8. Our vision of the Learning Age is about more than employment. The development of a culture of learning will help to build a united society, assist in the creation of personal independence, and encourage our creativity and innovation. Learning encompasses basic literacy to advanced scholarship. We learn in many different ways through formal study, reading, watching television, going on a training course, taking an evening class, at work, and from family and friends. In this consultation paper we use the word 'learning' to describe all of these.

9. This country has a great learning tradition. We have superb universities and colleges which help maintain our position as a world leader in technology, finance, design, manufacturing and the creative industries. We want more people to have the chance to experience the richness of this tradition by participating in learning. We want all to benefit from the opportunities learning brings and to make them more widely available by building on this foundation of high standards and excellence.

10. For individuals:

• learning offers excitement and the opportunity for discovery. It stimulates enquiring minds and nourishes our souls. It takes us in directions we never expected, sometimes changing our lives. Learning helps create and sustain our culture. It helps all of us to improve our chances of getting a job and of getting on. Learning increases our earning power, helps older people to stay healthy and active, strengthens families and the wider community, and encourages independence. There are many people for whom learning has opened up, for the first time in their lives, the chance to explore art, music, literature, film, and the theatre, or to become creative themselves. Learning has enabled many people to help others to experience these joys too.

11. For businesses:

• learning helps them to be more successful by adding value and keeping them up-to-date. Learning develops the intellectual capital which is now at the centre of a nation's competitive strength. It provides the tools to manage industrial and technological change, and helps generate ideas, research and innovation. Because productivity depends on the whole workforce, we must invest in everyone.

12. For communities:

• learning contributes to social cohesion and fosters a sense of belonging, responsibility and identity. In communities affected by rapid economic change and industrial restructuring, learning builds local capacity to respond to this change.

13. For the nation:

• learning is essential to a strong economy and an inclusive society. In offering a way out of dependency and low expectation, it lies at the heart of the Government's welfare reform programme. We must bridge the 'learning divide' - between those who have benefited from education and training and those who have not - which blights so many communities and widens income inequality. The results are seen in the second and third generation of the same family being unemployed, and in the potential talent of young people wasted in a vicious circle of under-achievement, self-deprecation, and petty crime. Learning can overcome this by building self-confidence and independence.