No comfort from the Spending Review and Reform's smokescreen

As reported by the WEA earlier this year, the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, indicated that the Adult Skills Budget was to be cut by 6% and the budget for skills for the devolved Mayors would fall by 2-3%. This week's Spending Review provided no comfort with no further mention.

Adult education does not have the public awareness or the powerful lobbying that 'protects' other areas of education and so it's always the easiest to cut. It is still desperately sad to see this being done by a Labour Government whose MPs had historically been students of the WEA and the Labour Colleges. They understood the importance to adult education, that it goes far beyond just learning a new skill. Community cohesion, Health (physical and mental), and opportunties are all reliant on adults' ability to develop.

The Government cuts are already being seized on by Reform councillors as an excuse to make cuts. Now in control of Derbyshire County Council, the council has stated it intends to close Adult Education Centres, with the BBC 'helpfully' noting Rachel Reeves' cuts as though this must be the reason: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjdzme42jn5o.amp