Austin Deasy
Ceist:48 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Education and Science the impact on the unemployment register of illiteracy; and the action he is taking to rectify the situation in conjunction with other relevant Departments. [11836/00]
Written Answers. - Literacy Levels.
An international adult literacy survey conducted in 1995 and published in 1997 provided a profile of the literacy skills of adults aged 16-64. About 25% of the Irish population were found to score at the lowest level, level 1, performing at best tasks which required the reader to locate a simple piece of information in a text with no distracting information, and when the structure of the text assists the task. The survey showed the ratio of unemployed to employed people scoring at the lowest literacy level in Ireland survey was 2:1.
An interdepartmental group has been examining how best the literacy service can cater for the unemployed. It comprises the Departments of Education and Science, Social, Community and Family Affairs, Enterprise, Trade and Employment, FÁS, vocational education committees, the National Adult Literacy Agency and the local employment service. An interim report has been submitted to Government recommending: targets and timescales for an expansion of funding for the adult literacy service. These are being met within the context of the national development plan under which £73.6 million is being provided for adult literacy; an increase in provision of foundation and level 1 programmes under the VTOS element of the back to education initiative to enable progression from basic literacy into ongoing programmes, also in the national development plan; and an expansion of FÁS community employment literacy programmes and increased flexibility to enable a combination and mixing of schemes to enable vocational education committees and FÁS to respond to needs. FÁS has agreed to expand successful pilots in this area to every FÁS region. The work of the Group is continuing.
In addition, funding for adult literacy has increased from a base of £0.85 million in 1997 to £7.825 million in 2000 plus an additional £0.960 million for programme development; referral networks have been established on an area basis, involving key actors such as FÁS, the local employment service, the area partnerships, welfare and health interests, the Garda and probation services, schools, youth services, innovative approaches are expanding such as family literacy groups, involving both adults and their children, a number of open learning centres, literacy for specific groups such as Travellers, special needs, migrant women; a quality framework has been developed and nationally certified inservice programmes for staff are being implemented; and the Department has commissioned the development of a TV series in literacy awareness and tuition for adults. Work is under way in collaboration with RTE and NALA with a view to broadcasting towards the end of the year. The programmes will be accompanied by materials and a free helpline. As a result of these initiatives, the number of clients catered for annually by the literacy service has increased from 5,000 to 13,000.