Regional inequalities amplified by young people leaving to go to university, says commission boss

A new wave of hi-tech enterprises has transformed the UK economic base away from its traditional manufacturing sector, with Yorkshire at the forefront of the digital revolution.

The Government has highlighted the importance of the digital economy, with a report predicting that the Yorkshire region alone is on track to create 42,000 technology jobs over the next four years.

However, the Social Mobility Commission’s deputy chairman, Alun Francis, has stressed that a greater impetus needs to be achieved to tackle long-term inequalities in education and skills, which has been compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He warned that there is a danger that young people from more deprived areas will look to leaving for higher education studies elsewhere in the country, amplifying regional inequalities which he said dated as far back as the 1980s.

Mr Francis, who has been the chief executive of Oldham College since 2010, said: “There are places that you can grow up in this country where you do not have the same level of opportunity or you do have opportunity, but only if you leave.

“Our system of higher education is unwittingly designed where if you grow up in one of these places, then the best opportunity is to go away to university for three years and probably not to come back.

“The problem with that model is that it works for those university towns and cities where people go to study by bringing in a new workforce of young people learning new skills, but it does not help those places which they have left.

“There are fewer opportunities and options for the people who are left there which makes it far more difficult to sustain town centres and encourage business growth.

“It is about what can be done to improve the economies of these places and create real opportunities with more technical skills, more apprenticeships, more routes into higher skilled jobs and thinking what people want from their lives and how that can be achieved.”

Analysis from the Government revealed that Yorkshire’s digital industry is the fastest growing in the whole of the UK and IT vacancies have increased by 36 per cent in the region, with salaries also rising.

Yorkshire has been successful in attracting large digital sector employers, particularly in Leeds which is home to Sky’s digital technology division and Channel 4’s new national headquarters.

A report published by the University of York and Purpose Coalition in November last year warned that urgent measures must be taken to reverse social mobility stagnation after successive decades of inaction had widened the North-South divide and risked creating a lost generation through a lack of educational and job opportunities.

The Level Best report was commissioned in the wake of figures which revealed it would take a child born into poverty in the UK five generations to earn the average wage, compared to just two in Denmark and three in Finland and Sweden.

Purpose Coalition was founded by Justine Greening and the Rotherham-born former Conservative Education Secretary urged public and private sector organisations to sign up to the report’s 14 levelling up goals, which include closing the digital divide.

Ms Greening told The Yorkshire Post: “The digital industry also provides a big opportunity, especially in Yorkshire which has the fastest growing digital industry sector in the UK.

“We have to manage the shift to a more digital economy to make sure everyone has the opportunities.”

She added: “One person’s version of success is often very different from another person’s point of view. It is about everyone, and not just the most gifted, and what are the opportunities which are available to all matters in places such as Yorkshire.

“There are dangers in not encouraging opportunities on our doorsteps, which means the talent goes looking for them elsewhere.

“People often do want to stay in their own communities, and it is not just the individuals who will benefit from that but the whole communities in general.”

The Government has pledged its commitment to ensuring the continued growth of the nation’s burgeoning technology sector.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport highlighted a partnership with industry leaders which launched the Digital Inclusion Impact Group in September to tackle digital exclusion, as well as The Government’s national strategy to support and progress skills and research in artificial intelligence.

A spokesperson for the department said: “Britain’s tech industry is booming and we’re committed to making sure people across the UK have the right skills to be a part of it.”