Yorkshire Universities (YU) Executive Director, Dr Peter O’Brien, has written to the leaders of Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire councils to respond to the public consultation on the Hull and East Yorkshire Devolution Deal. You can read the full open letter below, which outlines YU’s support for continuing devolution across Yorkshire and the potential to build on existing partnerships and shared priorities to continue strengthening the contribution of universities to the region.
This letter was originally sent by email to Cllr Anne Handley, Leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, and Cllr Mike Ross, Leader of Kingston upon Hull City Council, on 27 February 2024.
Dear Cllr Handley and Cllr Ross
Re: Public consultation on the Hull and East Yorkshire Devolution Deal
Yorkshire Universities (YU) is a regional partnership of twelve Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) with a shared commitment to strengthening the contribution of universities to the economic, social and civic development of Yorkshire. YU coordinates partnerships to enhance collaboration across the region, which builds on the instrumental role that our member institutions play in supporting research and innovation, skills and training, enterprise, and entrepreneurship. Together, this helps to address the major opportunities and challenges we face, such as the drive for increased growth and productivity, the climate emergency, and rising health inequalities.
YU is a firm supporter of devolution, and we plan to strengthen our relationships with existing and emergent devolved institutions. YU has welcomed the proposed Hull and East Yorkshire Devolution Deal, which would complete sub-national devolution across Yorkshire. This letter outlines YU’s comments on the proposed Deal that is currently open to public consultation, and it provides insights into how universities can support aspects of devolution.
We are looking to build on our Memorandum of Understanding with Yorkshire and Humber Councils, which provides a unique framework to work in partnership with local government, and with Mayors and Combined Authorities. YU has also produced a joint Levelling up position statement with Yorkshire and Humber Councils, which has articulated our shared priorities around skills, employment and economic growth; education; climate change and environment; health and wellbeing; economic, social and digital infrastructure; and housing.
Within Hull and East Yorkshire, the University of Hull is committed to supporting the devolution process and the opportunities to build on the role it plays as a key anchor institution. The University of Hull annually creates £1.2 billion Gross Value Added (GVA) and supports over 14,000 jobs, as well as contributing to learning, skills, research, innovation, business, support, policy engagement and cultural opportunities. As a valued member of YU, the University of Hull is also part of a diverse higher education ecosystem that is working together across the broader Yorkshire region. In this context, we welcome the fact that the proposed Hull and East Yorkshire Devolution Deal encourages collaboration with neighbouring Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) “across the whole of Yorkshire through the Yorkshire Leaders Board” (p.10).
We believe that devolution presents new and further opportunities to focus on the issues that reflect local priorities in Hull and East Yorkshire. In particular, the public consultation emphasises the importance of devolution to increased productivity and sustainability.
In relation to productivity, whilst the Devolution Deal understandably is focused on the Adult Education Budget and the Further Education sector, it will be important that the Mayor, and local leaders, work closely with the HE sector, and recognise the value of a whole and responsive local skills system. YU is leading work to strengthen graduate employability within and across Yorkshire, and there is an opportunity to work with the new Mayoral Combined Authority to improve skills and increase employment and careers’ support.
On the question of sustainability, the University of Hull’s Aura Innovation Centre provides world class research and innovation services and capabilities, helping to drive a step change in the move to net-zero, and working with business and public sectors to address the opportunities and challenges presented by climate change. The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull, Professor Dave Petley, chairs a YU group, which is overseeing an innovative pilot project designed to encourage, incentivise, and utilise, student knowledge and learning in sustainability for the direct benefit of local firms and communities.
The University of Hull has highlighted the potential opportunities that devolution presents, such as the possibility of securing an Investment Zone, which to extend and expand university research and innovation to drive growth and jobs. YU could facilitate shared knowledge and learning from our members’ active involvement in the Investment Zones in West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire.
The innovation, trade and investment section in the Devolution Deal outlines the value of working with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and UK Research and Innovation, and it recognises the strength of the med-tech sector in the region by highlighting the asset that is the Hull-York Medical School.
The role of universities in supporting skills, knowledge and innovation in “manufacturing, chemicals, low carbon technologies, health technologies, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, food and drink, ports and logistics, construction, knowledge and digital economies, including creative industries, as well as tourism and culture” (p.10 of the Devolution Deal), is recognised by local leaders. The advent of a new Mayor and Combined Authority, equipped with significant, long-term, resource, is expected to underpin a sector-based approach.
One of the unique mechanisms by which YU contributes towards evidence gathering and policymaking in the region is through the Research England-funded Yorkshire and Humber Policy Engagement and Research Network (Y-PERN). In Hull, a Y-PERN Policy Fellow and senior academic are working with the University and City Council and partners connecting academic research to policymakers. Building on the YU infrastructure has enabled the network that is Y-PERN, to develop a follow-on proposal to create the Yorkshire and Humber Policy Innovation Partnership (Y-PIP), which has been successful in securing £5m funding to support partnerships between academics, policymakers and communities. The University of Hull will play a leading role in convening Y-PIP’s community engagement panel, and in delivering the project’s sustainability work.
The University of Hull has also informed two recent pieces of work led by YU, which we believe that the new Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority could play a leading role in supporting. First, in partnership with Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber, and the NHS Confederation, YU has published a new Health White Paper for Yorkshire and the Humber, which identifies the importance of health and well-being as central tenets of increasing productivity, prosperity and inclusive growth in the region. The White Paper suggests that Combined Authorities are ideally placed to use their convening and commissioning powers to bring together broad-based partnerships – comprising businesses, universities, sports bodies and community-based organisations, as well as local government and the NHS, in efforts to tackle specific health and economic issues in local places. Second, as part of our contribution to the Northern Creative Industries Corridor, we have mapped the distinct and widespread contribution of all YU members to the cultural and creative industries in Yorkshire. The legacy of the 2017 City of Culture in Hull runs deep and wide, and it is evident that the University of Hull, alongside public, private and community partners, has demonstrated the value of arts, culture and creative talent to local economic and societal development and cohesion. We would encourage the Mayoral Combined Authority to champion this work as part of its programme of activity going forward.
We wish the Devolution Deal good luck and every success. YU looks forward to working with the new Mayor and Combined Authority, supporting the University of Hull, building on existing partnerships and shared priorities, as well as the significant contributions that the HE sector makes to Hull and East Yorkshire, and across Yorkshire and Humber as a whole.
Yours sincerely
Dr Peter O’Brien
Executive Director
Yorkshire Universities
