To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of further education Learning and Skills Council funding was spent on 19 to 25-year-olds in 2005-06; and what proportion is planned to be spent in the next two financial years. (81802)

For the most recently completed academic year, 2004/05, 27 per cent. of the adult further education budget was spent on young adults aged 19 to 25. Figures for 2005/06 are not yet available. We have not set out specific plans for the proportion of the adult FE budget to be spent on this cohort for 2006/07 or 2007/08. However, we have announced a new free entitlement to a first full level 3 for 19 to 25-year-olds from 2007/08 and an additional £25 million will be available to support this entitlement.