UK: 80% of the workforce needed for the UK economy in 2015 are already in today´s workforce. Future demography shows that there will only be enough young people to fill just one in three of the new and replacement jobs over the next ten years. A conference - to be held during Adult Learners´ Week by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education - will stress the centrality of adult skills in meeting the challenges of the UK and global economy.

The Adult Skills in the Global Economy Conference - to be held at the Park Lane Hilton, London, on Tuesday 23^rd May 2006 - will include contributions from Gordon Marsden, MP for Blackpool South and Chair of the All-Party Skills Group; Chris Humphries, Director General of City and Guilds; Lorna Unwin, Professor of Vocational Education at the Institute of Education, University of London; and Sean Taggart, Group Managing Director, Albatross Travel Group and Deputy Chair of the Small Business Council.

Anne Hansen, NIACE Development Officer for Workplace Learning, said, "Learning and training can contribute to improving the productivity and competitiveness of the UK economy. NIACE is keen to broaden the debate arising from Lord Sandy Leitch´s Review of Skills and emphasise the centrality of skills and learning acquisition to new global marketplaces and in the context of rapidly changing European demographics."

She continued, "NIACE has long championed the interests of adult learners and in particular of those who have benefited least from earlier education and training. We are currently working with the Skills for Business Network to ensure that adult skills are fully represented in the Sector Skills Agreements and with the TUC on the development of the Union Academy."