Baroness Sharp of Guildford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Sharp of Guildford on 2015-12-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the breakdown of the £172 million Learner Support budget of the Skills Funding Agency for 2015–16.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The Learner Support budget is predominantly demand-led and meets the costs of Discretionary Learner Support for grant-funded learners and the Advanced Learner Loan Bursary Fund for loan-funded learners. It also covers the government’s costs of the Professional and Career Development Loan scheme and Dance and Drama Awards for young adults.

The forecasted total expenditure for the 2015-16 financial year currently stands at around £132 million. Discretionary Learner Support assists the most learners and may equate to nearly £86 million, while the Bursary Fund may equate to about £35 million of the expenditure. The remainder will be for the costs of Professional and Career Development Loans (c£2.5 million) and Dance and Drama Awards (c£8.5 million).