Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that people have access to flexible adult learning courses during the covid-19 outbreak.

The Department wants to ensure that a wide range of opportunities are available to adults to meet their future skills needs.

We are continuing to invest in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Education Budget (AEB), worth £1.34 billion in the 2020-21 financial year. 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. Our funding rules allow for flexibility in course delivery, and providers already offer shorter/more flexible courses. More information about the AEB is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adult-education-budget-aeb-funding-rules-2019-to-2020.

As part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee recently announced by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, the department is launching skills bootcamps, which will be available in 6 areas across the country. The bootcamp training courses will provide valuable skills based on employer demand and are linked to real job opportunities, helping participants to get jobs, and employers to fill much-needed vacancies. The department is 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. More information about the launch of skills bootcamps is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-expansion-of-post-18-education-and-training-to-level-up-and-prepare-workers-for-post-covid-economy.

In April 2020, the department introduced the Skills Toolkit, an online platform providing free courses to help individuals build the skills that are most sought after by employers. We have recently expanded the platform so that people can now choose from over 70 courses, covering digital, adult numeracy, employability, and work readiness skills, which have been identified as the skills employers need the most. These courses will help people stay in work, or take up new jobs and opportunities. More information about the Skills Toolkit is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-free-online-learning-platform-to-boost-workplace-skills.

Through our lifelong loan entitlement, the department will also make it easier for adults and young people to study more flexibly. This will allow people to space out their studies across their lifetimes, transfer credits between colleges and universities, and enable more part-time study.