer demand, and will offer a fast track to a job interview on completion. Pending the success of the initial bootcamps, we are planning to expand the bootcamps to more of the country from Spring 2021 and we want to extend this model to include other technical skills training.

We are also continuing to invest in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Education Budget (AEB) (£1.34 billion in 2020/21). The AEB fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19 and above, from pre-entry to level 3, to support adults to gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning. This includes: fully funded courses in English and Mathematics (for adults who need to improve their literacy and numeracy), fully funded first full level 2 and level 3 for learners aged between 19 and 23 and fully funded specified digital skills qualifications for adults with no/low digital skills.

The AEB enables more flexible and tailored programmes of learning to be made available, which may or may not require a qualification, to help eligible learners engage in learning, build confidence and enhance their wellbeing.

We are looking carefully at further education funding in preparation for the forthcoming Spending Review.

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