Parliamentary ESOL briefing Monday, March 28, 2011 - 13:28

Hosted by Teresa Pearce MP and chaired by Professor Alan Tuckett, Chief Executive of NIACE, the Parliamentary briefing allowed learners, teachers and stakeholders to meet with MPs and Peers, and brief them about:

• how ESOL is delivered and the contribution it makes to community cohesion, labour market mobility and reducing the costs of interpretation and translation services;

• the technical detail of government proposals and its policy objectives; and to

• explore concerns about the potential adverse consequences of the reforms.

The briefing drew from the evidence collected by NIACE, the Association of Colleges, NATECLA and Lsect, which shows that the proposed cuts to funding are having a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable learners.

In February NIACE asked local authority ESOL providers to submit evidence regarding how their current ESOL learners might be affected by the proposed cuts and data was returned from a sample of 22 providers - the largest providing for 1,900 and the smallest for just 12 ESOL learners. Of the 9,315 ESOL learners in the NIACE sample only 12% were in receipt of Job Seekers' Allowance, meaning that under the proposed cuts they will continue to be eligible for free ESOL in September. However, 52% of learners were in receipt of income assessed benefits and will therefore be no longer eligible for fee remission.

Chris Taylor, NIACE Programme Director, said:

"NIACE remains concerned about vulnerable ESOL learners and urges Government not to proceed without a public Equalities Impact Assessment, so that comprehensive evidence can be gathered from ESOL providers before it is too late. We hope that the discussions will help inform Parliamentary scrutiny of the proposals so that the Government appreciates the risks here."