PRIME Minister Tony Blair is spearheading a campaign to encourage adults in Bolton who struggle with their literacy and numeracy skills to seek help.

More than a quarter of people in Bolton, aged between 16 and 60, have problems with their reading and writing skills with a similar number experiencing difficulties with maths, according to figures released by the Basic Skills Agency.

Now the Government has launched a multi-million pound strategy -- Skills for Success -- which aims to reduce the number of adults who have difficulties with "basic skills" by 750,000 over the next three years.

Launching the campaign, Mr Blair said: "Reading is something most of us take for granted. And because we do, we don't realise how much we depend on this skill -- whether catching up with the news in the Bolton Evening News, helping our children with their homework, or following road signs while driving.

"It's the same with basic maths skills such as checking your change or a bus timetable. So we don't realise how hard life is if you lack these basic skills.

"But that's exactly the problem that more than one in four adults in Bolton have every day."

And according to the Government it is not just the individual who suffers -- employees with poor basic skills cost companies with 50 workers an average of £165,000 a year from bad communication, lost orders or poor quality control.

In Bolton services for adults wanting to improve their basic skills are co-ordinated through Bolton Community Education Service (CES).

CES director of access to education, Nancy Steele is responsible for co-ordinating a range of basic skills provision through 140 different centres across the borough. She said: "We are providing a lot of basic skills tuition but we know we are only scratching the surface. The people we want to target are the people who do not see themselves as learners and the challenge is to make learning basic skills interesting and exciting."

She added: "The figures suggest that a quarter of Bolton's adult population have some difficulties with English and maths skills but this can in varying degrees.

"For example, some people may work in environments where they never need to use English or maths skills and while they may have no problems with day-to-day reading, such as the paper, they may struggle when it comes to tasks such as filling in official forms.

"What we have found is that when people do embark on a learning programme it can increase their confidence and help to boost their potential."

Last year the CES ran a project called Opening Doors directed at encouraging council workers to consider basic skills tuition.

"We asked for volunteers and 30 people went on the course," she said. "We threw them together as a group and did a whole range of activities such as a weekend residential course.

"It helped to make the whole subject more interesting and once people realise the benefits they are glad they signed up for the course."

For more information on basic skills courses in Bolton you can contact the borough's Learning Shop on 01204 333871.