Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that residents in areas without a mayoral combined authority have equivalent access to skills funding as those in devolved areas.

Both the department and the Department for Work and Pensions fund skills provision. Most of these funding streams are not devolved and therefore the approach is consistent across both devolved and non-devolved areas. This includes 16-19 funding, Higher Education Funding, apprenticeships and apprenticeship units funded by the growth and skills levy.

The Adult Skills Fund (ASF) for eligible adults aged 19 is devolved to 12 Strategic Authorities and the Greater London Authority, which are responsible for the provision of the ASF to their residents and allocation to their learning providers. The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for funding ASF learners in non-devolved areas. This may result in differences of provision across the country, through our commitments to combine and further devolve adult skills funding. Power is therefore given to those with local knowledge who need to make decisions that best support their communities.