One in three companies has to provide remedial training for school leavers who have not mastered reading, writing and arithmetic, according to the Confederation of British Industry.

A CBI survey of 500 companies showed that 37 per cent were not satisfied with the numeracy and literacy standards of 16-year-olds, compared with 34 per cent last year.

"Some people don't want to admit publicly that they have problems and so the lessons are incorporated in ICT training to avoid any stigma," a CBI spokesman said.

The findings are released today, ahead of the GCSE results, which will be published on Thursday.