| Title | Working age people with severe literacy and numeracy problems. |
Associated Targets | 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 an 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 towards the end of 2009. It is envisaged that the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) will be used for future updates on adult literacy and numeracy levels in Scotland. PIAAC will offer the most up-to-date and internationally comparable assessment tool for adult literacy and numeracy. At present, we are in discussions with the OECD and other home nations on participation in PIAAC. 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. |
Proxy for main indicator (Data Source) | A proxy indicator is currently used to update on progress until the results of the ALN survey are available. This proxy uses the Labour Force Survey which is published by the Office for National Statistics. This proxy shows the proportion of working age adults with qualifications of SCQF Level 4 or below. |
Baseline and Past Trends | Data from the ALN survey is currently not available. The first results are expected to be available towards the end of 2009. In terms of the proxy indicator, 15.4% of working age adults had qualifications of SCQF Level 4 or below during the first quarter of 2007 (January-March 2007). |
Methodology for Data Source | The measurement will be based on an estimate of the number of people who display severe literacy and/or numeracy problems based on the 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. The Labour Force Survey, from which the proxy indicator is drawn, is a National Statistics Publication |
Publication of Data | The ALN survey results are expected to be published on the Scottish Government website. |
Methodology for Recent Change Arrow on Scotland | At present it is unclear what the methodology for the recent change arrow will be for the ALN survey. This will be decided once results are available towards the end of 2009. In terms of the current proxy indicator, this evaluation is based on: any difference within +/- 0.7 percentage points of last year's figure suggests that the position is more likely to be maintaining than showing any change. A decrease of 0.7 percentage points or more suggests that the position is improving; whereas an increase of 0.7 percentage points or more suggests the position is worsening |
Future issues or reviews | 1. As stated above, progress on this indicator will be monitored using the ALN survey, which is due to produce data towards the end of 2009. 2. The current proxy indicator is based on the working-age population, defined as males aged 16-64 and females aged 16-59. From May 2010 to May 2020, the state pension age for females will gradually increase from 60 to 65 (to equal that for males). This change to the state pension age will alter the sub-group of the population referred to as 'working-age' and may impact on the measurement of the proxy indicator from 2010 (if it is still being used alongside the ALN survey). |