Levelling up today remains as important an issue as in 2019. However, the North-South divide remains apparent and is rooted in the idea that London and the Southeast are bigger or more important contributors to the UK economy. Levelling up will be achieved by moving away from this mentality and seeking to evenly distribute opportunity, training and delivery of services across the whole of the country.
Concerning East Anglia, a perception exists that we are included as part of the Southeast and therefore do not need any additional support. The reality is that we are our own area with our own specific needs and concerns. We too need levelling up, a need which is laid bare by the current state of our infrastructure in Suffolk.
However, although we are members of our local and proactive Chamber of Commerce, I am unaware of any local businesses or projects which have benefitted from Levelling Up funding. The key drivers within our region appear to be the fields of (offshore wind and nuclear) energy generation, the East Coast Ports and their respective supply chains which have been earmarked as priorities by central government. There seems to be an expectation within central and local government that businesses ought to identify and pursue funding opportunities, but we need to be making business aware of what’s out there and ensuring there are as few barriers in place as possible.
We also believe that the Levelling Up agenda needs to focus more broadly on education, and this is an issue we are especially enthusiastic about.
In urban areas, we see a great deal of competition for places in specific schools. In rural areas we see the inverse: there are fewer schools situated further apart which equates to minimal competition and this leads to engaged, educated parents pursuing ‘good’ schools while less motivated families remain with schools which perform less well.
We also need to be capitalising on the capability of technology and communications and making young people far more aware of the career opportunities that are out there for them to pursue.
We feel it is critical to educate young people about finance and the opportunities that the financial services industry can offer to them and, as such, we were founder members of the Finance, Insurance and Professional Services [FIPS] Group in Suffolk.
Furthermore, young people are taught precious little in school about the very basics of finance including key skills such as knowing how borrowing, tax, NICs and pensions work. The Levelling Up agenda should provide the means to address this.
From a Higher Education perspective, we have discussed with the University of Suffolk the possibility of incorporating degree-level education into professional training programmes.
Our county town of Ipswich boasts a significant amount of financial services related employment and many large and small employers in the industry are based there, so to offer locally managed vocational qualifications through the university would be beneficial to academia and business.
By improving education around finance in Suffolk, we can mould financial services into an important facet of the local economy. Moreover, by bringing business and educational institutions together to level up education nationwide, we can drive up aspiration across our country.
For the Levelling Up agenda to work, there must be the will from government, education, and industry to deliver it. The decision taken by our new prime minister to reinstate Michael Gove as secretary of state for levelling up is a positive step, but now is the time for action rather than noise.
Key Points:
• Levelling up today remains as important as in 2019. The current economic climate makes it more relevant, not less.
• There must be a focus on levelling up education across the country and a move away from the emphasis on London and the Southeast.
• Business will have a role to play if levelling up is to be achieved.
This article originally appeared in The Leaders Council’s special report on ‘The Levelling Up agenda’, published on November 30, 2022. Read the full special report here.
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
