Numeracy for Life Committee
16 July 2026
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Numeracy for Life Committee House of Lords
00:03 - 00:31
Speaker 4
We're very pleased to welcome the Minister today who oversees this area, so thank you so much for coming in to see us. And we've got a lot to talk about. I know we've got an hour and you have to go off to somewhere else. So I think without further ado, we'll get stuck in unless there's any preliminary statement you'd like to make just to set the scene, but I think you're aware of what we're trying to get to the bottom of here.
00:31 - 00:40
Speaker 1
No, the only thing I would say, Chair, is thanks for moving the time of the meeting so that I can then go and do the debate later on this or earlier on this afternoon. But thank you for that.
00:40 - 01:21
Speaker 6
Good. Well, I shall let's get the questions off and running and I think am I going to do the first question? Yes, okay. So I think, I mean, I've written this question because I think for me it sort of sets the tone really in where the government wants to go on this area, which is, you know, do you see this as an important area in the overall education and both of young people and of our working and older population? And what where do you think it fits into the wider skills and economic growth agenda?
01:21 - 02:45
Speaker 1
Well, the answer, Chair, is yes, absolutely, I do. And that's because numeracy skills are crucial both for individuals in terms of their ability to live a full life, their ability to be able to get into work because it's clear that employers recognize the contribution that numeracy skills play to what they need to see from their workforce. And because of that, we realize we know that at a national level, numeracy supports productivity and therefore it supports economic growth. So for all of those reasons, it's really important that we develop numeracy skills, frankly, from the very earliest stages of children's lives through the school system, into post-16 education and then throughout adulthood as well in terms of opportunities. And of course, our key objective in the system, if you like, the sort of signal that somebody has the level of skills necessary to be able to access work and to get those benefits in their life is to have achieved a level 2 at GCSE standard maths.
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