Rejected petition The Spreading Epidemic of Illiteracy.

Illiteracy leads to unemployment, frustration, delinquency and criminality. One in five adults is unable to find a plumber, using Yellow Pages. One-fifth school-leavers are so illiterate they struggle to cope and get a job. Three out of four prisoners do not have the reading and writing skills of an eleven year old. Only 10% of those who can read and get a job re-offend (overall rate 90%). Illiteracy lies at the heart of British workers NOT getting British jobs, of the gang culture and delinquency, of criminality and re-offending and of social immobility. Previous attempts at improving reading in schools and launching adult literacy campaigns have met with minimal success. Parliament is asked to debate the nature and extent of illiteracy in schools and among adults and to consider how best a cross-departmental approach using the resources of the Big Society could make deep and lasting inroads into the problem.