Research has found that many UK businesses have serious concerns about the literacy skills of recent school leavers. The Youth Literacy and Employability Commission was a joint venture between the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Literacy and the National Literacy Trust to gather evidence and make recommendations to government on what action is required.
Final report and recommendations
The final report was published on 12 December 2013 and includes a series of recommendations to government, aimed at addressing the strong causal link between low literacy and youth unemployment. These include:
- Increasing the demand from schools for contact with business as an indispensable element in the teaching of literacy skills for the 11 to 14 age group
- Increasing the supply of opportunities for young people to work with employees and develop realistic employment aspirations
- Improving brokerage between the business and education sector