HC Deb 20 November 2003 vol 413 cc1462-3W
Mr. Boswell

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on recent trends in(a) enrolment to and (b) funding of courses in adult and community education. [133420]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

I have set out separately the figures for expenditure and numbers of learners in(i) adult and community learning and adult education courses run through local education authorities; (ii) learndirect; and (iii) Skills for Life. Together these equate most closely to adult and community education.

We have used the closest match between the figures for the number of learners and those for expenditure. Where there are differences these are explained in the footnotes.

Adult education classes
Funding(£ million)1 All enrolments (million)2 Former non schedule two (thousand)3
Nov 2000 145 1.041 666
Nov 2001 153 1.052 679
Nov 2002 183 1.042 662
1 Annual expenditure, by financial year, on adult and community learning run through local education authorities. The figures for 2002–03 include the budgets for Neighbourhood Learning (£10 million) and family learning (£7.5 million).
2Number of enrolments as at 1 November each year in adult education courses run by local education authorities. These include both courses leading to qualifications which were, prior to 2001–02, funded by the Further Education Funding Council, and local education authority secured adult and community learning. These courses largely do not lead to formal qualifications. Enrolments are not the same as learners. Individuals on a number of courses are counted more than once.
3 These are courses offered by local education authorities which do not lead to formal qualifications. These figures equate most closely—but not exactly—to the budgets for adult and community learning.

Source:

Enrolment data taken from the Statistical First Review, published 15 May 2003.

Learndirect
Date (academic year) Funding (£ million) Learner numbers (thousands)
2000/01 49 137
2001/02 134 347
2002/03 171 485

Skills for Life
Date (academic year) Funding £ million Enrolments (thousand)
2000/01 253 724
2001/02 259 1,136
2002/03 290 1,230

Note:

Enrolment data includes Learning and Skills Council funded learning opportunities; estimates from the Offenders' Learning and Skills Unit; and the Department for Work and Pensions.