The National Survey of Adult Basic Skills in Wales (2004)

In 2004 the Basic Skills Agency commissioned BMRB to undertake a survey of the literacy and numeracy skills - in English - of adults aged 16 to 65 in Wales.

Survey findings are based on literacy and numeracy tests undertaken by 2,554 adults and on follow-up spelling and ICT tests taken by 1,503 of the same people.

The report below summarises data from the literacy, numeracy and spelling tests. The ICT data is not yet available and will be posted at a later date.

• Entry Level 1 Literacy 4%, Numeracy 7%
• Entry Level 2 Literacy 3%, Numeracy 20%
• Entry Level 3 Literacy 18%, Numeracy 26%
• Level 1 Literacy 37%, Numeracy 25%
• Level 2 Literacy 38%, Numeracy 22%

The target level of achievement for the National Basic Skills Strategy is Level 1. This survey indicates that in Wales:

• the number of adults with literacy skills below Level 1 is 450,000 [25%]
• the number of adults with numeracy skills below Level 1 is 980,000 [53%].

Benchmark Information on the scale of need in different areas of Wales (2001)
This is a 7MB file and could take up to 30 minutes to download.