Mr. Jim Callaghanasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what estimate he has of the percentage of persons in England and Wales who are illiterate; and how this compares with the proportions in 1974, 1980 and 1982, respectively.
§ Mr. William SheltonPrecise 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.