Devolution

  • RESEARCH

    Essay: addressing health inequalities through employment

    14th July 2025
    278.5kB     .pdf
    ...

    • Getting it right

    The new health duty on strategic authorities

    This article originally appeared in the Municipal Journal.

    The Government’s White Paper on devolution in England introduces a commitment to create a bespoke duty related to health improvement and health inequalities for strategic authorities (SAs).

    The Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) and The King’s Fund are working jointly on a programme of work, commissioned by The Health Foundation, to understand the potential for strategic authorities to have an impact on health inequalities. As part of this we have thought through how this new duty needs to be designed and implemented to be successful, taking into account learning from existing duties.
    “a narrow focus could actually exacerbate health inequalities”
    In our earlier briefing we recognised that English devolution could have a positive impact on health inequalities, but that it is viewed as a primarily economic policy lever, to generate economic growth in lagging regions.  Our evidence review showed that a narrow focus could actually exacerbate health inequalities if the distribution of growth benefits is not considered; and even in other countries where regional policy has narrowed economic inequalities, it does not necessarily follow that health inequalities narrow too.  The inference is that health inequalities will not narrow simply as a result of the fact of more devolution, it needs to be accompanied by strong and consistent intent. This has been the case in Greater Manchester which has had clear success, and in other areas such as the West Midlands where health has been a core area for action of the Combined Authority.

    Read More
  • RESEARCH

    Essay: getting it right

    23rd June 2025
    1.9MB     .pdf
    ...

    • Let the people in

    This article orignally appeared in the Municipal Journal.

    Our communities have a challenge with trust (or, rather, the lack of it). As cynicism about the state grows, particularly as “awful April” begins to bite, people’s sense of disconnection from politics and the economy is growing. But, make no mistake, this disconnection is not about apathy: it’s about powerlessness.

    We’ve all been in those rooms where people are airing their grievances about public services. The bins not emptied, the potholes left unfilled, the care for a loved one delayed, the SEND child unsupported, the cemeteries unloved.

    Read More

    2024: our greatest hits

    As the year draws to a close, our Chief Executive, Sarah Longlands, looks back at the last twelve months of CLES’s work.

    It has been a turbulent 12 months, with change – both good and bad – very much at the forefront on the domestic and international stages. Yet, despite the uncertainty of the times in which we find ourselves, at CLES we remain simultaneously pragmatic and optimistic about the power of our mission: delivering local economic change. As we wrote in our general election manifesto – Our Local Economic Future – change may be dreamt of by aspiring national leaders, but it is both delivered and felt in communities.
    “the growth of ideas, of confidence, of time and of resources”
    But this kind of change doesn’t happen by invoking economic growth as the key to every lock. The kind of change that our communities need comes instead from the growth of ideas, of confidence, of time and of resources: to challenge preconceptions and tired economic assumptions, to think differently and with ambition.

    Read More

    Making the missions happen

    This article originally appeared in the Municipal Journal.

    Done properly, community wealth-building can provide the Government with a means to deliver their election pledge of change and to maximise the impact of that change on people and places. That was the clear message from the first of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies’ (CLES) Community Wealth Building Conversation events earlier in the month.

    Labour needs living standards to improve and, in last month’s Budget, chancellor Rachel Reeves again made the case for economic growth, wealth creation and opportunity for all, arguing that these were the only way to deliver that goal.

    Read More

    What’s on the table at the council of nations and regions?

    This article originally appeared in Labour List

    With Keir Starmer due to host his first “council of the nations and regions” later today, and with salary comparisons very firmly off the table, you can’t help but wonder, what will be up for discussion?

    Starmer has made no bones about the centrality of mayors and devolved leaders to his programme for government, signalling his intent early doors by visiting them all within five days of being handed the keys of number 10. He’s also clearly set out a remit for the regions, in the form of Local Growth Plans, on which headline thinking is due to be submitted later this month. No doubt these Plans will be in sharp focus today, given that securing investment will be the main theme of the agenda.

    Read More
  • FINDINGS

    Tackling health inequalities through English devolution

    24th October 2024
    2.0MB     .pdf
    ...

