5.7 Many LEAs provide imaginative and high quality adult education, often in partnership with other parts of local government , colleges or voluntary organisations. Others do not. LEAs are required to review the quality of adult education in institutions which they maintain or assist. Eight in ten LEAs use the self-assessment techniques recommended by t he Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED): we expect all LEAs to do so. We will consult FEFC and OFSTED about ways of building on their current informal co-operation and develop proposals for joint work and some experimental work next year.

5.8 We will ask the Basic Skills Agency, the FEFC Inspectorate and OFSTED to work together and with others such as the Training Inspectorate to improve literacy and numeracy provision. This will include the use of the Basic Skills Agency’s Quality Mark, and the use of benchmarks, targets and performance indicators, as well as reviewing standards of teaching and the use of materials.