Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the forthcoming strategy for ESOL will ensure that all refugees can access a minimum of eight hours a week of formal, accredited English language teaching for their first two years in the UK.

The government recognises that learning English is essential in enabling refugees to rebuild their lives. We are working across government to develop a new strategy for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) in 2019, which will include addressing the needs of refugees.

The department funds ESOL through the Adult Education Budget, which is allocated to providers on an annual basis. Colleges and adult learning providers have the freedom and flexibility to determine how they use their Adult Education Budget allocation to meet the needs of their communities and this includes planning, with local partners, the ESOL courses that they will deliver locally.

The Home Office and Department for Education have provided £10 million to enable refugees resettled through the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme to access additional classes.