I've just been at a session of the Skills Commission.  Alan Felstead, whose work on how the skills picture has evolved over time has been so valuable, gave evidence before me, drawing on data which goes back twenty years or more.  Alan showed how the incidence of training declined before the recession but, surprisingly, not during or since.  However the duration of training has shrunk - i.e. the time people spend in training is going down. The focus of the Commission's discussion was on how well skills are being used.  Here the picture is complex and the evidence often quite tricky to interpret.   Alan's general points are: 1.  The…