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- Skills for Life was the national strategy in England for improving adult literacy, language (ESOL) and numeracy skills and was established as part of the wider national Skills Strategy to increase the numbers of young people and adults with adequate skills. The strategy was launched by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, in March 2001. The Skills for Life strategy set out how the Government aimed to reach its Public Service Agreement (PSA) target to improve "the basic skill levels of 2.25 million adults between the launch of Skills for Life in 2001 and 2010, with a milestone of 1.5 million in 2007". This PSA target was part of the wider objective to "tackle the adult skills gaps", by increasing the number of adults with the skills required for employability and progression to higher levels of training. The rationale behind the Skills for Life strategy was thus, firstly, to lift basic skills in the face of the changing nature of the workplace and the increased complexity of traditional jobs and secondly, to make Britain a more equal society and ‘close the gap’ by addressing issues that include area and neighbourhood deprivation, and educational attainment. The Leitch Review, (Prosperity for all in the global economy - world class skills, Dec 2006) commissioned by the Government, indicated the next likely Skills for Life target. The Review recommended that the UK should commit to becoming a world leader in skills by 2020 with a basic skills objective "for 95% of adults to achieve the basic skills of functional literacy and numeracy" by 2020 (a total of 7.4 million adult attainments over the period). (en)
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