Written question asked by Chris Ruane (Labour) on Tuesday, 8 February 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 10 February 2011. It was answered by Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 15 February 2011 on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Consumer Direct

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps (a) his Department and (b) the Office of Fair Trading take to increase awareness of the services of Consumer Direct in areas with high levels of functional illiteracy.

Answer: Consumer Direct (CD) does not specifically target areas with high levels of functional illiteracy. However, vulnerable consumers have been targeted by regional marketing activity to drive awareness of CD. Channels used previously included local radio advertisements and local events, any of which could have reached consumers with functional illiteracy.The Office of Fair Trading's consumer education campaign Skilled To Go (STG) directs its audience to Consumer Direct as a good source of consumer advice, raising awareness of the service.The target audience for STG are people in adult and further education learning on literacy, language and numeracy courses throughout the UK. This audience includes:"Young people aged 16 to 25 on vocational learning courses IT, child care, catering etc.""Adults aged 16 to 80 on vocational courses, return-to-employment training or studying voluntarily to improve their literacy and numeracy skills""Adults for whom English is not their first language who are resident or working in the UK"

Secondary information