§ Mr. Derek FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many people aged over 50 years were enrolled in adult education courses and further education courses during the 1998–99 academic year in(a) England, (b) the North-East Region of England and (c) Bishop Auckland; and what proportion of the relevant population aged over 50 years this represents in each case. [124208]
§ Mr. Wicks[holding answer 5 June 2000]It is not possible to provide information for Bishop Auckland as adult education data are not collected centrally at district level and data on further education students are not yet available for 1998–99. Data on the number of people aged414W over 50 years enrolled in LEA maintained adult education provision are not available. The available data for further education students are shown in the table:
Students in FE sector colleges and external institutions in England, 1998–991 Students aged 50 and over2 (Thousand) Percentage of population North-East Region 27.5 3.2 England 585.7 3.7 1Estimated from 1998–99 provisional whole year data for FEFC-funded and non-FEFC-funded students in FE sector colleges and FEFC-funded students in external institutions. 2Age as at 31 August 1998