To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children in (a) Colchester constituency and (b) Essex county council area of school leaving age were functionally illiterate in each of the last 10 years. (180362)

The Department does not currently report figures for functional literacy at age 16. We are piloting functional English qualifications at entry level, level 1 and level 2 to be available from 2010 which will provide young people and adults with the essential knowledge, skills and understanding that will enable them to operate confidently, effectively and independently in life and at work. The Government’s current Public Service Agreement target is for 60 per cent. of 16-year-olds to achieve five good GCSE grades (A*- C) or equivalent by 2008. Figures for 2007 published on 9 January show that this target has been met. But we are raising the bar and in future the target for the end of Key Stage 4 will be measured against the proportion of pupils achieving five grades A*-C or equivalent, including GCSE English and mathematics. The 2007 figure for England achieving this standard was 46.7 per cent. compared with 37.0 per cent. in 1998.

The following table shows the proportion of pupils in Colchester constituency and Essex achieving five or more GCSE grades A*-C or equivalent, including English and Mathematics for each year since 1998:

In 2007 60.0 per cent. of pupils in England achieved at least Grade C in GCSE English compared with 53.2 per cent. in 1998. We do not publish disaggregated figures for GCSE subjects at local authority level.