NIACE responds to Skills Investment Strategy Wednesday, November 18, 2009 - 18:07

Whilst some aspects of Skills Investment Strategy 2010-11 are to be welcomed, NIACE is concerned that the budget for developmental learning will reduce from £330,769,000 in the current financial year to £186,696,000 in 2010-11.

The number of funded learners aged 19 and over supported by these monies will fall from 703,000 in the last financial year to 213,000 in 2010-11. In addition, there will be 45,000 fewer learners funded from the Adult Safeguarded Learning budget - which remains at £210 million across the period.

Alastair Thomson, Principal Advocacy Officer at NIACE, said:

"According to the figures in this paper there will be a decline in adult learners by 2012 and this follows on from the millions who have been lost in the past few years."

"If this is an investment strategy it is going to exclude investment in the future for a lot of adult learners. We realise that times are tough but this is hitting learners disproportionately. We hope a similar degree of scrutiny is given to the amount of ‘deadweight' in Train to Gain. Business should take the lead role in increasing the skills in the workplace."

"We accept that savings may have to be made but we expect the government to be true to its word in protecting the most vulnerable who may have left the labour-market or be some distance from it. The full implications of this strategy need to be thought through. We'll be examining these figures very closely indeed."