You might also find this usefu  (Skills for Life refers to the basic skills 
strategy for England and includes ESOL, literacy, numeracy) :

NEW film UNDERLINES THE IMPORTANCE OF SKILLS FOR LIFE IN THE WORKPLACE



>From The Network

Lancaster University
3rd March 2006


Organisations which include workplace Skills for Life in their overall 
development plans show
improved performance and better team-working and staff morale, a new film 
produced by The
Network at Lancaster University shows.

The DVD and CD Rom, called "Natural Allies", has been created from 
interviews with employers,
employees, training providers, practitioners and advisers in the North West 
region about the
importance of engaging with the Government's Skills for Life (SfL) 
initiative. The Network for
Workplace Language, Literacy and Numeracy at Lancaster University and 
Investors in People UK
have teamed up to produce the 10-minute film on behalf of the LSC Greater 
Merseyside.

The presentation has three aims. It is to be used as a resource for advisers 
and assessors on
how IiP can support the development of effective SfL in the workplace; to 
help employers
understand more about SfL issues; and to increase general understanding of 
SfL in the community
at large.

"By listening carefully to all the stakeholders - employers, advisers and 
employees - I believe
we have produced a really useful and clear training package that can be used 
in a number of
different ways," said Eddie Little, Director of Operations at The Network. 
"This latest project
is indicative of how our work with our partners is expanding all the time. 
Without doubt we are
now one of the country's most experienced and wide-ranging Skills for Life 
organisations."

"Natural Allies" starts by explaining how SfL is relevant to employers, 
before moving on to the
three stages of its implementation. First comes the planning stage, in which 
strategies to
improve the performance of the organisation are developed. This is followed 
by the active stage,
in which action is taken to improve performance; and finally the review 
stage, in which the
project's impact is evaluated.

As many as 13 partner organisations from the North West region contributed 
to the making of the
film. They were: Aintree Hospitals NHS Trust, Business Link for Greater 
Merseyside, Classic
Community Care, Investors in People UK, Lancashire County Council, LSC 
Greater Merseyside,
Mercia Partnership, Merseytravel, The Network, NVQ Training and Consultancy 
Services, Sandylands
Community Primary School, TUC Learning Services, and Wilson James.

Further information about "Natural Allies" and its availability, contact: 
Roberta Herd: 01524
592280; r.herd at lancaster.ac.uk