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Dept for Education and Skills

Answer

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what percentage of adults in London she estimates were illiterate in each of the last five years for which figures are available, broken down by local education authority. [214570] Mr. Ivan Lewis: "The Skills for Life Survey: A national needs and impact survey of literacy, numeracy and ICT skills" (DfES, October 2003) provides the latest estimates of literacy levels for England and London in particular. While it is not possible to provide estimates for each of the last five years, the survey does show literacy levels in individual London education authorities. These figures are detailed in Table 1. The survey highlights that 5 per cent. of London respondents were classified at Entry Level 1, 2 per cent. at Entry Level 2 and 12 per cent. at Entry Level 3 for literacy (Entry level 3 or below compares to below GCSE grade G). The Entry level 3 or below figure for England as a whole is 16 per cent. or 5.2 million people. A further 34 per cent. of respondents were at Level 1 (considered equivalent to GCSE grades D-G). The survey maps skill levels to the National Standards for Adult Literacy and Numeracy. A copy of the survey report is on the DfES website: www.dfes.gov.uk Table 1: Literacy levels across London drawn from the Skills for Life Survey _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Literacy Total entry level Level 1 skills Level 2 skills Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Barking and Dagenham 19,340 19 47,690 47 33,800 34 Barnet 20,670 10 83,250 41 99,720 49 Bexley 8,695 6 71,530 52 57,550 42 Brent 34,400 19 62,360 35 82,950 46 Bromley 20,500 11 60,000 32 105,500 57 Camden 9,210 7 47,490 35 78,960 58 City of London 215 4 1,560 30 3,495 66 Croydon 27,500 13 96,410 45 90,290 42 Ealing 26,980 13 86,730 42 91,420 45 Enfield 26,500 15 75,510 43 74,310 42 Greenwich 22,380 16 61,070 44 54,950 40 Hackney 24,520 18 46,430 34 64,410 48 Hammersmith and Fulham 7,515 6 43,100 36 68,440 57 Haringey 26,620 18 49,230 33 73,470 49 Harrow 17,440 13 53,390 40 63,680 47 Havering 12,730 9 61,330 44 65,670 47 Hillingdon 22,870 15 55,600 36 76,080 49 Hounslow 21,400 15 58,430 41 63,380 44 Islington 9,395 8 48,720 40 64,290 53 Kensington and Chelsea 5,620 5 34,920 31 71,580 64 Kingston upon Thames 8,940 9 31,320 32 57,090 59 Lambeth 22,200 12 70,250 37 95,940 51 Lewisham 25,440 15 60,160 36 81,900 49 Merton 11,870 9 51,700 41 63,190 50 Newham 59,900 38 44,170 28 53,330 34 Redbridge 23,750 16 63,720 42 65,550 43 Richmond upon Thames 8,990 8 31,210 27 74,420 65 Southwark 30,740 19 57,010 35 77,500 47 Sutton 14,100 12 39,350 34 61,880 54 Tower Hamlets 24,240 18 48,300 37 58,680 45 Waltham Forest 22,690 16 66,510 46 55,920 39 Wandsworth 10,860 6 58,730 31 118,000 63 Westminster 12,290 10 41,060 32 75,440 59 LONDON 925,975 19 1,640,600 34 2,204,970 46 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Source: DfES, 2003.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

430 c1534-6W; 214570

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Greater London Local education authorities Standards Literacy Numeracy

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk