Imran Hussain – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department has taken to give refugees settled in the UK opportunities to improve their English language skills.

Nick Boles

Adults who are granted refugee status or humanitarian protection become eligible for skills funding through a provider’s adult skills budget, as any other English resident and are not subject to the normal 3 year qualifying period. Refugees are therefore eligible for full-funding for English Speakers of Other Languages, if they are in receipt of certain work-related benefits and are mandated to undertake skills training to improve their English in order to find work. If they are on other state benefits and are unemployed, they may still be eligible for full funding at the discretion of the training provider. If they are not on benefits, they can be co-funded at the discretion of the provider.