Originally published by LUPC Linked Magazine on 24 August 2026.

In the short time since stepping up to Prime Minister, Andy Burnham has already set out two key policies that will have an impact on the higher education sector – deeper devolution and a greater emphasis on generating social value from public procurement exercises.

Dominic Swift and Anja Beriro, partners at UK and Ireland law firm Browne Jacobson, explain how this presents opportunities for universities.

Germany's Ruhr Valley was once Europe’s powerhouse of coal and steel before industrial decline set in during the late 20th century, leading to factory closures, job losses and deep structural unemployment.

Today, it is a research and development hub for the next frontier of industry, driven by higher education working in close partnership with local government.

The North Rhine-Westphalia state government invested €75m in a collaboration between three regional universities focused on hydrogen, digital security, sustainability and health, with the explicit ambition that the university system becomes a “nucleus of transformation” within the region.

Andy Burnham will be well aware of this scheme – as Mayor of Greater Manchester, he signed the Innovation Bridge strategic partnership with Ruhr counterparts – and it signals the blueprintlocal for universities’ role in his “new era of devolution” for Britain.

The new Prime Minister is on a quest to unravel the most centralised country in the G7 and has already set plans in motion for greater fiscal devolution, which will bring a once-in-a-generation opportunity for universities to access new funding streams at local level.

Meanwhile, a new approach to public procurement will place a heavier weighting on “social value” criteria, including commitments to upskilling local people, for businesses bidding for government contracts.

The triumvirate of local government, business and education will be encouraged to work in closer partnership than arguably ever before. It’s vital for universities to be ready for this.

The scale of the funding at stake

The multi-year funding packages given to mayoral combined authorities, known as integrated settlements, consolidate more than 30 Whitehall budget streams spanning economic development and regeneration, skills, and employment support.

The government has confirmed £13bn over the 2026/27 to 2029/30 period for seven established authorities, along with a further £900m local growth fund for 11 mayoral city regions in the North and Midlands, and a £500m mayoral revolving growth fund to finance growth projects and attract private investment.

Mayors will have meaningful discretion over allocation, meaning they can direct significant investment into exactly the kinds of projects in which universities can be genuine partners.

Early UK examples demonstrate what is possible. In February, Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Liverpool and the University of Oxford, enabling Oxford's overspill of tech spin-outs to be accommodated in Liverpool.

This partnership will contribute to the Mayor’s ambition to double annual R&D investment in the city region to £2bn by 2030 and create 40,000 high-wage jobs.

Meanwhile, the East Midlands Combined County Authority is the accountable body for the East Midlands Freeport, which has invested £5m into the Zero Carbon Innovation Centre. Located at the University of Nottingham’s Jubilee Campus and featuring Loughborough University and Research England as other partners, it aims to position the region as a global leader in transport technology, green hydrogen production and power solutions for industry.

For higher education leaders, they must consider whether the relationships, strategies and contractual frameworks are in place to access this funding.

The procurement imperative and a Welsh precedent

Burnham has also made it clear that public procurement will be a central pillar of his economic agenda. Borrowing a model from his time leading the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, “social value” criteria will account for 20% of the total score when awarding contracts exceeding £5m to suppliers – up from the current 10% and to be implemented from 1 January 2027.

On 5 August, the Cabinet Office published Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 026, titled “The social value model”, displacing a previous model set out under PPN 002.

Applying to central government agencies, executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies, it focuses on how contracts should focus on employment, skills development and opportunities for local communities and under-served groups.

Suppliers are encouraged to consider how they are creating local jobs above minimum wage, offering training and work placements, and plugging local skills gaps.

While universities aren’t explicitly expected to follow PPN 026, it signals the direction of the procurement landscape more generally. For higher education procurement professionals wondering what a mature social value regime looks like in practice, Wales has embedded social value into public procurement far more deeply and for far longer than England, recently strengthened further through secondary legislation implementing the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023.

The Welsh approach encompasses three interlocking strands – buy local, local employability and sustainability – as contractual obligations embedded into major project contracts, including large-scale real estate and capital works, with monitoring frameworks to match. England, under Burnham, is heading in the same direction. For universities competing for project work, funding partnerships and major contracts in the devolution era, all three strands will need to be demonstrated credibly. This includes sourcing from local and regional suppliers and evidencing this; codifying apprenticeship, work placement and upskilling commitments in procurement documentation rather than simply assuming them; and embedding carbon reduction targets and green infrastructure contributions beyond the campus boundary.

Alongside these higher expectations when bidding for contracts, universities have an opportunity to be part of the solution. Businesses will increasingly need to enrol staff and future talent pipelines on relevant skills programmes, which naturally opens up partnerships with the education sector.

With the government also aiming to put technical education on an equal footing with higher education, these partnerships will also likely involve further education providers. Universities should identify strategically important sectors and employers where funds are likely to flow and skills provision will be required.

Identifying your equivalent of Liverpool-Oxford

Every university leadership team should now be asking where the equivalent of the Zero Carbon Innovation Centre or the Liverpool-Oxford partnership is in their community.

Four-year mayoral terms mean combined authorities are eager to allocate integrated settlements on exciting projects.

Universities that can identify the regeneration opportunities aligned with their research strengths, build credible relationships with local institutions and suppliers, and demonstrate tangible economic value will be well-positioned for the partnerships that define their offer to students, communities and the wider economy for the next generation.

Burnham has not invented the idea that procurement should be an engine of local economic development, but he has been better trained to put it into practice than almost any Prime Minister before him.

The universities that are ready to meet that agenda by building relevant partnerships and developing internal capabilities will cement their role as irreplaceable civic anchors in the places that need them most.