Home > News > February 2007 > 21 February 2007

Skills minister announces interim skills target reached

Skills minister Phil Hope has announced that over 1.5 million people have gained basic skills qualifications through the Government's Skills for Life strategy, hitting a key target set back in 2001.

Skills for Life provides literacy, language and numeracy tuition for adults in England who have skills below Level 2 (broadly equivalent to a GCSE at grades A* - C.)

The government says that since the launch of the strategy in 2001, 4.7 million adults have taken up 10.5 million Skills for Life learning opportunities with 1,619 000 learners achieving their first Skills for Life qualification in literacy, language or numeracy.

The government set a target to improve the skills of 2.25 million adults by 2010, with an interim target of 1.5 million by 2007, measured by the number of learners achieving their first national Skills for Life qualification in literacy, language or numeracy.

Phil Hope, said: "Meeting one of our major skills targets is fantastic news and I would like to congratulate all the learners and staff across the country whose hard work has made this possible. Over 1.6 million adults have improved their skills and transformed their lives, taking vital steps towards better employability and social inclusion.

"The recent Leitch Report on skills highlighted how good literacy and numeracy skills are essential for life and work. Improving your skills can help you earn more and will enable you to progress to further learning, as well as making you more confident and more able at home. Any adults wanting to improve their skills should call our free helpline on 0800 66 0800 and find out about free courses in their local area."

"Our Skills for Life strategy has been a huge success since it was launched in 2001. We introduced the first ever national learning infrastructure for adult skills, including national curricula and standards for literacy, language and numeracy.

"Our Get On campaign - featuring the well-known Gremlin characters - is one of the most well-known Government campaigns ever produced. It has raised awareness of the basic skills issue, tackled the stigma around admitting problems in literacy and numeracy and encouraged thousands of adults to improve their skills. We continue to work with our partners in the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK), and the Quality Improvement Agency (QIA) to ensure that Skills for Life provision is accessible, of high quality and delivered by a fully professional workforce."

Skills for Life courses are funded by the Learning and Skills Council. Chief Executive of the LSC, Mark Haysom, said: "This is a significant milestone for the Government, the LSC and all our partners, and a credit to all 1.6 million learners. We should all be rightly proud that our collective efforts to meet this initial target milestone have paid dividends. It is now vital that this momentum continues so we stay on track to achieve the 2010 target.

"This is really good news for all those adults who now have the skills to do their job better and the real chance to progress and improve their lives and their career chances."

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