Learning vital during recession Monday, January 19, 2009 - 16:32

NIACE welcomes select committee report

NIACE believes re-skilling is just as important as up-skilling, as it welcomes the report Re-skilling for recovery: after Leitch, implementing skills and training policies published on Friday 16 January 2009, by the Innovation, Universities, Skills and Science Select Committee.

The Innovation, Universities, Skills and Science Select Committee's report key recommendations that NIACE are particularly supportive of include:

• the broadening of the Leitch targets to include re-skilling;
• the need for stability in training institutions and programmes;
• strengthening adult apprenticeships;
• placing funding in the hands of individual learners; and
• finding effective solutions to include lifelong learning within the Government's policies.

Alastair Thomson, Senior Policy Officer at NIACE, said

Providing learning opportunities for adults is essential if we are to recover from the recession with a competitive and cohesive society.
The Committee's proposals on re-skilling and a flexible funding regime are critical.
As the report argues the system should satisfy individuals' needs rather than target demands. We fully endorse the Committee's findings and congratulate them for a thorough and balanced analysis."