Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 17
17
Accepted
Paragraph: 64
Require DLUHC to utilise local government data expertise and ensure clear data sources.
Recommendation
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.
Government Response Summary
The government defends its data collection approach, explaining that its chosen indicators align with Levelling Up Fund interventions and that data sources are primarily government statistical releases, with links provided in published methodology notes. It states it chose to gather data from original sources rather than relying on aggregated data.
Paragraph Reference:
64
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The IMD does not represent a ‘one size fits all’ solution to measuring need - not all of the variables it considers are relevant to the particular interventions we want to support through the Levelling Up Fund. As set out in the methodology note published on gov.uk, the indicators used in the Index of Priority Places were chosen to closely align with the type of interventions the Levelling Up Fund is designed to support. The methodology note for the second round explains the changes to the Index from the first round. The published model on gov.uk provides links to the data sets used to construct the index and notes on how to access them. Most of the data sets used to construct the index are obtained from Government statistical releases or statistical releases from the devolved administrations, which allows for a consistent assessment of need of local authorities within each nation. Data sets made available by the Local Government Association are compiled from these statistical releases. The Department therefore elected to gather the data from the original sources. Commercial Vacancy Rates were obtained from a propriety data source, however the department paid for these to be made publicly available.