Hilary Steedman finds that the provision of apprenticeships in the UK lags behind other countries

What institutions and policies are needed to sustain UK economic growth in the dynamic world economy of the twentyfirst century? After years of inadequate investment in skills, infrastructure and innovation, there are longstanding structural weaknesses in the economy, all rooted in a failure to...

England's most widely used indicator of young people's education and labour market status is the NEET category - 'not in education, employment or training'. Making comparisons with how France and Germany measure school leavers' progression and achievement, Hilary Steedman argues that NEET is no...

The article uses house prices to measure the peace dividend in Northern Ireland - and draws lessons for other parts of the world that have endured long conflicts.

Making video clips of a song unavailable on YouTube has no effect on its sales on iTunes; but album sales suffer when video clips of a song from it are made unavailable on YouTube. These findings of a study by Tobias Kretschmer and Christian Peukert suggest that we need not worry too much about...

Do "Anglo-Saxon" management practices generate higher productivity only at the expense of lousy work-life balance (WLB) for workers? Many critics of "neo-libéralisme sauvage" have argued that increased competition from globalisation is damaging employees' quality of life. Others have argued the...

In spite of progress in improving skills levels over the past decade, Britain still lags far behind many of its main competitors in key areas. Andy Green and Hilary Steedman report on the results of work carried out at the CEP as part of the Skills Audit. Governments increasingly access the...

Referring to issues raised by recent reforms and future expansion of apprenticeship, this report reveals the consequences serious skills shortages have on the economy as a whole. It calls for radical improvements to the provision of apprenticeship training in Britain in order to close the skills...

This Annex contains the technical work which underpins Into the 21st Century. It describes in detail the assessment procedures and qualifications offered in France, Germany, Singapore and USA compared to the UK.

Forward by Sir Roy Gardner (Chairman, Compass Group plc; Chairman, Apprenticeship Ambassadors Network) August 2010: I am pleased to commend this report, commissioned by the Apprenticeship Ambassadors Network, of which I am Chairman. The Network is a group of senior business leaders committed to...