§ Mr. Neil Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what percentage of adults in the United Kingdom are estimated to be functionally illiterate;
(2) what percentage of 16-year-olds in the United Kingdom are estimated to be functionally illiterate.
§ Mr. BrookePrecise numbers are difficult to identify and are not collected routinely. However, it has been estimated that in the United Kingdom there were around 2 million adults—6 per cent. of the adult population—in 1974 who did not have adequate literacy skills. Since then, numbers benefiting from literacy provision have been offset to some extent by newly identified adults without adequate literacy skills and by the rising standard of literacy needed to cope with life and work.
§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the number of illiterate adults in England, as defined by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation; and if he will compare this figure with those for France, Germany, the United States of America, Holland Sweden and Japan in 1954, 1960, 1970, 1980, and the latest date for which figures are available.
§ Mr. BrookePrecise figures are not collected in the form requested by the Department, and information concerning literacy is scanty. Data for three of the countries mentioned are as follows:
Age Group Illiterate Population (000's) Illitracy Rate Per cent. United States of America 1952 14+ 2,780 2.5 1959 14+ 2,619 2.2 1969 14+ 1,435 1.0 1979 15+ — 0.5 Japan 1948 15+ — 2.1 1960 15+ 1,426 2.2 1970 — — * France 1946 14+ 1,087 3.6 * Negligible. Source: UNESCO "Statistics of educational attainment and illiteracy, 1945–1974'; UNESCO Yearbook 1983.