§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what action he is taking to facilitate adult learning in Northern Ireland. [137803]
§ Jane KennedyThe Department for Employment and Learning offers a range of services and activities to facilitate adult learning in Northern Ireland, including
funding for widespread provision in the statutory FE sector;financial support for the Workers' Educational Association and the Ulster Peoples' College, to enable them to deliver adult education and training programmes;funding for learners undertaking a range of courses via learndirect;essential skills provision, which has been fully integrated into all the Department's programmes, to improve literacy and numeracy skills;a range of New Deal initiatives providing opportunities to learn new skills;the delivery of an all age guidance service providing career guidance to people in education and training and to the unemployed;a Training for Work (TfW) vocational programme, aimed at adults who have not reached the entry point for any of the New Deal options; andWorktrack, a temporary employment programme, focusing on the needs of unemployed adults.