Unions back reshaping of public sector

(Photograph) - Trade unions are set to throw their weight behind the government's lifelong learning agenda in the drive to redefine the public services for the next century.

John Monks (above), general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, will use his speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research conference in London next Thursday to embrace education, training and retraining.

Mr Monks will join former education minister Stephen Byers, now secretary for trade and industry, in a debate on the shape of 21st-century public services. The conference marks the IPPR's tenth anniversary. Speakers include Tony Blair, education minister Baroness Blackstone, Neil Kinnock, and Cambridge University's Nobel prize-winning economist Amartya Sen.