Case studies

The City Region argues that devolution has allowed it to move away from policy silos and address interconnected problems in a far more joined up way, for example Households into Work having an impact on social housing strategy.

Managing funding locally through devolved budgets has increased scrutiny of how money is being used to meet local skills needs.

The combined authority argue that devolving the skills revenue and capital funding in the UK Shared Prosperity Fund would better allow it to align all funding streams and produce a linear model which would offer support to people from transitions into work to progression in the labour market.

The combined authority argues that a devolved approach has made it easier to create stronger links and have more strategic conversations about how and what is delivered, based on need.

The combined authority argues further devolution, whether of careers education or, as in Greater Manchester, of health would allow better join up and tailoring: “I think that is an absolutely critical missing piece of the skills and education devolution at the moment.”

The combined authority would like to see devolution across the whole of employment and skills, in order to join up support and avoid duplication.

Through the development of a Work Local model, the council wants to improve employment, skills and workforce development opportunities. By engaging with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to understand their future workforce needs, and working with local partner agencies, the city council is building a support offer for local residents to develop job opportunities and career pathways.

The council is working closely with anchor institutions to identify the plans of large employers, mapping the asset base and developing a ‘Skills Engine’. This will support local recruitment and a drive to increase higher skilled and knowledge-intensive employment.

Key to being able to leverage the power of partnerships is to have the ability to jointly influence funding, commissioning and resource.

The key learning from the Reading work has been the power and potential of locally relevant data (as opposed to broad UK data) to create a shared understanding of the challenge and stimulate joint action.