Adults to be offered free digital skills courses

Adults with no or few digital skills are to be given access to a new suite of free courses, apprenticeship and skills minister Anne Milton has announced.The new offer, unveiled today, will comprise a range of new "essential digital skills" qualifications, which will be available from 2020, as well as digital functional skills qualifications, which are planned to be taught from 2021.The courses will be designed to support progression into employment or further education and develop skills for everyday life. According to the government, one in five adults has no or few basic digital skills. The announcement of the new entitlement for free digital qualifications follows a 12-week consultation, which closed in January. A list of the eligible qualifications has not yet been revealed, but the Department for Education said it would be released “in advance of introducing the entitlement in 2020”.