§ Mr. FisherTo ask the Secretary of State for Education how much Her Majesty's Government have spent on tackling illiteracy in each of the last five years.
§ Mr. BoswellIt is for local education authorities to determine their level of expenditure on adult literacy provision. Government funding over the last five years of the adult literacy and basic skills unit, which is the central organisation for advice and research into adult literacy, was as in the following table.
153W
£ million 1988–89 2.3 1989–90 2.4 1990–91 2.7 1991–92 3.0 1992–93 3.2
§ Mr. FisherTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what is his estimate of the number of(a) adults and (b) children who are (i) illiterate or (ii) functionally illiterate in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. BoswellThere are very few adults in the United Kingdom who are completely illiterate in the sense that they cannot read or write at all. The adult literacy and basic skills unit, which advises the Government, estimates that 4 million adults in England and Wales have real difficulty coping with everyday tasks like filling in forms; and a further 1.5 million are reckoned to have difficulty with numerical skills. Such people are often described as being "functionally illiterate", although there is no standard definition of that term. ALBSU has however recently developed a common set of standards for communication and numeracy. These standards describe competence levels in reading, writing, number and oral communication skills. They have been mapped against both the national curriculum and the communication and numeracy units in the new general national vocational qualifications. Better information on the incidence and level of these difficulties will become available as these standards are more widely applied.
It is impossible to provide comparable figures for children, since the rate at which individual children acquire and master literacy skills varies. The testing and assessment arrangements being introduced under the national curriculum will in future provide parents and teachers with clear information about children's reading and writing standards.
§ Mr. FisherTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what research into the problems of illiteracy has been financed by his Department in each of the last five years; and at what cost.
§ Mr. BoswellThe adult literacy and basic skills unit, which is funded by the Government to advise on, and conduct research into, adult literacy, has conducted extensive research over the last five years. I will write to the hon. Member shortly with details of the cost of that research.
§ Mr. FisherTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps are being taken to tackle the problem of illiteracy in British industry and commerce; and at what cost.
§ Mr. BoswellThe Department for Education, the Department of Employment and the Welsh Office are jointly funding an initiative on basic skills involving employers and training and enterprise councils. The basic skills at work programme has funded surveys of need and provision and is now funding pilot projects to explore new methods of providing vocationally-related basic skills training, for those in or out of work. The initiative will cost about £3 million over three years. In addition, many firms offer basic skills training independently.
§ Mr. FisherTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment has been made of the cost to British industry and commerce of illiteracy in each of the last five years.
§ Mr. BoswellThe adult literacy and basic skills unit, which is funded by the Government, is currently conducting research into this question. The results of that research are expected to be available in early April.