One of the rewards of being a school governor is seeing the celebrations of success at exam results time. The release of A-level and GCSE grades reinforces the idea that successful learning is episodic and front-loaded in the first few decades of life. And it's true that educational achievement matters when you're starting out.

Learning is lifelong. Continuing development is critical if we are to achieve our full potential. Reducing what we spend on training and development may have been an essential part of trimming the budget for many of us but that is ultimately an unsustainable path. Investment in people is the key to many of the transformational challenges local government faces.