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Training Schemes

Answer

We are committed to safeguarding a wide range of adult learning opportunities in every area, including provision for learners over 50, and we will ensure that adult learning provision in Surrey Heath is provided through the funding from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to further education colleges, local authorities and other providers. As this is an operational matter, Mark Haysom, the LSC's Chief Executive has written to the hon. Member with further information and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Library.Letter from Mark Haysom, dated 23 January 2006:"I refer to the written reply by Phil Hope to your Parliamentary Question. The Minister has asked that I write to you with further information.""Adult and Community Learning (now called Personal and Community Development Learning) is an important source of provision for older people. We are safeguarding funding for this provision for future years.""For other forms of provision, the LSC has agreed clear funding priorities with the Government as public resources are necessarily finite. Our highest priorities are to support increased participation and achievement of 16–18 year olds and to support adults without skills for life and full level 2 qualifications which are important for basic levels of employability. Many older people come within these latter priority categories and around a quarter of enrolments in LSC funded provision in Surrey are by people over the age of 50.""Surrey County Council, our Adult and Community Learning provider in the county, has developed provision for older people in two communities with high levels of multiple deprivation, one of which is in Surrey Heath. Building on earlier work by the Pre-Retirement Association, the purpose of these was to develop a transferable and innovative curriculum of recreational learning to encourage older people to regard learning and skills acquisition as a positive and natural accompaniment to growing older. Amongst other things, this led to the formation of an ‘older and bolder club1 for health activities and recreation. The University of the Third Age has a presence in Surrey Heath to encourage lifelong learning for older people not in employment and relevant courses are also delivered by the WEA (with funding from the LSC.)""To help shape future provision, the Surrey Lifelong Learning Partnership has run focus groups on our behalf, involving older learners, to identify provision of particular interest. Analysis of needs against provision on a geographic basis means that we can now identify where there is relatively high and low participation in learning for over 50s to provide a basis for review of future provision.""Our future provision in Surrey will also be influenced by our South East Region's annual statement of planning priorities in which we have a commitment to ““pilot curriculum opportunities for older workers to change their occupations or extend their careers””. To this end, we are developing a project, with European funding support, to identify different ways of delivering learning to older people. This will include targeted information, advice and guidance and the development of courses specifically to meet the needs of older people seeking to extend their careers.""Looking further forward, demographic changes—with fewer young people entering the labour market and an expectation of longer working life—mean that, nationally, we will need to provide a broader programme of support for older people to keep their skills up to date. We will be working with the Department for Education and Skills to define and plan the nature of this broader support.""I hope this further information is helpful."

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

39769; 442 c503-4W;442 c503-4W

Session

2005-06

Related items

Deposited Paper HINF 2006/233
Monday, 23 January 2006
Deposited papers
House of Commons

Subjects

Adult education Finance Training Surrey

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk