Lockhart SP: Speech to the National Literacy Trust
Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 2:25 pm
Amelia Lockhart MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Business, Transport and Social Mobility, gave a speech to the National Literacy Trust on the Government's policy to adult literacy.*
Thank you, ladies and gentleman, for that welcome.
It is a great privilege to be here, hearing more about the work of the National Literacy Trust and addressing you all. On behalf of the Government, I want to thank all of you for all the work you do to promote literacy skills and make it a priority for policymakers like myself.
Right from the start, I want to make one thing clear: improving the literacy skills of our country will be a personal priority as Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Business, Transport, and Social Mobility. Prior to my becoming Deputy Prime Minister, I wrote - with the Foreign Secretary - about how what we do on this issue will determine our country’s future, something I passionately believe to be true. And I seek to deliver on this issue.
Indeed, the Labour Party is intertwined with the importance of literacy. If you look at the first leaders of my Party, you will see they were mainly autodidacts - they taught themselves with a love of learning and a love of literature. They recognised how being literate was vital for social mobility and for ensuring the next generation does better than the last.
Despite enormous progress made on education in the last 50 years, we still have a stubborn and enormous challenge when it comes to literacy: a challenge that campaigners at the start of the last century would still recognise. Around 7 million people - roughly 20% of adults - lack functional literacy skills or, as the Moser Report defines it, “the ability to read, write and speak in English ... at a level necessary to function at work and in society". As a percentage of the population, this is nearly twice as high as Germany and a third as Canada. This is a statistic that should shock our nation to the core, and keep us awake at night: we cannot rest easy when so many of our fellow citizens lack the literacy skills to fully participate in our society and the economy.
The vast majority of these adults left school long ago, and have been left abandoned by educational institutions who could have helped them gain these necessary skills. Our nation cannot truly succeed if such a large group of individuals are totally excluded through a lack of skills.
Collectively, our economy suffers when our workforce lacks basic skills required to enable our businesses to be competitive in the global marketplace. Our nation’s relative poor productivity stems, in part, because of our high rate of illiteracy. There is clear evidence that it costs our businesses directly, as employees with poor basic skills cost an average company employing over 50 employees £165,000 every year. For our economy and society as a whole, illiteracy costs us £10 billion a year.
This also matters on a personal and family level: an individual lacking basic skills - literacy and numeracy - are up to five times more likely to be unemployed or out of the labour market and four times more likely to be long-term unemployed. They are also more likely to live in a household where both parents are not in paid employment, and less likely to own their own home. A study by the Institute of Employment Studies found that almost every job now requires some competence in basic skills, especially literacy. The Institute found that if someone lacks ‘Entry Level’ basic skills, 49 out of every 50 jobs are closed to them - the vast majority of which are far from the top of the labour market.
And poor basic literacy skills are likely to be intergenerational: an individual is more likely to have children that struggle with basic skills. It is sadly obvious that parents who lack basic skills are often unable to give their child the best start in life when it comes to literacy, despite their very best efforts. It acts as a block on social mobility for many children from disadvantaged backgrounds. What we do to promote adult skills and ensure fewer adults lack literacy will have consequences for future generations and our country’s future prospects. That is why this issue is so important for the entire society - there is a strong moral case - as well as a strong economic case - for action. It is vital that we keep reiterating the costs of inaction on this issue, even when we know it to be obvious.
The Government recognises, informed by the work of the Moser Report, as to what we have to focus on. Our country as a whole is doing well, although not quite good enough, on encouraging adults to improve basic skills: around 250,000 adults take courses at educational institutions. But most learners do not access intensive skills training, the type that delivers the best results and improves skills most successfully. Indeed, most learners are taught just two to four hours a week - totally inadequate, and results in just a third achieving their learning goals. This points to a real need to deliver more intensive courses and support people to access them, and we can only do this with real partnership around a big ambition.
I have been clear in the past about how the cause of improving literacy skills must be focused on the outcomes we want - and then the policy flows from that. So this is the outcome we want: by 2010, the number of adults without basic literacy skills will have halved - and be continuing on a downwards path every year. The progress we are making towards this target will be the metric by which you can judge me, and this Government.
So how will we tackle the barriers, make progress on improving the skills of our workforce, and deliver on this outcome? Firstly, we need to embed this ambition across government and ensure all departments are doing all they can to improve adult literacy.
The Government will be establishing a National Adult Literacy Taskforce, chaired by myself. It will not only have senior representation from Government Departments, but draw outside and independent members including from local government, business, education organisations, trade unions, and community groups. Its purpose will be to oversee the implementation of our comprehensive approach, which recognises that to deliver on the task we have set ourselves, every effort must be undertaken.
Today I want to set out a few components of this comprehensive approach. I will be setting out the full details in Parliament shortly.
Firstly, to deliver on our manifesto commitment of every job seeker getting a basic skills test to identify if they need support, we will invest in training for personal advisors in job centres. They will be able to identify basic skills need when job seekers are in touch, and encourage the take-up of basic skills opportunities where this is necessary.
Secondly, to increase the provision of intensive basic literacy training provision, the Government will seek to work with businesses, especially SMEs who stand to benefit the most from a better skilled workforce. In the next Budget, the Government will provide seed funding to businesses to set up relevant basic skill programmes in the workplace or at local institutions, such as a college or adult education centre.
Thirdly, to increase the diversity and outreach of intensive basic literacy training provision, the Government will seek to partner with community organisations and local government to create new opportunities to access opportunities outside of colleges or the workplace. For many, a college will be an intimidating place or somewhere they have no interest in being, so by providing training outside of these locations, we will ensure they can access it. Indeed, unless we tap into community institutions such as libraries, Sure Start, sports centres - and organisations like yourself - the Government will never meet its goal. It is vital, therefore, the Government provides support to community organisations to develop basic skills training that is accessible by people who wouldn’t access current provision.
Fourthly, the Government recognises that one of the biggest barriers to employees accessing these intensive basic skills courses is the inability of employers to afford allowing them to attend. It can be difficult, especially for SMEs to afford the cover while providing paid leave to the employee to attend the training. Without paid leave, many cannot afford to attend - relying instead on just a few hours of training a week. To tackle this, the Government will reimburse employers to release their employees to attend an accredited intensive basic skills training course that includes both literacy and numeracy. This should allow thousands of adults the chance to improve their skills, with employers also benefitting.
Together, these components bring together the country around a shared ambition of improving our skills and ensuring no one is left behind through a lack of literacy. It brings together businesses, trade unions, and community organisations to play their role because we can’t do it without them. It ensures there are the best possible opportunities for training, and the financial support for businesses to encourage their employees to take it. And crucially, it delivers to many people the chance of a better and more prosperous future.
In her first speech on the steps of Number 10, the Prime Minister spoke of her ambition for Britain to “reclaim its place as the best place to live, the best place to grow up in, the best place to work, and the best place to grow old in.” It is an ambition that the Department for Business, Transport and Social Mobility is wholeheartedly behind - and by improving adult literacy skills, we can start to deliver on it.
Thank you.
*Permission from Barclay.
Thank you, ladies and gentleman, for that welcome.
It is a great privilege to be here, hearing more about the work of the National Literacy Trust and addressing you all. On behalf of the Government, I want to thank all of you for all the work you do to promote literacy skills and make it a priority for policymakers like myself.
Right from the start, I want to make one thing clear: improving the literacy skills of our country will be a personal priority as Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Business, Transport, and Social Mobility. Prior to my becoming Deputy Prime Minister, I wrote - with the Foreign Secretary - about how what we do on this issue will determine our country’s future, something I passionately believe to be true. And I seek to deliver on this issue.
Indeed, the Labour Party is intertwined with the importance of literacy. If you look at the first leaders of my Party, you will see they were mainly autodidacts - they taught themselves with a love of learning and a love of literature. They recognised how being literate was vital for social mobility and for ensuring the next generation does better than the last.
Despite enormous progress made on education in the last 50 years, we still have a stubborn and enormous challenge when it comes to literacy: a challenge that campaigners at the start of the last century would still recognise. Around 7 million people - roughly 20% of adults - lack functional literacy skills or, as the Moser Report defines it, “the ability to read, write and speak in English ... at a level necessary to function at work and in society". As a percentage of the population, this is nearly twice as high as Germany and a third as Canada. This is a statistic that should shock our nation to the core, and keep us awake at night: we cannot rest easy when so many of our fellow citizens lack the literacy skills to fully participate in our society and the economy.
The vast majority of these adults left school long ago, and have been left abandoned by educational institutions who could have helped them gain these necessary skills. Our nation cannot truly succeed if such a large group of individuals are totally excluded through a lack of skills.
Collectively, our economy suffers when our workforce lacks basic skills required to enable our businesses to be competitive in the global marketplace. Our nation’s relative poor productivity stems, in part, because of our high rate of illiteracy. There is clear evidence that it costs our businesses directly, as employees with poor basic skills cost an average company employing over 50 employees £165,000 every year. For our economy and society as a whole, illiteracy costs us £10 billion a year.
