Welcome and introduction from Conference Chair

Opening address - Towards “Ambition 2020”

The UK skills challenge

Brendan Barber, General Secretary, TUC
Lynne Sedgemore, Executive Director, 157 Group
Michael Davis, Director of Strategy and Performance, UK Commission for Employment and Skills

Breaking cycles of poverty - what role for employment and skills?
Dr Tracy Shildrick, Lecturer in Sociology/Youth Studies, Teeside University
Dr Mark Tomlinson, Senior Research Officer, University of Oxford
Dr Kathryn Ray, Senior Research Fellow, Policy Studies Institute
Professor Ron McQuaid, Director, Edinburgh Napier University
Hilary Metcalf, Senior Research Fellow, National Institute for Economic & Social Research
Chris Goulden, Policy and Research Manager, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Chaired by: Abigail Gibson, Senior Policy Analyst, UK Commission for Employment and Skills

Integrating employment and skills
Jim Hillage, Director of Research, Institute for Employment Studies
Kate Still, Director of Development, The Wise Group
Andy Wilson, Principal, Westminster Kingsway College
Chaired by: Alison Richardson, Assistant Director of Strategy and Performance, UK Commission for Employment and Skills

Skills Activism - towards an active UK skills strategy
Professor Ewart Keep, Deputy Director, SKOPE
Dinah Caine, Chief Executive, Skillset
Chaired by: Mark Spilsbury, Chief Economist, UK Commission for Employment and Skills

Increasing employer investment – collective action on skills
Anna Fazackerly, Head of Education, Policy Exchange
Annette Cox, Associate Director, Institute for Employment Studies
Nigel Whitehead, Group Managing Director - Programmes and Support, BAE Systems
Chaired by: Carol Stanfield, Senior Research Manager, UK Commission for Employment and Skills

Dr Janet Lowe, Chair, Scottish Funding Council / Skills Development Scotland Skills Committee
Professor David Ashton, Emeritus Professor, Leicester University; Honorary Professor, Cardiff University
Ian Brinkley, Knowledge Economy Programme Director, The Work Foundation
Chaired by: Lesley Giles, Deputy Director of Research and Policy, UK Commission for Employment and Skills

Achieving transformation - creating a system fit for the challenges ahead
Simon Duffy, Centre for Welfare Reform
Geoff Mulgan, Director, The Young Foundation
John Stone, Chief Executive, Learning and Skills Network
Chaired by: Ian Kinder, Assistant Director of Strategy and Performance, UK Commission for Employment and Skills

Building a high value workforce
Dr Laurie Bassi, Chief Executive, McBassi & Company
Professor John Philpott, Chief Economist, CIPD
Chaired by: Paul Drake, Senior Policy Analyst, UK Commission for Employment and Skills

Increasing individual ambition
Dr Colin Lindsay, Senior Research Fellow, Employment Research Institute, Edinburgh Napier University
Iain Murray, Senior Policy Officer, TUC
Chaired by: Carol Stanfield, Senior Research Manager, UK Commission for Employment and Skills

Higher education and skills - learner choice and returns on learning
Professor Kate Purcell, Institute of Employment Research
Alan Felstead, Research Professor at Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
Chaired by: Gillian Brewin, Programme Manager, UK Commission for Employment and Skills

Chris Humphries, Chief Executive, UK Commission for Employment & Skills to be joined by:
Professor David Finegold, Dean, School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers State University, New Jersey
Dr Laurie Bassi, Chief Executive, McBassi & Company
Professor Kate Purcell, Institute for Employment Research