1.10 At the centre of the new strategy must be a clear commitment to widening and deepening participation and achievement in learning. This means enlarging substantially the existing constituency of lifelong learners and ensuring that many more people successfully get to the starting line, so that lifelong learning for them can begin. To achieve this, full use should be made by the Further and Higher Funding Councils and others of the various funding mechanisms available to finance learning and learners, modifying the methodologies themselves where necessary, and giving priority to widening participation.

1.11 Funders and managers of provision should deploy resources to support systematic outreach and development work aimed at widening participation, making sure that institutions and individuals who succeed in opening up opportunities are suitably recognised and rewarded.

1.12 More energy and imagination needs to be given, too, to the development of skills of literacy and numeracy amongst the fifth of adults who currently lack them. Learning providers should also focus upon building up the confidence, self-esteem and real achievement of new lifelong learners, making sure that the relevant expertise, support and methods of recognising attainment are all in place. Attracting funding for such new learners should rest upon providers demonstrating - through appropriate performance indicators, inspection and review - that they have a clear understanding of the diverse needs of potential new learners and have devised sound and high quality arrangements to meet them. All providers should seek to show year-on-year improvements in widening participation, and some elements of recurrent funding should be tied to this.

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