Local skills case study

Overall the study on which this report is based provides an opportunity to understand the way in which local-national and local-local collaborative working needs to develop if it is to enhance skill development in England. This entailed: identifying how other countries have devolved their skills and employment policy to local or regional levels; undertaking a local case study, that encompassed multiple local authorities – where moves to shape local skills provision to local demand were already in train – to understand how local skills devolution can be best realised. The Black Country in the West Midlands was selected as the case study; reflecting upon the international and local evidence to develop a framework to be used as a tool that will allow local actors to use their combined local knowledge to answer key questions about the context, drivers for change and desired outcomes to enable them to more effectively deliver local skills to meet local needs.