§ Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information he has as to the number of illiterate people in the United Kingdom; and what steps he is taking to eliminate illiteracy.
§ Mr. Walden[pursuant to his reply, 30 June 1986, c. 380]: There is an omission from the text of the first paragraph of my earlier reply. The full text of the reply should read as follows:
The National Child Development Study survey of 1981 found that 10 per cent. of the 23-year-olds asked said they had had reading problems since leaving school and that 3 per cent. said these problems had made things difficult for them in every clay life.The Government's policy for raising standards of literacy in schools is set out in the White Paper 'Better Schools', published last year. The Department of Education and Science and the Welsh Office jointly fund the adult literacy and basic skills unit to develop educational provision to 772W overcome illiteracy amongst adults. Grant has been raised from £360,000 in 1979–80 to £2,170,000 in 1986–87; a sixfold increase.Policies to combat literacy problems in Scotland and for Northern Ireland are the responsibility of my Right Hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Northern Ireland.