Introduced in 1991, the purpose of the Investors in People (IiP) Standard was to create a benchmark for good training and development practice. Since this time, the Standard has become a central feature of the UK government’s training policy. Much of the debate so far on IiP has focused on the extent of uptake. The aim of this paper is to broaden this debate: first, by reviewing the existing evidence on variations in accreditation rates across industrial sector and on the impact of the Standard on training and development activity; secondly, by exploring the new directions the Standard is taking. The paper discusses the policy implications that arise from the research undertaken to date and, in relation to the new directions the Standard is taking, considers the areas in which further research in needed.
