In 1997, a skills task force began a 2-year process of gathering input from English employers and post-16 education and training practitioners and formulating a national skills agenda. The agenda's goals included instilling a culture of lifelong learning in the United Kingdom, better anticipating the evolving skill requirements of employment, and promoting a proper balance between general education, vocational education, and work-based learning. The proposed national skills agenda was designed around the following core components: (1) an action plan for the required improvements in the skills "supply side"; (2) an approach to continuing management of post-16 education and training that shapes both the demand for and supply of skills; and (3) clear, explicit targets for improvements in skill levels, plus measures of performance in managing the match between supply and demand. The task force also identified main skills gaps and shortages, features of a new post-16 education and training system to achieve the national skills agenda; and recommendations for stimulating demand and managing the post-16 education and training system. (Twelve tables/figures are included. The following items are among those appended: skills task force terms of reference; national learning targets for England for 2002; a list of 30 National Skills Task Force publications; and definitions of attainment levels.) (MN)