Catalogue description Records of the Adult Literacy Resource Agency and successors

The Adult Literacy Resource Agency was established in January 1975 under the aegis of the National Institute of Adult Education (NIAE) as a result of consultation between the Department of Education and Science and the Scottish Education Department, the NIAE and the Scottish Institute of Adult Education. Its function was to help local education authorities and voluntary organisations tackle the problem of adult illiteracy, and to administer a government grant provided for this purpose. Following an interim report of the Management Committee in September 1975, the government undertook to continue funding for another two years, and to establish a separate agency for Scotland.

The Adult Literacy Resource Agency was succeeded by the Adult Literacy Unit, established on 1 April 1978 for a two year period, with limited finance to develop, within the general education in England and Wales, provision for adult literacy. It was not so much a grant-giving body as a centre for co-ordinating projects and for promoting new developments.

It was succeeded in turn by the Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit (ALBSU), still an agency of the National Institute of Adult Education, which was established by the Department of Education and Science and the Welsh Office on 1 April 1980 to act as a central focus for adult literacy and related basic skills work in England and Wales. It was concerned with numeracy as well as literacy and it also helped those who had English as a second language. It had a small permanent staff, a management committee with representatives from central and local government and specialist organisations, and a consultative committee. Initially created for a three year period, it was later decided by the Secretary of State that the ALBSU's period of operation should thereafter continue on the basis of a three year rolling programme.

In 1995 it was decided that ALBSU's remit should be extended to allow it to support the development of effective programmes of basic skills learning for children and young people. At this point, it changed its name to the Basic Skills Agency.

All three of these agencies were established as autonomous units of the National Institute of Adult Education (NIAE). Initially this was because it saved having to set up a new agency or Non-Department Public Body. Thus, none of these units had a separate legal status. In 1990 a review of the legal status of ALBSU was undertaken. Largely this was because of lack of clarity about the status of ALBSU, ultimate responsibility and the accountability of the Chairman. The Secretary of State decided that ALBSU should have a specific and separate legal status and the Agency was established as a Company Limited by Guarantee and a Registered Charity in 1991.