Train to Gain, the government's flagship £2bn workforce training programme, has just received another bashing. Hot on the heels of the criticisms of the National Audit Office last summer, the Public Accounts Committee has now judged the overall financial management of the project to be poor.

There is room for improvement. A product of the 2006 Leitch Review, which recognised Britain's woeful skills shortage, the programme has not driven up the demand for training among employers in the way that was hoped. Employers requesting training have been too limited to those in sectors with regulatory training requirements (such as health and social care or construction) leading to some justified criticisms of dead weight and wasted public money. Most worryingly of all, due to eligibility criteria, too few employees have been able to progress to higher-level training on the completion of lower level qualifications, a problem identified in The Skills Paradox, published by Demos in 2008.

None of these problems are however insurmountable and as the scavengers hover to try and devour Train to Gain's ample portion of the skills budget, it is important to remember the programme's successes. Learners have on the whole been very satisfied with their hard and soft training outcomes, with a significant number believing it has led to increased pay or a promotion. Employers have also been impressed by the programme's responsiveness, the range of the training offered and the outcomes. While it may not have inspired a deluge of self-directed training requests, it has raised the profile of work based training in a positive way and has also been successful in widening training participation.

Liberation Welfare, Demos' forthcoming collection of essays encouraging a new welfare paradigm based on personal control, income security and mutualism, recognises the vital link between skills and employment. In a world where the skills budget's significant resources may need to be diverted, funds need to be focused on increasing employability. Skills and employment also need to be better integrated. This will encourage people to enter and progress in employment rather than just continuing a cycle of entering and exiting low paid work. Train to Gain, incorporating on-the-job training and an emphasis on work-related skills, is a positive step in this direction. As the 2009 Oftsed report determined, it is also improving. It is important that it continue to be allowed to do so.    

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