ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an account of the latest official attempt in England to generate both a new analysis of the underlying causes of under-investment in workforce development and a new policy to rectify the weaknesses. The account is based on the participation of the present author who was a member of the Performance and Innovation Unit’s (PIU) Academic Panel on workforce development during 2001. First, the general relationships between research and policy are discussed and the proposal made that there are occasions when it is appropriate for researchers to develop policies counter to those being pursued by government. The establishment and remit of the PIU are then briefly introduced, and the methods and outcomes from the particular project on workforce development are described and assessed. The separate normative worlds of policy-makers and researchers are then explored; some general conclusions are drawn about the competing models of Britain’s future, which lie behind the policy debates; and finally a few reflections are offered on some of the dangers of evidence-based policy and of the new partnership between government and researchers.
