The Scottish Government

Title

Working age people with severe literacy and numeracy problems.

National Indicator/Target

Reduction in working age people with severe literacy and numeracy problems.

Brief Description

This indicator will measure the proportion of people who are assessed as having literacy and/or numeracy problems.

Strategic Objective(s) to Which Indicator Relates

This indicator informs progress in relation to the following Strategic Objectives:

Smarter - Fewer people with literacy and/or numeracy problems will lead to a smarter and potentially more confident working age population.

Wealthier and Fairer - Improving individuals literacy and numeracy problems will increase the employability skills of those individuals both in and out of work. Poor literacy skills can also be a barrier to accessing services and opportunities and so addressing this can help make society Fairer.

More Detailed Definitions

Definitions of Keywords

The exact definition of the indicator has not been finalised as the survey is still in development.

The main part of the survey will take the form of a computer aided assessment of participants literacy and numeracy skills. An appropriate level of what is considered severe literacy and numeracy problems will then be agreed upon.

The ALN strategy currently works with adults who are at SCQF level 4 or below.The population of interest is people of working age. This is defined as males aged 16-64 and females aged 16-59. It is recognised that people who are above working age will have issues around literacy and numeracy which also need to be addressed however to maximise the link between the indicator and the Government's strategic outcomes this particular indicator should focus on the working age population.

Evidence Source

The source for this indicator will be the Scottish Adult Literacy and Numeracy ( ALN) survey. This survey is currently in development. The first results of this survey are expected in Mid 2009. It is expected that this survey (or a more targeted equivalent) will be repeated every two or three years.

This survey has been designed to provide a headline indicator as well as considerable information on the barriers that ALN issues create for individuals and effective interventions.

Baseline and Past Trends

Data are currently not available. The first results from the Scottish ALN survey are expected to be available in mid 2009. The most recent data is based on a 1996 survey which suggested around 800,000 adults in Scotland had ALN issues.

Methodology

The measurement will be based on a the estimate of the number of people who display severe literacy and/or numeracy problems based on the computer aided assessment carried out.

At present it is unclear what the margin of error around this survey estimate will be. However the sample size has been developed to maximise the accuracy of the headline estimate and to allow more detailed analysis.

Data Ownership and Quality Assurance

As the source is currently under development it does not have National Statistics status. It is likely that National Statistics status will be sought as the data source develops.

Publication of Data

The data are expected to be published on the Scottish Government website.