HC Deb 07 May 2003 vol 404 cc686-7W
Mr. Boswell

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to include small-scale learning providers within the ambit of a revised Individual Learning Account scheme. [111283]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

For all its failings, ILA was successful in getting non-traditional learners back into learning, and that success was based in part on the role played by the best providers, many of them small scale, who were able to encourage learners to take the first step. This influence will be as important in the successor scheme as it was in the original programme. The scheme will promote high quality relevant learning, whether from small or large scale providers. Details of the scheme will be announced next month as part of the Skills Strategy.