To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect that withdrawal of funding for equivalent or lower qualifications will have on opportunities for lifelong learning. (177551)

The progressive re-distribution of institutional funding away from students doing equivalent or lower level qualifications will enable us to widen higher education participation and support more of the millions of people of all ages without a first higher education qualification, including the five million people over fifty without such qualifications. However, there will be transitional protection for existing students doing equivalent and lower level qualifications until they complete their courses. All of the £100 million will be redistributed to support our priorities, including the challenges posed by Sandy Leitch around the proportion of the workforce with higher level skills from under 30 per cent. to over 40 per cent. by 2020.