Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent)
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Question 408: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the initiatives and schemes within her Department to tackle adult literacy; the estimated number of persons in each county with literacy problems; the grants available to community groups and community development projects; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37610/05]

Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent)
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Question 418: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the initiatives and schemes within her Department to tackle adult literacy; the estimated number of persons in each county with literacy problems; the grants available to community groups and community development projects; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37608/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 408 and 418 together.

My Department funds the provision of adult literacy and community education, through its annual adult literacy and community education, ALCES, grant to the vocational education committees, VECs. These programmes are delivered locally by the VECs.

The national development plan committed €93.5 million to the service in the period 2000-06. While figures for the estimated number of persons in each county with literacy problems are not available, the national development plan set a target of providing adult literacy supports to 113,000 people in the 2000-06 period. This target will be met.

Funding for adult literacy has been increased incrementally in recent years from just under €1 million in 1997 to over €22 million this year. Client numbers rose in the same period from 5,000 in 1997 to over 33,000 in 2004. With the increase in funds, a number of initiatives were put in place.

Referral networks with FÁS, local employment services, local development partnerships, health centres, welfare and community groups, playgroups, schools and school parent committees, libraries etc. are being expanded and strengthened. Family literacy groups, involving adults and their children, are running successfully. Staff development programmes are under way on a modular in-service basis for tutors and literacy organisers and a quality framework for the adult literacy service has been developed and published.

FÁS and VEC community employment joint literacy programmes are being expanded to all regions. These programmes enable participants on FÁS-funded community employment to be released half-time from their work experience programme to avail of intensive literacy tuition by the vocational education committees. A national referral directory on adult literacy services has been published and disseminated showing where services are located, what options are offered and the contact points and phone numbers.

My Department commissioned a number of TV series in literacy awareness and tuition for adults. They were broadcast by RTE One in the years 2000 to 2005. Each series was supplemented by a national freefone helpline provided by the National Adult Literacy Agency and learner workbooks and resource packs. Videos of the series were sent free to literacy schemes, public libraries, training centres and video outlets.

A number of tutors have been trained to provide literacy training in the workplace. The programme is available to local authority outdoor staff nationwide. There are also successful workplace literacy programmes in two hospitals and a trade union. In 2005, FÁS was allocated €2 million for workplace literacy measures.

An assessment framework for the adult literacy service has been developed in order to bring national consistency and objective standards into the initial diagnosis of a learner's starting points and subsequent progress. A literacy service through Irish has been developed for Gaeltacht areas.

The funding provided by my Department for community education under ALCES amounts to nearly €9 million in 2005. In addition, funding of just over €1 million has been allocated this year under the community strand element of the back-to-education initiative.

Community education refers to education and learning, generally outside the formal education sector, with the aims of enhancing learning, empowerment, and contributing to civic society. It is firmly community-based, with local groups taking responsibility for and playing a key role in organising courses, deciding on programme content and recruiting tutors. The local distribution of funds provided by my Department for community education is undertaken by the VECs.