My friend Mike Campbell, who has died of cancer aged 68, was a creative force in skills and economic development policies. He was convinced that skills are the key to productivity and social mobility.
In recent years he had applied his ideas through the Sector Skills Development Agency (2002-06) and the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (2007-11). At UKCES he was director of research and policy and advised the government. A proponent of lifelong learning and convinced that employers should take responsibility for investing in training, he helped UKCES make a real impact by involving employers and academics in policy formulation.
Mike was a member of many influential bodies, undertook assignments in South Africa, Sri Lanka, Australia, Japan and Europe, and addressed Unesco, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Labour Organisation and the World Bank. He was an excellent speaker – humorous and compelling.
His ideas were also disseminated through books and reports including Ambition 2020: World Class Skills and Jobs for the UK (2009), More Jobs, Better Cities (2013) and Job Generation for a Jobless Generation (2015).
He was born in Birkenhead, to Phyliss (nee Conn), a PA to the chief executive of Wirral council, and Patrick Campbell, a Nupe official at Arrowe Park hospital. Mike was educated at St Anselm’s grammar school in the town, then studied economics and geography at Sheffield University, going on to take master’s degrees at Lancaster and Leeds. He was appointed as a lecturer at Leeds Polytechnic (now Leeds Beckett University) in 1972 and became professor of economics and public policy from 1988 until 2002.
Appointed OBE for services to economic development in 2004, he was an honorary fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies and a visiting professor at Durham and Hiroshima universities. When national policy ambition narrowed, he became an independent consultant, working for the Local Economic Partnership in Leeds and for non-governmental agencies such as the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.
Away from work, he treasured his family life, especially the annual holiday in Cornwall. He was a loyal supporter of Blackpool FC and a cricket fanatic; he was a long-time opener for his club, Romany, which is based in Leeds. Our days at Test matches, with the chill-bag hiding some decent red wine, were highlights of the year.
He is survived by his wife, Janie Percy-Smith, whom he met at Leeds in the 1980s and married in 2010, and their daughters, Christina and Rosa.
