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Education: ESOL

Answer

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is responsible for the funding of post 16 further education and skills training. Since 2001, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) has formed part of the Skills for Life strategy. As set out in the Skills Investment Strategy (November, 2009), planned investment in Skills for Life will be around £600 million in 2010-11 through the adult learner responsive and employer responsive route. The New Approach to ESOL (May 2009) gives a greater role for local authorities, working with the LSC, FE colleges, training organisations and other partners, to identify and meet the needs of the most vulnerable people in their area who need to improve their English skills and to enable ESOL provision to have a greater focus on social inclusion and community cohesion. This new approach is being rolled out across local authorities in England. The following table provides estimated LSC spend on Skills for Life ESOL learners over the past three years for which full year data are available.

Year	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Estimated spend	£298 million	£289 million	£284 million

"Source: Learning and Skills Council" Investment for FE and skills provision over the next three years will be dependent on the outcomes of the next spending review.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

426; 715 c177WA

Session

2009-10

Related items

Education: ESOL
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
Written questions
House of Lords

Subjects

Adult education Finance English language

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

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