To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they plan to take to eliminate long waiting periods before refugees needing tuition in English can enter English for Speakers of Other Languages courses; and if funding is an obstacle, whether they will bring this to the attention of the lottery managers.
Answered on
20 December 2017
The government recognises that it is important for refugees to have timely access to English for Speaker of Other Languages (ESOL) courses. In 2016/17, ESOL provision increased with the department providing full or partial funding for 114,400 adult learners to improve their levels of English – up from 110,600 adult learners in 2015/16.
The Adult Education Budget (AEB) provides flexibility to enable providers experiencing waiting lists, including to deliver additional ESOL courses, to increase the size of their ESOL delivery to help meet local demand. In addition, providers can request AEB growth funding from the Education and Skills Funding Agency. The scope and timeline for growth opportunities are outlined in the AEB Funding and Performance management rules.
Additional funding is also available for refugees who come to the UK as part of the Vulnerable People’s Resettlement Scheme. All local councils resettling Syrian families are required to ensure that refugees are able to access ESOL provision within a month of arrival.
The forthcoming integration strategy will set out how we will support people in more isolated communities to engage with the wider world, help women into the workplace, and teach more people to speak English.
With regards to National Lottery funding, this is distributed by independent distribution bodies. Their decisions are based on the published criteria of each of their different Lottery funding programmes and are made independently of government.