Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much and what proportion of the adult education budget was spent on ESOL in (a) 2016-17 and (b) 2017-18.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 20 March 2018 to Question 131906 which includes spend in 2016-17 on English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) -

https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?page=1&max=20&questiontype=AllQuestions&house=commons%2clords&uin=131906.

ESOL funding represented £99 million of the £1.5 billion Adult Education Budget in 2016-17. This is not a ring-fenced amount as education providers have the freedom and flexibility to use their Adult Education Budget allocation to meet the needs of their local communities. Spend for 2017-18 is not yet available.