Earlier this month at the Conservative Party Conference, the Lifelong Education Commission – on which I serve as an independent commissioner – launched its first report into the British education system.

As a region, London is a bit like Jekyll and Hyde and, unfortunately, we tend to hear less about the large, poor city behind the rich, productive one.

With rapidly declining education participation rates among British adults and skills shortages, a high-level commission on lifelong education called this week for a “truly flexible” modular skills system that enables people to accumulate and transfer credits easily over time.

Former Conservative ministers and trade union bosses have both called for retraining rules to be relaxed