IT’S not an enviable claim to fame that in Bolton nearly one in five people have no qualifications.
Statistics from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show the town has one of the worst records in the country for educational attainment with 19 per cent of people aged 16 to 64 with no qualifications at all.
The situation is said to be improving, and there has been a rise in GCSE results with 2013 results better than the national average. Unfortunately, the only way forward is to keep reinforcing the strong connection between qualifications and jobs. At a time when there much fewer of the latter around, the former are absolutely vital.