Recommendation 17

The DLUHC should not seek to fix something which is not broken. Rather than outsourcing the collection of new data sets, the Department should have called on the expertise of bodies such as the Local Government Association and offices within local government which have ample access to data on deprivation and measuring need and understand their local areas and communities best. This would have ensured that time and money was not spent on reframing and accessing data which has, most likely, already been collated elsewhere. Furthermore, the data and data sources the DLUHC chooses to use to determine the parameters for funds, such as the Levelling Up Fund, should always be clear and accessible. It is still not always clear what data sets the DLUHC is using. We suggest that transparent data collection processes and calling on the support of local government would have prevented the perverse situation of deprived areas such as Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council missing out from the first round of funding.