It is woeful that in the land of Shakespeare and Newton some 26 million adults have literacy and numeracy skills below the equivalent of a good GCSE - the minimum level deemed necessary by the Department for Skills and Education to participate fully in the modern economy.
Through Skills for Life the department has a target to help 2.25 million people obtain qualifications by 2010, with a milestone of 750,000 by 2004.
The department has done well to improve the framework for literacy and numeracy teaching and to develop standardised qualifications that employers can recognise. This year's milestone for people with new qualifications has been met.
This is really just a beginning though and meeting the department's own targets - let alone addressing the overall need - will be an uphill struggle.
For example, the shortage of trained teachers limits capacity and there is still a great deal of variation in the quality of training. Serious issues like the role of charities, voluntary organisations, and employers need to be better addressed.
The targets of Skills for Life may be modest in the overall picture but the department will need to be vigilant in order to meet them.
