‘I want change to come not from Whitehall alone.’ That was the message from Education Secretary Lucy Powell as regional mayors, headteachers, college leaders and employers gathered at No.10 North in Manchester on 10 September 2026. For a government talking up devolution, the setting mattered. Rather than treating skills reform as another Westminster announcement to be handed down, ministers used Manchester to argue that the next phase of education policy should be shaped with the places expected to deliver it.

The summit was called to work through how England can raise standards across schools and colleges while doing a better job of getting young people ready for work. On the table were vocational reforms from age 14, stronger work experience and how best to use the billions of pounds being devolved for 16- to 19-year-olds. The government says it wants England to become a ‘technical education superpower’, with technical and academic routes finally treated as equal choices. This meeting was also billed as the first of regular gatherings between industry, politicians and education leaders, giving it more weight than a one-off roundtable.

The timing was not accidental. Earlier that week, the PISA 2025 results for England showed performance improving or holding steady against a wider international dip, with England still above OECD averages in reading, maths and science. Ministers are using that result to argue there is solid ground to build from. Estonia is the comparison they keep returning to: a country held up as proof that strong academic results and respected technical pathways can sit side by side.

That matters because the next phase of reform is meant to be practical, not just presentational. Ministers say the changes will build on V levels from age 16 and an expanded T-level offer from September 2027, with the aim of cutting the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training. That figure remains stubbornly high at nearly 1 million. In northern towns and cities, where access to placements, transport and stable job routes can still be patchy, the real test will be whether these new qualifications lead to proper work rather than simply fresh branding.

The Manchester event also sat just ahead of the government’s Devolution white paper, which is expected to give local leaders a bigger role in shaping economic growth and opportunity. Powell’s pitch was that devolution should change how policy is made, with local areas helping design reform rather than waiting to be told what comes next. That is a line likely to land well across the North, where local leaders have spent years arguing that skills money works best when it reflects the jobs, industries and shortages in each place. The question, as ever, is whether ministers are prepared to pass over enough control for that promise to mean anything in practice.

On the same day, Minister Smith took a similar message to the Universities UK conference, arguing that growth is no use if it only polishes places that are already prosperous. Her case was that universities should see their local role as every bit as important as their national and international standing. There are already working examples. In the Humber, the University of Hull is partnering with Siemens Gamesa and Ørsted so students can move into placements and graduate roles, while a master’s degree apprenticeship designed with Siemens Gamesa is training offshore wind engineers. In the West of England, UWE Bristol and University Centre Weston work with Airbus, Rolls-Royce and GKN Aerospace on engineering degree apprenticeships shaped around real labour demand.

Sector leaders broadly welcomed the Manchester push. Bill Watkin of the Sixth Form Colleges Association said the summit could mark ‘a new chapter in collaboration’, while David Hughes of the Association of Colleges said technical pathways from age 14 need to run all the way through to high-level learning and strong careers, with elected mayors helping to lead that work. Leora Cruddas of the Confederation of School Trusts made the wider civic case, arguing that schools, colleges, universities and NHS trusts should be seen as local institutions that build trust and belonging, not just service providers. Amazon UK’s John Boumphrey put it more plainly: talent is spread right across the country, even if opportunity is not. If this Manchester summit is to matter, that gap is the one ministers now have to close.