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 assessment he has made of the effect of the withdrawal of ESOL Plus Mandation funding on attainment levels of children whose parents participated in or were eligible for ESOL courses.

Nick Boles

Although there is a correlation between parental education levels and the attainment of children, many other factors are also relevant. Isolating the specific impact of this particular funding on children’s levels of attainment would be extremely difficult.

The decision to withdraw the 2015/16 English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Plus (Mandation) funding was taken in the knowledge that providers could use their adult skills budget to continue to provide ESOL training for jobseekers and therefore mitigate any adverse impact. Our data showed that the numbers of claimants being referred to ESOL Plus (Mandation) provision was significantly lower than originally anticipated.