Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to (a) promote and (b) improve lifelong learning.

The government understands the importance of lifelong learning, adult education and the need for adults to be able to train, re-train and upskill throughout their lives.

The department recognises that clear information and guidance is essential for learners, education providers and employers alike to navigate the government’s skills and adult education offer.

The department has launched the Skills for Life strategy and website, which is designed to support people to access the education and training they need and signposts them to the appropriate programmes. It targets adult learners in priority sectors to help them to access the skills they need to get the job they want, whatever their stage in life. The site showcases hundreds of government-funded skills opportunities to raise awareness and boost understanding among adults and help maximise uptake across the country.

The National Careers Service provides free, up-to-date, impartial information, advice and guidance on careers, skills, and the labour market in England. It offers intensive support for low-skilled adults without a qualification at Level 3, as one of six priority groups for the service. Professionally qualified careers advisers can support customers to explore the range of learning routes to determine the best route for them and to develop a careers action plan.

The government is committed to investing £2.5 billion across the financial years from 2022 to 2025 (£3 billion when including Barnett funding for devolved administrations) as a part of the department’s skills reforms to help adults learn valuable skills and prepare for the economy of the future.

The Adult Education Budget (AEB) provides £1.34 billon in the 2022/23 financial year to fund skills provision for adults to help them gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning. The department’s ‘essential skills’ legal entitlements, funded through the AEB, provide the opportunity of free study for adults who do not have essential literacy and numeracy skills up to and including Level 2 and digital skills up to and including Level 1.

Community Learning plays a vital role within AEB provision of supporting those furthest from the workplace, and in improving the health and well-being of learners. It is an important stepping-stone for learners who are not ready for formal accredited learning, or who would benefit from learning in a more informal way, particularly for (post-19) disadvantaged learners. It is a flexible and wide-ranging offer, responding to local needs and is delivered in nearly every local authority area across England through adult education services, further education colleges, Institutes of Adult Learning and Community Learning.

The Free Courses for Jobs offer gives eligible adults the chance to access high value Level 3 qualification for free, which can support them to gain higher wages or a better job. There has been strong uptake of over 45,000 cumulative enrolments between April 2021 and April 2023.

Skills Bootcamps offer free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills with a job interview upon completion. The department delivered 40,040 Skills Bootcamps starts in the 2022/23 financial year and has invested £550 million across the financial years from 2022 to2025 to significantly expand Skills Bootcamps further with a target of 64,000 learner starts a year in the2024/25 financial year so that more adults can get the skills they need for good jobs.

Apprenticeships are available for everyone over the age of 16 and provide a unique opportunity for people to develop the knowledge and skills needed to start, enhance, or change careers. There are high-quality apprenticeship routes into more than 680 occupations and the department is providing £2.7 billion of funding by the 2024/25 financial year to support employers to take up these opportunities. The Autumn 2023 Statement also announced a £50 million investment in a two-year apprenticeships pilot to explore ways to increase apprenticeship opportunities in growth sectors, and address barriers to entry in high-value apprenticeships.

From the 2025/26 academic year, the department will introduce the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE). This is a transformation of the student finance system which will provide individuals with a loan entitlement equivalent to four years of post-18 education to use over their working lives (£37,000 in today’s fees). The LLE will be available for both full years of study at Levels 4-6 as well as, for the first time, modules of high-value courses, regardless of whether they are provided in colleges or universities. Under this flexible system, people will be able to space out their studies and learn at a pace that is right for them, including choosing to build up their qualifications over time, within both further education and higher education providers.