Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to increase the number of individuals aged 24 and over taking part in distance learning.

​Within higher education, we have already made a number of changes to support part-time and mature part-time learners. This academic year, for example, part-time students are, for the first time ever, able to access full-time equivalent maintenance loans.

As stated in the government response to the consultation on part-time maintenance loans, we would like to extend these new loans to distance learning courses, but we must maintain confidence in the student finance system and ensure that adequate controls are in place to prevent the misuse of public funds. The department will extend these loans to distance learners only if robust controls are put in place to manage the risks associated with that mode of study. The department is currently considering those controls, and a final decision regarding whether it is feasible to extend maintenance loans to distance learners will be made once this scrutiny is completed.

Beyond student finance, the National Retraining Scheme is an ambitious, far-reaching programme to drive adult learning and retraining, in order to respond to changes in the economy and support people to progress in work, redirect their careers and secure the higher-paid, higher-skilled jobs of the future, focusing on those individuals that need it most.

To inform the design of the scheme, the Flexible Learning Fund is supporting 31 pilot projects across England with a total value of £11.4 million. The projects are designing and testing innovative, flexible learning that is easy to access. The pilots are aimed at adults who are working, or who are returning to work, with either low or intermediate skills. A range of delivery methods are being tested; most of the projects will make use of on-line technologies to a degree, as well as ‘blended learning’ that combines online and face-to-face learning.

​We know that technology can play a really important role in making learning more flexible and adaptive, as well as breaking down the barrier of distance. It is important that we take advantage of these developments as part of the scheme.