Council Encourages New Residents to Learn English

Reporter: Ask Bury
Date online: 07 March 2008

If you are new to the country and want to get a job, find a place to live, or settle your family into school, being able to communicate effectively is without doubt an essential skill.

For some newcomers to England, this is one thing they have been finding difficult to achieve this year, as classes where they can study to speak and write English have become fewer in number and cost more, due to a change in funding policy by the Learning and Skills Council, which funds adult learning provision nationally.

However locally, thanks to some extra funding from Bury Council, the Adult Learning Service has been able to deliver additional support to 'English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students, by reducing their hourly fees by some 30%. This has made a significant difference to students' ability to sign up for courses and has meant that all available places on Bury Adult Learning Service courses are expected to be filled during this current academic year.

Commenting on the extra support for learners, Councillor Iain Gartside, the Council's Executive Member for Learning, Skills, Employment and Housing, who was responsible for securing the extra funding ,said:  " I hope this small initiative goes some way at least to reducing the barriers to learning English that some newcomers to our community face. This is, in my view, a far better use of resources than money spent on expensive translation services, which can in fact be a positive disincentive to newcomers who really need to learn to read and speak English in order to integrate more effectively with the wider community"

Further information from:  Diana Sorrigan, Head of Libraries and Adult learning.