Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of students progress from foundation to other low-level courses in colleges in Dorset.

Progression rates for further education achievers aged 16+ at Below Level 2 and Essential Skills into sustained further learning (by level of learning destination) between 2018/19 and 2022/23 in i) England, ii) Dorset and iii) the South West are shown in the following tables:

i) https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/3acffd22-b6d1-481d-b22c-08de39895a0e.

ii) https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9b40b83c-6389-4dd5-b22d-08de39895a0e.

iii) https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/de6ade41-7b19-4818-4a4b-08de398c3998.

The department does not publish data on employment outcomes for learners progressing to other lower-level learning from foundation courses, but it does publish sustained employment outcome rates for learners achieving at Below Level 2 and in Essential Skills between 2018/19 and 2022/23 in England, as shown in the following table: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/aa7ce8db-5a14-4898-4a4c-08de398c3998.

These statistics are available in the ‘Further education outcomes’ publication. This answer is based on the latest statistics that were released on 18 December 2025 and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/further-education-outcomes/2022-23. The next update to this series will be published in November 2026.