Central Hall, Westminster.

Introduction

In thinking about this seminar, I was reminded of a Chinese proverb I once heard:

If you want one year of prosperity, plant corn. If you want ten years of prosperity, plant trees. If you want one hundred years of prosperity, educate people.

That proverb reflects the mission of my department:

Making the most of the skills of all our people.

Producing world-class research and scholarship, and

Combining those skills and that research to create competitive businesses and innovative public services.

By doing this we can build a society where no-one is left behind, and people have higher wages and more secure and fulfilling lives - a society where people can aspire to a brighter future with better education and skills for them and their children.

And we can build a society where everyone has access to the knowledge they need to take an informed role in the democratic process, understanding the great political issues and making their minds up where they stand on them.

Informal Adult Learning

As the Secretary of State highlighted when he launched the informal adult learning consultation in January, the pursuits of intellectual stimulation and enlightenment are crucial in adult education.

The point of education should be to develop capabilities rather than simply amass knowledge. And as some academics have highlighted, the most important capability is the one which traditional education is worst at creating, is the desire to carry on learning indefinitely.

My department believes that schools and universities should be hubs of learning, capable of extending into the community.

Education providers should be able to facilitate personalised learning that is accessible to people in their homes and at work or in community centres and libraries. That learning should be accessible through the medium that suits them best - face to face or through a textbook, laptop or even nowadays through their phone.

This Government has always funded some adult learning for leisure, pleasure, personal and community development. DIUS is funding informal adult learning through a safeguarded budget of £210m each year during the comprehensive spending review period. It's why we allocate £15 million each year to trade union learning and provide core funding for NIACE.

But there are two burning questions for us now - and they are both questions we've initiated through our consultation:

Firstly, how we best use that DIUS funding?

Secondly, how we create more innovative and joined-up informal adult learning opportunities for the future?

The Consultation

We are here today to discuss the consultation to gather views on the future of informal adult learning (IAL). We are seeking input across a wide range of individuals and organisations from the public, private, voluntary and self-organised sectors. This will help to enable us to do a number of things.

We want to understand the reasons why people learn and what they would like to learn. We need to further improve synergies across informal adult learning funded by Government departments. And we want to find out how we can improve equality of access to informal adult education using technology.

To ensure equality of access we must decide how funding should be targeted to have the biggest impact. This consultation is a fantastic opportunity to ensure that we have the best possible arrangements for securing vibrant and fulfilling informal adult learning for the 21st century.

The people in this room can help to shape the decision-making process.

Should we continue to focus funding on providers, as we do now? Or should we try to improve the informal learning infrastructure and wrap around services? Then again, should we give the buying power directly to learners in the form of Skills Accounts/vouchers? We would welcome your input into the debate.

If we get the funding and infrastructure of informal learning right then we can maximise potential, create the best learning opportunities and enable individuals and communities to improve and prosper.

The Government has always said that we want IAL provision to respond to the needs and desires of local communities. A better understanding of the environment is a prime example of where there is an overwhelming need for improving engagement and an expressed desire for more information.

The Environment

This isn't just a case of 'it would be nice if everyone was committed to the green agenda'; our targets are enormously challenging and simply can't be achieved by the strong arm of Government.

It is everybody's responsibility to live more sustainably and IAL can help in developing an informed population that are aware of the issues and actively involved in tackling them.

An informed population will help Government to meet its commitments - such as reducing CO2 to 60% of 1990 levels by 2050.

Sophie Duncan - the project manager of BBC's 'Breathing Places' who I'm sharing today's platform with - knows the need for informal learning about green issues.

So does Sir David Attenborough, whose natural history programmes have been watched by millions of people around the world. When he says that graphs of rising ocean temperatures, rising carbon and dioxide in the atmosphere are climbing far more steeply than can be accounted for by the natural oscillation of the weather, then people heed his warning.

Our independent media is an informal adult learning tool of which we can be proud; from Countryfile to Comic Relief, Newsround to The Archers, the pervasiveness of environmental and agricultural issues is a luxury that people in, say, China just don't have.

There are cultural events aplenty too - a quick check of my postcode on the 'Breathing Places' website reminded me of green volunteering opportunities at Markfield Place, the East and West Bank Nature Reserve and Newington Green's with its Green Flag status all within a short stroll of my house.

And as one of the ministers from the department that represents scientists, I am glad to see visitors and scientists meeting to discuss the natural world at the Natural History Museum's daily 'Nature Live' events.

I think we are all in agreement that environmental issues are becoming increasingly important to individuals, communities and the country as a whole - so we need to make sure the IAL reflects this importance and offers learners the chance to engage with these issues.

DEFRA has conducted polls and surveys that suggest that many people are particularly keen to get involved in:

tackling climate change

local environmental issues

But they are unsure how to get engaged in such projects or work.

There is scope for DIUS-funded adult learning programmes - Personal and Community Development Learning (PCDL), neighbourhood learning and family learning to offer provision to learners that promotes and educates on both local and wider environmental issues.

And of course, we would like to see all providers not only teaching about sustainability, but also setting the example, by using recycling bins and environmentally friendly products, by considering ways of cutting down on their energy use and by promoting and encouraging use of public transport.

Government is also paving the way, spearheaded by DEFRA - they are funding a number of IAL opportunities that encourage environmental engagement:

the Environmental Action Fund, which helps people, through community projects, to live more sustainable lifestyles

Climate Change Fund, which focuses on participatory ways for local communities to communicate messages about climate change;

Every Action Counts, which works with communities to encourage environmental lifestyle changes.

So there's a lot of action going ahead already to focus IAL towards the global and environmental challenges we face, but as today's event correctly recognises - this consultation is an opportunity to focus this interest.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on how that might happen. I hope that the rest of your day is enjoyable and productive. Thanks.