Clause 1
Education and Skills Bill
10:15 am
Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire, Conservative)
I simply do not think that to have a population of adults with an average reading age of 11 is right. The Minister’s target is functional literacy and numeracy, and 40,000 people a year do not have that when they leave school. I am all in favour of having a ladder of skills, and I do not think that grade A to C should be unattainable. However, for that group, what would it be like, having done 10 to 12 years in school, found it a desperate experience and been deeply damaged by it, to be told, “You’ve got to do another two years.”?