Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of adults who have below average functional (a) literacy and (b) numeracy.

The government provides full funding for adults in England to develop the literacy and numeracy skills they need for life and work, and to secure qualifications from entry level up to GCSE.

The Skills for Life Survey, 2011, estimated the literacy, numeracy and ICT knowledge of adults aged 16-64 in England. The estimates of the numbers and percentage of the adult population with different levels for these components for England are in the attached table.