Dr Peter O’Brien, YU Executive Director
Last Wednesday’s Autumn Statement saw the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, and the Treasury, publish a raft of documents that introduced new interventions designed to boost growth, or to report on complex policy challenges where the Government had commissioned research to investigate or had sought external advice.
One of the most noticeable features of the Autumn Statement was the publication of an updated Devolution Framework, and, for those of us who keep a close eye on events in Yorkshire, the announcement of a new Level 3 Devolution Deal for Hull and East Yorkshire. In addition, twenty-four hours ahead of the fiscal event, an order to form a Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA) in York and North Yorkshire was presented to Parliament.
Subject to local consultations, led by Hull City Council and the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, as well as parliamentary approval, the prospect of four MCAs being established – covering the North, South, East and West parts of the White Rose County – heralds the arrival of a fundamental stage in Yorkshire’s devolutionary journey that has been years in the making. The framework for ‘Level 4’ Devolution Deals sets out how MCAs and Mayors can apply for devolved powers over adult skills, local transport, and housing and regeneration, similar to those negotiated in the first trailblazer agreements with Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. Significantly, the Government confirms its intention to roll out single department-style settlements to all areas in England with a Devolution Deal, thus attempting to negate a long-standing critique that too much funding allocated to MCAs has been fragmented and piecemeal. In other policy areas, however, some of the proposed measures under the Level 4 Framework remain limited. For example, in education and skills, the Department for Education offers only a commitment to “consider the future role of eligible institutions in the delivery of LSIPs and the Local Skills Improvement Fund.” Whilst the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), pledge to “consult elected mayoral authorities on the development of relevant future research and innovation strategies”. UKRI will also publish regional data on its investments. Actions you might reasonably think would be undertaken already.
Responding to the news that the ‘yet to be formed’ North East MCA is about to enter negotiations for a trailblazer deal, to be concluded by spring 2024, the Yorkshire Post called on the Mayors of South and West Yorkshire to waste little time in applying for more powers and funding, but, at the same time, counselling that, “it is critical that the Mayors display a deft touch when it comes to diplomacy. They need to engage all stakeholders in a meaningful way and show that it is about collaboration and bringing everyone in the region along on the journey”. A further (welcome) illustration of the support for MCAs and Mayors to work together appears on page 10 of the Hull and East Yorkshire Devolution Deal, where the Hull and East Yorkshire MCA is encouraged to explore opportunities for further collaboration with neighbouring MCAs, and “across the whole of Yorkshire through the Yorkshire Leaders Board”. Yorkshire Universities (YU) welcomes wider and deeper devolution within and across all parts of Yorkshire. Equally, we support all Mayors in the region working together, where possible, on shared priorities and forming coalitions with each other, and with other places, on areas of mutual concern. YU stands ready to support, and to facilitate, any collaborations that our member institutions have a particular interest in forging, and where higher education has a unique contribution to make. There are some fantastic examples of Yorkshire’s universities leading, with public sector organisations and business, projects and programmes that support research and innovation, enterprise, entrepreneurship, skills, regeneration, high value sectors, and inward investment and trade. Devolution could help to accelerate and strengthen these partnerships.
Recent developments (re)confirm that the deal-making approach to devolution, and to local and regional development, is an incremental process that tests the capacity and capabilities of Whitehall and local policymakers. The arrival of the Devolution Framework, intended to guide regions on the application process for seeking new powers and funding, is a welcome step forward, and it reflects earlier calls for the development of a clearer roadmap for decentralisation in England. Yet the finances of local government – the sector that is vital to making devolution a long-term success – remain fragile, and the Autumn Statement has done little to alleviate existing budgetary pressures. According to local authority leaders, the funding squeeze is expected to increase, and it threatens to undermine efforts to boost growth in places and communities that, more than ever, need to experience and to share more in the proceeds of greater prosperity. The real risk is that what is given with one hand, is being taken away by the other…
