§ Ms KellyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to increase the amount of funding available for training through individual learning accounts.[160304]
§ Mr. Wicks[holding answer 8 May 2001]: Spending plans for individual learning accounts for the next three years show a marked increase from the £42 million in financial year 2000–01. The figures are as follows: £46.6 million (2001–02) £72 million (2002–03) and £71.2 million in 2003–04.
§ Ms KellyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many people have(a) applied for and (b) used an individual learning account, broken down by (i) gender, (ii) occupation and (iii) the nature of learning scheme taken up. [160303]
§ Mr. Wicks[holding answer 8 May 2001]: Latest figures are that over one million people have opened individual learning accounts (ILAs) in the UK. This is a remarkable achievement and means that our manifesto commitment to open one million accounts across the UK by March 2002 has been met almost 12 months early. The one million figure includes over 200,000 opened during the pilot phase which preceded the introduction of the national framework to administer ILAs.
Since the launch of the national framework to administer ILAs in June 2000, almost one million people have inquired about ILA membership in England, 785,379 people have opened an account and 346,559 (44 per cent.) have already made use of their ILA to support a course of learning.
Of the 785,379 who have opened an account, 459,782 are women and 322,674 are men. Of the 346,559 who have already made use of their account, 203,124 are women and 142,177 are men.
Over half of the learning is IT related with Computer Literacy and Information Technology (CLAIT) and European Computer Driving Licence being the most popular courses. A wide variety of non-IT, non-recreational learning makes up the balance. A breakdown of the accounts opened arid accounts used by occupation is given in the following table:
175W
Accounts opened by occupation Occupation ILAs Housewife/Homemaker 67,290 Manual/Factory Worker 41,745 Manager (own business less than 250 staff) 27,170 Office/Retail Worker 145,795 Senior Manager/Professional 79,576 Skilled Worker/Tradesperson 62,000 Teaching/Lecturer 37,087 Data not supplied 173,403 Other 151,313 Total 785,379
Accounts used by occupation Occupation ILAs Housewife/Homemaker 33,730 Manual/Factory Worker 19,233 Manager (own business less than 250 staff) 12,149 Office/Retail Worker 65,234 Senior Manager/Professional 33,330 Skilled Worker/Tradesperson 27,943 Teaching/Lecturer 15,253 Data not supplied 70,626 Other 69,061 Total 346,559