Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-06-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much his Department has spent on funding for trade union representatives studying Trade Union Congress (TUC) learning aims in (a) each of the last five years and (b) 2014-15; and what his estimate is of funding in (i) 2015-16 and (ii) any future years for which budgets are available.

Matthew Hancock

I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer given by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Universities and Science (David Willetts), on 11 July 2011, Official Report, column 195W.

Further education (FE) colleges and training organisations receive a post-19 funding allocation each academic year at the programme level (for example budgets for adult skills, adult safeguarded learning and/or offender learning and skills).

As funding is not allocated at the learning aim level, the amount of money spent on TUC learning aims is not reported centrally by the Skills Funding Agency.

From the 2011/12 academic year a single adult skills budget was introduced. This will provide FE colleges and training organisations with the flexibility to offer the range and balance of programmes, from basic skills to higher-level skills, in the mode of delivery that will best meet the needs of learners, employers and communities (classroom, workshop, online and in the workplace).