It is wrong to say there won’t be enough cash for adult education following the Comprehensive Spending Review (Rethink on adult cash, FE Focus, October 19).

With a seven per cent increase in 2010-11 compared with 2007-08, the further education and skills settlement will allow us to fund our national, regional and local programmes. We have underlined the contribution that raising skills can have in tackling social exclusion and improving social mobility. But the business case for raising skills still stands.

We have not moved a single penny from our planned investment in employer- driven skills to broader social objectives.

John Denham, the Innovation, Universities and Skills Secretary.