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UK Government Levelling Up White Paper

Published: 04 February 2022

The 332-page White Paper, described as a “system change” by ministers, sets out 12 policy objectives, or “national missions”, aimed at spreading opportunity and prosperity across the UK, particularly to the people and parts of the country struggling most. The plan is to use “devolved policy levers” and local leaders and institutions to deliver objectives. In pursuit of this, every part of England will be given ‘London style’ powers and mayors if they want them. Metrics will be used to track progress towards the objectives and monitor spatial disparities and will be published in an annual levelling up report. A Levelling Up Advisory Council will also be established to provide support and constructive analysis. The government has also published a document – Delivering for all parts of the UK - showing levelling up fund initiatives that are already underway in various regions of the UK.

The White Paper can be found here.

At-a-glance:

  • The Research & Development (R&D) mission will see domestic public R&D investment outside the Greater South East increase by at least 40% by 2030, with these funds leveraging an increase in private investment in these areas too (p120)
  • To contribute towards this, the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has committed to invest at least 55% of its domestic R&D funding outside the Greater South East by 2024/5. Commitments to increase public investment have also been made by the Department for Health and Social Care, the Ministry of Defence, the Department for Trade and Defra. For instance, the DHSC will be increasing medical research investment outside London, Oxford and Cambridge (p173)
  • Three new “Innovation Accelerators”, major place-based centres of innovation, will be established in Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, and Glasgow-City Region. These clusters will see local businesses and researchers in these areas backed by £100 million of new funding to “turbo-charge” local growth, learning from the MIT-Greater Boston and Stanford-Silicon Valley models (p173)
  • By 2030, the number of people successfully completing high-quality skills training will have significantly increased in every area of the UK. In England, this will lead to 200,000 more people successfully completing high-quality skills training annually, driven by 80,000 more people completing courses in the lowest skilled areas (p120)
  • Local Skills Improvement Plans will be rolled out with funding across England, giving local employer bodies and stakeholders a statutory role in planning skills training in their area (p141)
  • Factors identified in the White Paper as drivers of levelling up include institutional capital; providing local leadership, capacity and capability. Universities are identified as important anchor institutions. As significant local employers and regional collaborators, they are “central to efforts to improve growth, especially more knowledge-intensive activities and industries” (p103)
  • Empowering local decision-making includes encouraging private-sector partnerships. Many involve collaboration between companies and with local universities and leaders. Many more private sector partnerships, and embryonic clusters, could emerge in the coming years in new industries such as artificial intelligence and battery technology, floating offshore wind and low-carbon transport (p113)
  • Institutes of Technology, which are collaborations between colleges, universities and employers, specialising in delivering higher technical education, will be able to apply to receive a Royal Charter, securing their long-term position as anchor institutions within their region and placing them on the same level as historic universities. DfE will set out the criteria and application process for Royal Charter status this spring (p196)
  • The HE sector has a key role to play in levelling up areas by improving access to opportunity, in addition to supporting regional economies. The UK Government has committed to ensuring that HE providers work closely with schools and colleges to raise educational standards and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds in their communities, through refocusing universities’ Access and Participation Plans (p197)
  • 55 Education Investment Areas (EIAs) will be designated in England where school outcomes are weakest. They will benefit from intensive investment and support, including funding to ensuring schools can retain teachers and new specialist sixth forms, which will ensure disadvantaged young people get to the best universities (p189)

Implications for Governance:

Although higher education is not explicitly mentioned in the 12 “national missions”, the White Paper outlines the various roles that the government expects universities to play in achieving policy objectives around boosting productivity through growing the private sector, spreading opportunities, building a highly skilled workforce and restoring a sense of community.

Universities and research centres are seen as important anchor institutions that can drive the innovative clusters of economic activity that are essential to levelling up success, hence the government’s commitments to a new university in Peterborough, the new Bolton College of Medical Sciences and the creation of a medical school at the University of Lincoln.

The White Paper’s vision of “system change” is about putting power in local hands and embedding it in “strong civic institutions”.

There are hints in the document, however, that if universities are not part of the solution, they have the potential to be seen as part of the problem. In a section identifying current and future drivers of geographical disparities, the White Paper cites the “shift from technical training to university education” as one of a list of factors that have had a large and lasting impact on the economic geography of the UK. The link is revealing of current government thinking and its rationale of reining-in expensive degrees with relatively low graduate employment rates, whilst encouraging young people onto technical skills courses. The White Paper also explores patterns of labour mobility, discussing the negative side-effects of the highly educated leaving economic cold sports, both for the areas they are leaving and the ones they are going to.

What seems to be expected of universities is a greater commitment to civic responsibility and more activity to boost the fortunes of local people and areas. Universities may want to examine their roles as anchor institutions and consider whether either a reboot or further development are necessary, not least to enable them to benefit from the collaborations, partnerships and funding opportunities the White Paper presents.

Some of these opportunities are featured in the Delivering for all parts of the UK document, for instance, the Strength in Places Fund partnership between Rolls Royce and the University of Leicester and Loughborough University. In the same region, an Institute of Technology is in development with the University of Derby, Derby College, Loughborough University and Loughborough College. In the North West, a further Institute is in development with Blackpool & the Fylde, Salford University and Cheshire College South and West, while the Levelling Up Fund is investing in Ulster University’s virtual production facilities in Belfast to boost its TV and film production industry.

As governing bodies will already be aware from earlier pointers, such as the government’s Industrial Strategy, the emphasis of policy and funding opportunities is on universities building further and stronger collaborations with further education and employers.

Reaction to the White Paper across the sector has focused on the transformational impact that universities can have on people and places, with some pointing to extensive work already underway on the civic role of universities.

Governors may wish to ensure that their institution is well placed to benefit from any new opportunities the white paper presents, and is not out of step with the direction of policy that it underlines. More specifically, they should consider reviewing their institution’s approach to civic responsibility and community and business engagement; what contribution their institution is making to the government’s push towards higher level vocational courses and qualifications; what opportunities and challenges are presented by the move to rebalance regional research funding, and the creation of new innovation clusters; how they can further support schools if they are within one of the 55 Education Investment Areas; and any implications for their institution in the move to allow Institutes of Technology to apply for Royal Charter status.

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