Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse was of the Multiply programme in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.

The government is committed to supporting people to climb the ladder of opportunity towards better jobs, better wellbeing and better options for the future.

To enable this, the department recognises the importance of numeracy skills, both in work and everyday life. Securing good levels of numeracy increases individual productivity, improves earnings and employment opportunities, supports economic growth, and breaks cycles of intergenerational economic and social disadvantage. That is why, in 2022 the department launched Multiply, the government’s programme for improving adult numeracy, funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which is the government’s flagship fund for supporting people and places across the UK. Up to £270 million is available in England, and up to £160 million in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to deliver innovative initiatives to tackle poor adult numeracy. The department is responsible for delivery of the Multiply programme in England.

The below is a table of Multiply Programme spending by financial year (England only).

The spend figures for the 2023/24 financial year will be available in June 2024.

Delivery is now well underway. Multiply provision is available in all 81 local areas in England that were allocated funding, with over 52,000 course starts by July 2023.

A core component of the Multiply programme is to improve the evidence base on “what works” in tackling low adult numeracy, and the department will run a full evaluation of the programme, including a series of randomised control trials.