Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pensioners in (a) England and (b) each local authority took advantage of the concession for subsidised further education courses in (i) 2004-05 and (ii) 2005-06. [91696]
Bill Rammell: There is no national subsidy for pensioners on courses in further education funded through the Learning and Skills Council. However all those on income related benefits and their families do not pay tuition fees for their courses. This includes those pensioners in receipt of the pension credit guarantee. Many pensioners will also benefit from free tuition for courses in literacy, numeracy and language and, where they intend to work, from free tuition for a first full level 2 qualification. Beyond national policy many providers, in both local authorities and FE colleges, have offered fee concessions at their own discretion which may, to varying degrees, be based on age. The following table therefore shows the numbers of learning aims funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in 2004/05 and taken up by learners of State Pension Age, i.e. 65 for men and 60 for women, where fees are waived for whatever reason. Figures are in terms of aims, of which an individual learner may have several, because fee remission applies to individual aims rather than the learner. Additionally, where fees are paid in full by the learner, 75 per cent. of the total tuition cost in 2004/05 for learners in Further Education was still funded by the LSC.
Equivalent figures for 2005/06 will not be available until December 2006.
