English Devolution White Paper – employment, skills and the role of our sector

Yesterday the government released the English Devolution White Paper which sets out its intention to further distribute political, social and economic powers to England’s regions.

The White Paper introduces a plan to establish universal coverage of Strategic Authorities in England which it describes as “a number of councils working together, covering areas that people recognise and work in”.

The plan is to legislate to enable the role of Combined Authorities to be built upon and the impact of mayoral devolution to be spread more widely across England.

Included in the White Paper is a pledge to make skills and employment support provision more aligned with the local economy and jobs. This builds on the narrative that we have already seen in the plans for Skills England and in the Get Britain Working White Paper.

The sport and physical activity sector has already embraced this alignment with education providers, employers, civic leaders, health commissioners and employment support providers amongst the many representatives collaborating as part of Local Skills Accountability Boards (LSABs) to ensure that the sector has the roles and skills locally to deliver on key economic, health and social priorities.

Commenting on the English Devolution White Paper, Spencer Moore, Chief Strategy Officer said,

“This White Paper reaffirms that the path our sector has been taking with a hyper local, collaborative approach to skills development and employment support, is integral to maximising the positive impact that we have.

The plan that it sets out, with local leaders developing Local Skills Improvement Plans and integrating delivery with the economic needs of the locality, is already well underway within the sport and physical activity sector across 37 areas of not just England, but in Wales and Scotland too.

And we’re already seeing the benefits, with the workforce being upskilled to deliver activity that addresses local health priorities, helping to prevent and manage conditions like diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and mental health. This in turn is helping more people to be economically active because they are able to work and contribute to the local economy.”

Within the White Paper, there is an intention to devolve adult skills funding, which does not relate to apprenticeships, to the Strategic Authorities, along with plans to remove the ringfencing on funding for initiatives like Skills Bootcamps, Free Courses for Jobs and the Adult Skills Fund, in Mayoral Strategic Authorities which are already established.

On 16-19 provision, the White Paper commits to a “national and consistent approach to education and training for 16–19-year-olds” but with responsibilities for Mayoral Strategic Authorities to ensure that there is a career route from education into work.

Spencer said,

“The collaborative approach that our sector has taken through the Sport England funded Local Skills Project, has proved just how powerful this approach can be. Across just two FE colleges as part of a pilot, curriculum has been redesigned based on local health, social and economic needs, in conjunction with employers and a range of local bodies and leaders. This has resulted in over 70% of learners moving directly into employment with a local company and over £500,000 of skills funding directly repurposed to deliver on local needs. This is now being scaled and demonstrates how this type of place-based alignment ensures better use of funds with greater impact for individual learners through the transition to a sustainable career path.

We also welcome greater flexibility in funding to ensure that progress on local needs isn’t hampered by what can often be outdated funding rules. The onus has to be on using funding to enable people to develop the skills that the locality needs, that will help employers to grow their business and that, in turn, will support people to be economically self-sustaining through a strong career. We’ve recently started to see more opportunities open up with the relaxing of restrictions on Skills Bootcamps which is allowing employers in our sector to benefit. We’re seeing great progress on this in the South West, a region that has very diverse skills needs but that is taking a creative approach to deliver impact from the available funding.”

A key theme of the White Paper is Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs). It proposes a new model of joint ownership for Local Skills Improvement Plans between employers and Strategic Authorities. There is acknowledgement that a robust and effective skills strategy requires the active involvement of those who understand local economies best, with employers bringing direct insight into workforce needs, while Strategic Authorities provide a critical understanding of regional economic priorities and growth opportunities.

The plan appears to be that Employer Representative Bodies (ERBs) will remain the key drivers of employer-led input, with Strategic Authorities contributing regional expertise, the aim being to ensure that LSIPs are cemented in employers’ needs and aligned with broader regional strategies.

It is expected that in areas with Strategic Authorities, LSIP development will start with the Strategic Authority identifying regional sector skills priorities and sharing relevant data with the designated ERB. This collaborative foundation will ensure that plans are informed by regional priorities, Local Growth Plans, the Industrial Strategy, Skills England’s skills assessments and direct input from employers. At all stages of development and governance, Strategic Authorities and ERBs would be working closely together, with flexibility for local arrangements.

This aligns with the model that the sport and physical activity sector has been developing.

There is an ambition set out in the White Paper to bring LSIP geographies in line with those of Strategic Authorities where possible. The idea is that this connection will create a clear structure for collaboration and ensure that local insights feed into skills and growth strategies.

In addition to the further devolution of skills responsibilities and funding, this White Paper builds on the recent Get Britain Working White Paper with a proposal to give Strategic Authorities responsibility and funding to provide employment support with a focus on reducing economic inactivity. Strategic Authorities will be required to produce a Get Britain Working Plan which incorporates local provision and local priorities and which interconnects with other local strategies. Trailblazers have already been announced to establish good practice in this approach.

There is also a commitment that Mayoral Strategic Authorities will be involved in the creation of “non-Jobcentre Plus employment support”.

Spencer added,

“It’s very encouraging that the government is looking to ramp up local collaboration on addressing unemployment. With unemployment running at 4.3% and over 900,000 young people not in employment education or training, it’s clear that a national ‘one size fits all approach’ has limited impact.

What we’re seeing from work that our sector is leading alongside DWP as part of place-based collaboration, is a clear benefit from approaching this fundamental problem with a local lens. Using local data and analysis from employers about the skills that they need to grow their business and operation, we’re connecting jobseekers with those opportunities and training to get them work ready. Because the approach is very local-based, it’s having more success and vacancies can be filled more effectively through the link between demand – the employer – and supply – people looking for work. There’s the added benefit that connecting on a hyper local level has in terms of reducing some of the barriers that people face when looking for a job such as transportation restrictions.

And all of this is underpinned by careers advice and guidance, so it’s great to see that the White Paper also looks at the role of Strategic Authorities in shaping local careers provision. As part of the sport and physical activity sector’s work with DWP, we are training their advisers about the scale and scope of careers in the sector, incorporating real-time, industry-led local labour market information (LMI) so that they understand how our sector provides strong opportunities for their clients and what the needs of local employers are now and into the future. This builds on the lead that we’ve taken as a sector to offer schools and colleges comprehensive careers support with the focus on LMI so that advisers, teachers and students can understand and make informed choices about the great career destinations that our sector offers.”

In terms of next steps, the government invited places without a devolution agreement to submit plans and proposals over the summer, these are being assessed and the intention is to implement a Devolution Priority Programme to scale the number of Strategic Authorities. There will also be greater powers devolved to some existing Mayoral Authorities as outlined in the Autumn Budget.

The government will bring forward an English Devolution Bill in due course which will legislate to enable the proposals set out in this White Paper to be enacted.

Spencer concluded,

“Skills and employment support may only be part of this White Paper and the Devolution Bill, but undoubtedly it is fundamental to the government’s ambitions on growing the economy and improving people’s lives with more scope to shape local learning and work opportunities.

As a sector, we’ve seen the power that focusing on local needs can have in helping to give people and businesses an opportunity to grow and all the benefits that brings to communities.

We stand ready to not only scale that work under these proposals to benefit more people, but also to share the impact that the place-based approach to skills and employment has with other sectors and policymakers.”