There is much to welcome in Doug Richard's independent report on the future of apprenticeships. The Richard review offers proposals for redefining and improving the quality of apprenticeships, and for focusing them more on the needs of employers. But will the proposals work, if adopted, and what will be the impact on adults? For this article, the…

It is commonly assumed that company training is one of the first casualties in times of recession. Falling recruitment, pressures to cut costs and a focus on short-term survival force businesses to put training on the backburner. Expecting the worst, the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), the Confederation of British Industry (CBI)…

Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, has said his three priorities in office will be "localism, localism and localism". What does localism mean for local democracy and, with swingeing funding cuts in the offing, what can one do to ensure the relevance of adult learning to the localism agenda is…

Back in November, voters in the North East of England overwhelmingly rejected the move towards an elected regional assembly. The scale of the defeat (three to one) of a Government-backed scheme was a rude awakening for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the range of regional agencies created since 1997. After all, it was felt that the…