Universities risk being left as the ¡°piggy in the middle¡± after the Westminster government split responsibility for skills across two government departments, with the fragmentation threatening to derail long-awaited policy interventions.

Keir Starmer made the unexpected move as part of the biggest reshuffle of his premiership so far, siphoning off part of the brief held by skills minister Jacqui Smith from the Department for Education to the newly revamped Department for Work and Pensions.

Smith has confirmed she will continue in the role, saying on that the ¡°skills elements¡± of her position will be transferred to allow her to ¡°link up this work to labour market and employment policy and put it at the heart of our growth mission¡±.

She said her work on higher education will remain within the DfE but, while the government has confirmed little further details on the plan, leaders fear that it risks fostering a disjointed approach, given responsibility for areas such as adult education and local skills planning are likely to be moved across Whitehall.

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Universities already had to deal with two departments ¨C the DfE and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the latter of which also now has a new minister, former Labour leadership contender Liz Kendall, who has replaced the popular Peter Kyle.

One senior sector figure said it risked leaving universities as the ¡°piggy in the middle¡± and was a long way from the days when Labour considered giving universities their own department when they were last in power.?It hinted that the government doesn¡¯t value the role higher education can play in growth, they feared.

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Tom Richmond, a former policy adviser to the education minister and now a consultant, said there was a ¡°certain logic¡± to bringing the DWP into skills policy and parts of the agenda could feasibly sit within either department.

But ¡°removing HE from the ¡®skills¡¯ conversation when the Labour manifesto promised a closer relationship between HE and FE could be an awkward development, particularly when we still don¡¯t know where apprenticeship funding will reside in future¡±.

Others said the chance to forge links with the influential Labour figure Pat McFadden, who will head up the new DWP, was an upside of the changes.

Widely credited with masterminding Labour¡¯s election win, McFadden is known to be influential across government and a member of Starmer¡¯s inner circle.

¡°His appointment represents the growing importance being given to the skills agenda by Labour government strategists,¡± said Andy Forbes, executive director of the Lifelong Education Institute.

¡°I anticipate Jacqui Smith will maintain her high profile within the FE and HE sectors, but have less of a role as the public face of government skills policy.¡±

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Diana Beech, director of the Finsbury Institute at City St George¡¯s, University of London, agreed the move could turn out to be a ¡°double-edged sword¡±.

¡°On the one hand, aligning skills with employment policy may sharpen the focus on graduate outcomes and employability and help the sector demonstrate return on investment.

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¡°Yet, on the other, it risks encouraging a more reductionist and prescriptive approach to the purpose of higher education and future policymaking in this area. Fragmenting responsibility across multiple departments could also dilute strategic oversight of higher education issues, particularly at a time of acute financial strain on the sector.¡±

Beech, a former policy adviser to three universities ministers, said questions around leadership and accountability were ¡°inevitable¡±.

¡°The lack of clarity over which aspects of the skills brief will sit where could also delay the long-awaited post-16 education and skills White Paper ¨C especially if Pat McFadden and DWP officials seek to reshape it before publication.¡±

Forbes said that the effect on the White Paper ¨C which had been due to be published this autumn ¨C may mean more of an emphasis on adult upskilling at lower qualification levels but there was now a chance for universities to show their worth in local economic development and matching skills supply and demand.

Chris Husbands, a former vice-chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University, who now works as a consultant, said that given the country¡¯s ¡°persistent¡± skills challenges, it made sense to look again at the government approach.

But ¡°really tough questions remain¡± about the policy direction for higher education. Ministers have made hints recently about encouraging greater specialisation, he added, but the new ministers will need to?work out how to deal with a?¡°major challenge¡± to this idea, posed by the cross-subsidisation model that keeps many institutions afloat.

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tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com