§ Mr. Harry BarnesTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will reconsider his decision to discontinue the funding of the REPLAN educational development programme.
§ Mr. EggarNo. The REPLAN programme will have largely fulfilled the purpose for which it was established when its current term is completed in October this year. My right hon. and learned Friend will however be making additional funding available to the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education and the further education unit for the production and dissemination of a manual of guidance on education and training for unemployed adults which will further promote the lessons and experience gained from the REPLAN programme over the last seven years. As I said in my reply to the hon. Member for Don Valley (Mr. Redmond) and my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Mr. Bowis) on 23 January 1991,Official Report, columns 196–97, it is now for the adult education providers to continue to develop provision for the adult unemployed, drawing on the lessons learned under REPLAN, and in particular working with the training and enterprise councils who are responsible for delivering the major training programmes for the adult unemployed.