Greater further education and skills powers have been devolved to two mayoral regions in England – but flexibilities appear to be limited.
Eagerly sought deals for Greater Manchester and West Midlands combined authorities were unveiled today following the chancellor’s Spring Budget address, with the regions offered “deeper” devolved powers.
Currently the two have ownership of their regions’ adult education budgets (AEB) and involvement in local skills improvement plans, but the pair had been pushing for further skills and education powers such as co-commissioning powers for courses like T Levels and overseeing careers provision.
But the plans published today have only added a small number of developments, with the main flexibilities around skills bootcamps and the free courses for jobs scheme – free full level 3 courses for those without a level 3 qualification or who earn below the national living wage.
