Case studies

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.

Although the existing Surrey survey data was a useful tool, the arguments benefited from being broadened out to encompass evidence and examples from beyond Surrey to demonstrate to new partners the economic benefits of employing hidden talent and that this is not just a local agenda but part of a larger set of issues being recognised and championed globally by both small and large employers.

The collaborative working of the South Ribble partnership and the Lancashire Mental Health to Businesses (MH2B) Building Blocks Partnership has allowed South Ribble to be a representative sample of the wider Lancashire area, meaning that the focus on the development can be on a much smaller area, with recommendations able to be rolled out over a larger area.

"At the end of the programme, participants were guaranteed an interview for work at the hospital. This resulted in some excellent employment outcomes for local residents."