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Adult Literacy/Numeracy
Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research his Department has commissioned regarding (a) adult literacy and (b) adult numeracy in England. [197811]
Mr. Ivan Lewis:
The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has conducted a range of research on adult literacy and numeracy in England. This includes its own in-house research and analysis activities, and also a
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continuous programme of research led by the DfES funded National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy (NRDC).
Research undertaken by the Department has included "The Skills for Life Survey: A national needs and impact survey of literacy, numeracy and ICT skills" (DfES, October 2003). This research provides an up-to-date assessment of the level of basic skills need for literacy, numeracy and ICT among adults aged 16–65 years old in England. A copy of this survey has been placed in the House of Commons Library.
In addition the Department is currently undertaking a longitudinal panel survey of adult basic skills learners, tracking a sample of learners and non-learners with a view to identifying the returns to basic skills learning (early findings from this study will be published in 2005). The Department has also conducted evaluations of the literacy and numeracy pathfinders that were established to test the new Skills for Life learning infrastructure. This included a survey of learners who had received training in the pathfinder areas to explore their experiences of literacy and numeracy learning. More details of DfES research are available through our website: www.dfes.gov.uk/research.
The DfES also collects regular information on the number of basic skills qualifications that are achieved and count towards the Skills for Life PSA targets. We are confident that we are on track to achieve the 2004 target of 750,000 learner achievements.
Finally, the DfES funded NRDC was created in spring 2002 to lead a continuous programme of research and development activities to ensure that implementation and future development of the Skills for Life Strategy are based firmly on evidence. The NRDC have conducted a range of research on literacy and numeracy and a series of research reports are available from their website: www.nrdc.org.uk.
Crossrail
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will reply to the e-mail correspondence from the Romford Crossrail Action Group regarding the impact of the proposed Crossrail depot on local schools. [197490]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: Mr. Diebelius, a member of the Crossrail Action Group, sent me an e-mail on 18 October about the impact of the proposed Crossrail depot on Westlands Playing Fields in Romford. I replied to Mr. Diebelius in a letter dated 1 November. We have no record of any other correspondence from the Crossrail Action Group.
EU Committees
Angus Robertson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many times during the Greek presidency of the EU the Advisory Committee on the training of (a) midwives, (b) dental practitioners and (c) chemists met; when and where these meetings took place; which UK Government expert was present at each meeting; what (i) technical and (ii) financial issues were raised by the UK Government expert at each meeting; what recommendations each Committee produced during that period; what actions were (A) proposed and
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(B) taken by (1) the EU and (2) the UK Government as a result of each Committee's recommendations; and if he will make a statement. [196099]
Mr. Hutton: I have been asked to reply.
The advisory committees on midwifery, medical, dental, nursing and pharmaceutical training were set up to advise the European Commission and member states on matters relating to the training of workers whose professions come under sectoral directives guaranteeing free movement and automatic recognition of qualifications.
The advisory committees did not meet during the Greek presidency, have not met since and are unlikely to do so again.
The advisory committees were composed of representatives from each member state drawn from the relevant profession, the education establishments and the competent authority. Government officials did not attend.
Latchmere House
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the reason was for Reed Education losing the contract to provide education services at HM Prison Latchmere House; and whether there are plans to remove their contract to provide education at (a) HM Prison Blakenhurst and (b) HM Prison Brixton. [193994]
Paul Goggins: I have been asked to reply.
Reed Education provided the education services at HMP Latchmere House from 1 July 2003 to 31 August 2004 as a variation to their education contract at HMP Brixton.
When Reed were offered an extension to the Latchmere House contract for the period 1 September 2004 to 30 June 2005 agreement on prices could not be reached and the contract was ended on 30 September 2004. This was in line with Reed's own condition that 30 days notice should be given if prices could not be agreed.
There are no plans to terminate the contracts for Blakenhurst or Brixton prisons.
Learndirect
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many venues responsible for the delivery of Learndirect have closed in (a) England and (b) each county in each month in the past year; and if he will make a statement. [196976]
Mr. Miliband: 422 Learndirect centres closed in England between November 2003 and November 2004. Over the same period 485 new centres have opened. The following table shows closures by individual county.
Learndirect makes an important contribution to the Government's targets of widening participation and meeting employers' skills needs through its use of new technologies and e-learning. Learndirect is successfully attracting 10,000 new learners each week and Ufi is
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responsible for ensuring its Learndirect network of over 2,000 centres is best placed to meet their needs. I fully support its approach of closing centres which
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consistently fail to meet quality standards or attract sufficient learners to be viable and of opening new centres to meet new or changing demand.
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