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Adult Illiteracy/Innumeracy

Answer

The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) does not collect annual data on levels of adult literacy and numeracy. However, to inform our planning and delivery in this key policy area, in October 2003 the Department published the ““Skills for Live Survey: A national needs and impact survey of literacy, numeracy and ICT skills”” (DfES, October 2003).The survey assessed the literacy, numeracy and ICT skills of around 8,000 adults aged 16 and above in England. The findings are shown in the following tables. The assessment levels correspond to the new literacy and numeracy core curriculum and National Standards: Level 1 is broadly equivalent to a lower grade GCSE (grade D-G) and Level 2 to a higher grade GCSE (A*-C). Overall around 16 per cent. of adults had literacy skills below Level 1 and 47 per cent. had numeracy skills below this level.

Overall literacy—Base: all respondents with literacy level (7874)
	Percentage of 16 to 65-year-olds	Number of 16 to 65-year-olds (million)
Entry level 1 or below	3	1.1
Entry level 2	2	0.6
Entry level 3	11	3.5
(All Entry level or below)	(16)	(5.2)
Level 1	40	12.6
Level 2 or above	44	14.1
	100	31.9
Source: Census 01 Skills for Life Survey, 2003

Overall numeracy—Base: all respondents with numeracy level (8040)
	Percentage of 16 to 65-year-olds	Number of 16 to 65-year-olds (million)
Entry level 1 or below	5	1.7
Entry level 2	16	5.1
Entry level 3	25	8.1
(All Entry level or below)	(47)	(15.0)
Level 1	28	8.8
Level 2 or above	25	8.1
	100	31.9
Source: Census 01 Skills for Life Survey, 2003

A copy of the survey report is in the House of Commons Library and on the DfES website: www.dfes.gov.uk

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

3054; 435 c350W;435 c353-4W

Session

2005-06

Subjects

Literacy Numeracy