Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will set out the budget for adult skills (a) nationally and (b) in each region in (i) 2014-15 and (ii) 2015-16.

Funding is allocated to providers in line with the funding year which runs from August to July. This means that each funding year spans two financial years. As a result, the following details are not directly comparable as they cover different time periods.

The adult education budget did not exist in its current form until 2016/17. The figures below are for the non-apprenticeship adult skills budget, including community learning and discretionary learner support.

In the 2014 to 2015 funding year, 596 of 784 providers with an allocation did not spend their allocation in full. It is of note that the value of this under-delivery represents only 4.5% of total funding allocated.

In the 2015 to 2016 funding year, 551 of 762 providers did not spend their allocation in full. The value of this under-delivery represents only 3.5% of the total funding allocated.

The Skills Funding Letter sets out the funding priorities and available budget for the further education and skills sector. There was no recorded underspend against the Skills Funding Letter budget of £1,855 million for the 2014 to 2015 financial year. For the 2015 to 2016 financial year, there was a £53 million under spend recorded against the Skills Funding Letter budget of £1,494 million.

The Skills Funding Letter budget for the 2014 to 2015 financial year was for £1,855 million (as per Skills Funding Letter 2013-16). The final budget recorded by the Skills Funding Agency was for £1,789 million as agreed with the department.

The Skills Funding Letter budget for the 2015 to 2016 financial year was for £1,494 million (including exceptional financial support, city deals, community learning, learner support). The final updated budget recorded by the Skills Funding Agency was for £1,462 million as agreed with the department.

The budget was not allocated on a geographic basis so we are unable to provide the budget for each region.