Ambition skills: toward a lifelong learning century

This is the final report of our Ambition Skills programme, supported by City & Guilds and NOCN Group. It finds that achieving world-class skills could boost the economy by £22 billion and save taxpayers £8 billion per year and sets out a vision for a lifelong learning century, where more people take part in learning of all kinds and throughout their lives.

Previous reports from the programme have shown how the UK is lagging other countries, particularly on intermediate skills, and that there are persistent inequalities in skills levels between geographic areas and demographic groups.

To turn this around, the report argues, we must reverse the £1 billion cut to Government investment in skills in England since 2010 and the 26% fall in employer investment in training since 2005.

The report includes a number of recommendations:

1. Aim for world-class learning and skills
2. Test new community-based ways to increase participation in learning
3. More support with the costs of learning, including new Learner Accounts
4. Make lifelong learning a golden thread across all public services
5. Encourage employers to invest in and use skills
6. Improve support for career change
7. Take an open data, evidence-based approach
8. Expand devolution and work together to simplify