Regional and Federal Studies
22 September 2026
Is devolution the answer to better align education and skill systems with the requirements of local labour markets?
The UK’s high rate of young people not in education, employment or training is strongly shaped by uneven local labour markets, raising questions about whether greater devolution of education and skills policy can improve outcomes. Drawing on their recent research on Scotland and Wales, Steven Ballantyne and Elke Heins introduce the concept of ‘constrained divergence’ to show that devolved governments can pursue distinctive priorities and governance approaches while remaining limited by the UK’s wider growth model, welfare regime and fiscal structures.
