Many of us have long been aware of the extent of wasted talent among the population, as people are unable to overcome the barrier of cost in seeking to advance their skills. This new approach will go a long way to helping tackle this. Above all, Individual Learning Accounts are about a change in our philosophy. They are an expression of a new relationship between Government and the citizen which means that people can take personal responsibility for their learning. They enable people to take up discounts and benefits, provide a source of information about learning opportunities linked to other government initiatives and are a mechanism to make it easier for employers to support employees' individual development aspirations.
Trade unions have a role to play too.
The accounts reflect the Government s aim to encourage more personal responsibility for development and a recognition that the more you learn, the more you earn . Equally, they are designed to increase the amount of individual investment in learning. You can expect more demand for learning and that people will be much more aware of the opportunities open to them. This is a significant opportunity for learning providers to help widen participation in learning. In practice, learning providers will often be expected to answer enquiries about Individual Learning Accounts and market the availability of the accounts to students and the local population.