HC Deb 30 January 2002 vol 379 cc404-5W
Mrs. Anne Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the Cambridgeshire local education authority spend on education above SSA per pupil for the primary and secondary sectors, and in total, for 1990–91 to 2000–02 and projected for the financial year 2002–03, adjusted for inflation at current values. [29507]

Mr. Timms

[holding answer 22 January 2002]: The following table contains the latest available information:

figures for the period in which the latest figures are available. [30578]

John Healey

Set out is information from the National Adult Learning Survey (NALS2001). It shows the number of people (in thousands) aged 26 and over who are classed as non-learners. A non-learner is someone who has not taken part in any of the NALS-defined learning activities over the past three years. The information is not available for Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Government office region Percentage of GOR who are non-learners Number (Thousand) Population in GOR (Thousand)
Wales 47 916 1,962
Yorkshire and Humberside 41 1,373 3,349
North West 37 1,695 4,543
North East 37 637 1,713
West Midlands 35 1,251 3,545
East Midlands 34 966 2,832
London 31 1,472 4,738
South West 30 1,013 3,394
Eastern 28 1,028 3,695
South East 25 1,347 5,473

It is important to note that most of these non-learners have chosen not to do any learning or are restricted by family/work circumstances. They are not usually non-learners as a result of access problems. In terms of factors that might restrict access, some of the access-related obstacles to learning (not mutually exclusive) mentioned by non-learners include:

  • Cannot find local opportunities to learn (12 per cent.);
  • Problems arranging transport to the course (15 per cent.);
  • Course difficult due to health/disability (9 per cent.)