This also matters on a personal and family level: an individual lacking basic skills - literacy and numeracy - are up to five times more likely to be unemployed or out of the labour market and four times more likely to be long-term unemployed. They are also more likely to live in a household where both parents are not in paid employment, and less likely to own their own home. A study by the Institute of Employment Studies found that almost every job now requires some competence in basic skills, especially literacy. The Institute found that if someone lacks ‘Entry Level’ basic skills, 49 out of every 50 jobs are closed to them - the vast majority of which are far from the top of the labour market.
And poor basic literacy skills are likely to be intergenerational: an individual is more likely to have children that struggle with basic skills. It is sadly obvious that parents who lack basic skills are often unable to give their child the best start in life when it comes to literacy, despite their very best efforts. It acts as a block on social mobility for many children from disadvantaged backgrounds. What we do to promote adult skills and ensure fewer adults lack literacy will have consequences for future generations and our country’s future prospects. That is why this issue is so important for the entire society - there is a strong moral case - as well as a strong economic case - for action. It is vital that we keep reiterating the costs of inaction on this issue, even when we know it to be obvious.
The Government recognises, informed by the work of the Moser Report, as to what we have to focus on. Our country as a whole is doing well, although not quite good enough, on encouraging adults to improve basic skills: around 250,000 adults take courses at educational institutions. But most learners do not access intensive skills training, the type that delivers the best results and improves skills most successfully. Indeed, most learners are taught just two to four hours a week - totally inadequate, and results in just a third achieving their learning goals. This points to a real need to deliver more intensive courses and support people to access them, and we can only do this with real partnership around a big ambition.
I have been clear in the past about how the cause of improving literacy skills must be focused on the outcomes we want - and then the policy flows from that. So this is the outcome we want: by 2010, the number of adults without basic literacy skills will have halved - and be continuing on a downwards path every year. The progress we are making towards this target will be the metric by which you can judge me, and this Government.
So how will we tackle the barriers, make progress on improving the skills of our workforce, and deliver on this outcome? Firstly, we need to embed this ambition across government and ensure all departments are doing all they can to improve adult literacy.
The Government will be establishing a National Adult Literacy Taskforce, chaired by myself. It will not only have senior representation from Government Departments, but draw outside and independent members including from local government, business, education organisations, trade unions, and community groups. Its purpose will be to oversee the implementation of our comprehensive approach, which recognises that to deliver on the task we have set ourselves, every effort must be undertaken.
Today I want to set out a few components of this comprehensive approach. I will be setting out the full details in Parliament shortly.
Firstly, to deliver on our manifesto commitment of every job seeker getting a basic skills test to identify if they need support, we will invest in training for personal advisors in job centres. They will be able to identify basic skills need when job seekers are in touch, and encourage the take-up of basic skills opportunities where this is necessary.
Secondly, to increase the provision of intensive basic literacy training provision, the Government will seek to work with businesses, especially SMEs who stand to benefit the most from a better skilled workforce. In the next Budget, the Government will provide seed funding to businesses to set up relevant basic skill programmes in the workplace or at local institutions, such as a college or adult education centre.
Thirdly, to increase the diversity and outreach of intensive basic literacy training provision, the Government will seek to partner with community organisations and local government to create new opportunities to access opportunities outside of colleges or the workplace. For many, a college will be an intimidating place or somewhere they have no interest in being, so by providing training outside of these locations, we will ensure they can access it. Indeed, unless we tap into community institutions such as libraries, Sure Start, sports centres - and organisations like yourself - the Government will never meet its goal. It is vital, therefore, the Government provides support to community organisations to develop basic skills training that is accessible by people who wouldn’t access current provision.
Fourthly, the Government recognises that one of the biggest barriers to employees accessing these intensive basic skills courses is the inability of employers to afford allowing them to attend. It can be difficult, especially for SMEs to afford the cover while providing paid leave to the employee to attend the training. Without paid leave, many cannot afford to attend - relying instead on just a few hours of training a week. To tackle this, the Government will reimburse employers to release their employees to attend an accredited intensive basic skills training course that includes both literacy and numeracy. This should allow thousands of adults the chance to improve their skills, with employers also benefitting.
Together, these components bring together the country around a shared ambition of improving our skills and ensuring no one is left behind through a lack of literacy. It brings together businesses, trade unions, and community organisations to play their role because we can’t do it without them. It ensures there are the best possible opportunities for training, and the financial support for businesses to encourage their employees to take it. And crucially, it delivers to many people the chance of a better and more prosperous future.
In her first speech on the steps of Number 10, the Prime Minister spoke of her ambition for Britain to “reclaim its place as the best place to live, the best place to grow up in, the best place to work, and the best place to grow old in.” It is an ambition that the Department for Business, Transport and Social Mobility is wholeheartedly behind - and by improving adult literacy skills, we can start to deliver on it.
Thank you.
*Permission from Barclay.