“HOLEX calls upon the Chancellor to announce 2021-2030 Lifelong Learning Investment Plan in Budget 2021, committing an extra £7.4 billion per year to support training and retraining at Level 3 and below, and endorse the recommendations on page 18.” 

Access the submission here.

HOLEX sent in an updated Spending Review submission with evidence on why adult education is beneficial to the economy and individual wellbeing. Our submission is in three parts – the first part is what needs to happen now, the second is about the recovery and the third part is the evidence.

See the submission here.

In light of the unprecedented set of conditions that could lead to 2.5 million young people and adults being unemployed in the autumn Holex on behalf of adult community providers and their learners asks government to make decisions now  on a range of interventions that when implemented could ease this situation and give people hope and improve the economy.  This paper sets out a range of measures for the immediate and longer term. The first section covers practical changes that would instantly support adult education learners and place them in a better place to look for employment when the economy picks up. The second section details action that government should consider to ensure skills development and training is a central element of the recovery process.

See the full document here.

HOLEX welcomed this enquiry and was keen to provide evidence to the Select Committee who were undertaking an inquiry into the state of Adult Skills and Lifelong Learning. Our first submission of evidence is available here.

This paper sets out the evidence why there needs to be further investment in community provision for adults and how it supports many of the government priorities of social integration, managed migration and improving productivity and wellbeing. It concludes with a set of recommendation for the Post 18 Review, Autumn Budget 2018 and the next spending review.

Adult community learning has a track record of supporting those learners furthest away from the workforce and most at risk of exclusion from society, getting them back into work and able to contribute to society. However, it is held back from doing what is needed for this country because of a lack of resource. Less than 1% of the post-18 education and skills budget is spent on adult community learning, even though there are 17 million adults without a level 2 qualification and 1 in 5 of our adults struggle with maths and literacy.

This imbalance of spend must be corrected. The post-18 budget should not be just for those who are already educationally successful – a new fairness is required. Brexit creates a situation where we will need all our people to be skilled and reach their full potential. We need a skilled workforce and we should not ignore those who did not do well at school.  This paper demonstrates why adult education, skills and learning is so important and the reasons for investment.

Access the paper here.

 

Key messages:

1. The Autumn Budget is the first fiscal event since the General Election and the first autumn budget in a generation. Reports indicate that the Chancellor intends to deliver a Budget for Young People. HOLEX welcomes this intention but calls upon the Chancellor go even further in his Budget Statement on 22 November.

2. We need A Budget for Adult Learners to assist all adults who aspire to train and retrain. And a Budget for All Young People and not just a budget for the 33% that enter full-time higher education at age 18 and graduate with perceived debts who aspire to live independently as soon as possible.

3. Our departure from the European Union implies a more restrictive immigration policy towards EU migration and the need to develop our own resident population rather than recruiting labour from EU member states. In parallel, the planned increase in the State Pension Age to 66 by the end of decade and 67 in the late 2020s implies longer working lives for many of our resident population.

4. HOLEX looks forward to working with the Government to develop many of the education, skills and employment policy ideas contained in the Conservative Party Manifesto as well as fresh ideas proposed in our Budget Representation to meet the short, medium and long-term challenges presented by BREXIT and longer working lives.

Access the full submission here.

This document describes eight of the challenges this country faces and demonstrates how adult education can help resolve these issues. The Autumn Statement 2016 was a mini-budget for infrastructure. The Spring Budget 2017 should be a budget for people. In the Autumn Statement, the Chancellor borrowed to invest in physical capital. In the Spring Budget, the Chancellor should borrow to invest in human capital. HOLEX sets out here 26 recommendations which if adopted would substantially improve the life chances of millions of adults in England and improve productivity and wellbeing.

Access the submission here.