This independent report to the Local Government Association sets out options for how modern, more integrated and localised public employment and skills services could be funded, designed and delivered. It draws on evidence from the UK and internationally, feedback from councils and new data analysis.
Successive governments have tried to make employment and skills provision more responsive to local needs. However, devolution has in practice been through ‘earned autonomy’ – with areas granted limited flexibilities over single programmes or budgets for a limited time and after negotiation with central government.
This makes integrating interventions difficult. Critically, local government regards the system as fragmented and costly, and that public sector reform is urgently required for a more efficient and effective ‘whole systems approach’ which remedies the silo based model of funding separate institutions and programmes.
L&W proposes a more radical approach, which seeks to fix rather than just respond to the underlying challenges set out above. This model would be built upon a network of integrated One Stop Shops that bring together employment, skills, apprenticeships, careers and business support. These would then be underpinned by comprehensive Labour Market Agreements between local areas and central government.
This report recommends moving towards a new model of political and fiscal devolution – with broad devolution of funding and policy; significant autonomy over policy, service design and commissioning; clear accountability to central government around objective setting, measurement and performance within a national framework; underpinned by multi-year labour market agreements.
