12m workers have the reading age of children

Up to 16 million adults - nearly half the workforce - are holding down jobs despite having the reading and writing skills expected of children leaving primary school. MPs on the Commons Public Accounts Committee claim that a major government scheme costing billions of pounds has done little to improve the quality of adult literacy and numeracy teaching.

The Department for Education is on course to have spent almost £6bn on its Skills for Life scheme by 2010, but its first few years have produced little evidence of improvement in provision in colleges or on-the-job training by employers.

The committee examined progress made improving the literacy, language and numeracy skills of adults in England, expanding learning provision and improving its quality, and targeting adults who need to improve their skills. It looked in depth at the effectiveness of Skills for Life, which was launched in 2001 with a target to improve the skills of 2.25 million adults by 2010.

But it suggests that much higher spending is necessary to deliver real improvements. Although the DfES has spent at least £3.7bn, the committee concluded that was "likely only to mark the start of a long-term programme. Estimated further expenditure of over £2bn could be needed to sustain the strategy until 2010."

The report highlights poor quality of provision and teaching as a major reason for lack of progress. "The quality of provision for adults is still too low. An extensive review of quality and standards by Ofsted and the Adult Learning Inspectorate found widespread weaknesses. People in the greatest need were getting the worst provision, and even in colleges, provision of literacy, language and numeracy was poorer than the provision for other areas of learning. In the first three years of the strategy, inspections have shown little evidence of improvement."

The skills minister, Phil Hope, said: "Tackling the huge legacy of poor adult literacy and numeracy skills is a key priority for this government. Poor skills may cost the country as much as £10bn a year and our continuing investment reflects this. Already, 3.7 million adults have taken the first step to engaging in learning, with over 1 million of these going on to achieve first qualifications.

The full Public Accounts Committee report Skills for Life: improving adult literacy and numeracy is available at- www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506

(Guardian, 24 January 2006)