§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what public funding has been spent on adult (a) literacy and (b) numeracy in Birkenhead in each of the last five years. [166297]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisThe estimated total spend on Skills For Life (the Government's strategy for literacy, language and numeracy needs of all post-16 learners from pre-entry level up to and including level 2) and on Key Skills (essential skills of communication, application of number and information technology), from April 2001 to July 2003, in the Greater Merseyside Learning and Skills Council (LSC) area is set out in the table below:
(£000) April 2001 to July 20011 August 2001 to July 2002 August 2002 to July 2003 Basic skills Key skills Basic skills Key skills Basic skills Key skills 3,803 1,094 6,575 1,564 10,677 1,755 1 The figures for April to July 2001 include costs incurred from August 2000 on learning aims continuing into April 2001. From the information available to the LSC it has not been feasible to obtain estimates at constituency level or separate figures by subject without incurring disproportionate cost. Likewise it has not been feasible to obtain comparable figures for periods before April 2001 when the Skills for Life strategy was launched and the LSC was form but information shows it was considerably less than at present.