UKCES

This technical report accompanies the main Ambition 2020 report. The technical report presents the approach the UK Commission for Employment and Skills took in 2009 to forecasting progress towards making the UK a world leader in employment and skills by 2020, and the data considerations involved.

This summary of Ambition 2020 highlights the key findings of the main report. It then goes further to outline the Commission's view of the actions that are required for the employment and skills system to respond to our current difficult economic conditions and to lay the foundations for recovery.

Launched on 1 April 2008, the UK Commission for Employment and Skills is a key recommendation in Lord Leitch's 2006 review Prosperity for All in the Global Economy: World Class Skills.

The journey towards our goal of being a 'top eight' country for employment, skills and productivity, with increasing social cohesion, will be an exciting one as we continue to make positive changes to the prospects, opportunities and performance of the UK workforce.

This document is intended to accompany The Employability Challenge, which is based on the contributions of just over 200 organisations active in developing the employability skills of individuals. Twenty of these organisations participated in case studies, which are featured on the following pages and drawn on heavily in The Employability Challenge.

The UK Commission believes that a central part of what all publicly-funded training should do is to develop the ability to use knowledge and skills in the workplace effectively. Many learning providers already do help learners develop employability skills. Many, however either neglect to teach employability skills or, for funding or capacity reasons, find it difficult to develop them.