    • What good devolution looks like

    This article originally appeared in the Local Government Chronicle.

    Levelling up, powering up, reducing regional disparity – whatever you want to call it, the question of how we build an economy that works for the whole country has troubled political parties and policy makers of all stripes for decades. Yet, despite the problem having relative consensus across Westminster and attempts to tackle it being central to more than one programme for government, no one yet has managed to make much of a dent in the huge gaps between the geographical haves and have nots of the UK. Even this week, research from the IFS identified that the UK “has gone into reverse” on many metrics since the release of the Levelling Up White Paper, calling on the next government to take decisive action to reverse “glacial” progress on the agenda.

    Read More
  • PROJECT REPORT

    Reclaiming our regions

    25th April 2024
    800.5kB     .pdf
    ...

    • Combined recipe for healthy communities

    How can mayoral combined authorities use their powers and resources to keep us well? In a new programme of joint working launched last month, CLES, The King’s Fund and the Health Foundation have come together to answer this key question. This project builds on a £1.3m Health Foundation award to the West Midlands Combined Authority, who will be working in partnership with eight other combined authorities over three years to drive action on health within the regions.

    English mayoral combined authorities have been established with a remit to boost sub-regional economic growth, enhance local democratic engagement and accountability and address knotty policy problems. Through their distinct powers, responsibilities and resources, they are also able to affect the wider determinants of health, such as people’s access to good quality work, transport and housing.

    Read More

    RORE-ing forward

    The UK has a big problem, and for once, it’s one everyone can agree on: for too long, regional disparities have suppressed the potential of some areas of our country, leaving communities behind, as growth and opportunity amass in others.

    But things could be different. For at least 20 years there has been recognition that decentralisation is the key to a more even spread of prosperity across the UK. From New Labour’s devolution of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish assemblies to the creation of elected mayors under Cameron and Osbourne’s government, both parties have recognised the necessity of devolving powers from Westminster. But, as Britain’s persistent levels of regional inequality have made clear, simply devolving modest powers is not the solution. The one-size-fits all approach to economic development, predicated on GVA growth, which is favoured in Westminster does not benefit all our regions equally.
    “communities in the driving seat”
    Now, with new devolution settlements coming into force in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, and with more areas set to follow suit – including the North East, as announced in last week’s Spring Budget – combined authorities are bringing clout, spending power and scale to our regions for the first time in a long time. This means that leaders have the opportunity to experiment with different ways of doing things. They can explore how local levies and powers can be used to encourage sustainable and equitable economic development as well as how new powers over transport, health and housing can put people and communities in the driving seat of decision-making. This is a moment of huge potential, with the door at least partially open to build a new way of doing economic decision making at a scale not seen before.

    Read More

    Midnight in Edinburgh with Adam Smith

    It was midnight and raining as I walked up a deserted Royal Mile in Edinburgh ahead of our event to discuss the Scottish Government’s proposed legislation for community wealth building. Out of the gloom, standing in front of a moody St Giles’ Cathedral was Adam Smith (well, his statue at any rate!).

    Often credited as the father of modern economics and a proponent of self-interest characterised as “the invisible hand”, Smith was just as passionate about morality. 20th century economists, of course, made sure to keep the morality out of economics and we are all (quite literally) the poorer for it.
    “we need to change our economic system so that it works in the interests of people”
    Smith’s understanding of economics as a social rather than a mathematical science was a revelation to me when I was studying at The University of Glasgow. But Adam Smith was only the beginning of my enlightenment – I have since been lucky enough to learn from economists across the world who also believe we need to change our economic system so that it works in the interests of people, rather than the other way around.

    Read More

    Owning the workplace, securing the future

    At the heart of the debate on community wealth building is a fundamental question about ownership and who or what holds the keys to wealth in our society.

    In the midst of record inflation and a crisis where too few people earn enough to be able to feed their children and put a roof over their heads, tackling the unequal distribution of wealth ownership will be fundamental in helping to build a better economic model longer term.

    Read More