Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 15
15
Deferred
Paragraph: 94
Current Places for Growth programmes are haphazard and lack clear rationale
Conclusion
The previous system of Government Offices for the English Regions received some criticism at the time for not sufficiently doing bottom-up policy-making for the regions they were based in. However, there was at least a comprehensive structure in Where Civil Servants Work: Planning for the future of the Government’s estates 51 place, in which the same government departments were represented in each region, as a scaled down version of Whitehall for local areas. The Government’s current approach to the Places for Growth and Government Hubs programmes is much more haphazard. Without a clearer rationale for why a particular function has been relocated to a particular regional Hub, the Government increases the risk both that its programmes will fail substantially to influence policy-making and that a future government may reorganise or reverse what it has done.
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledged that the issues raised are a difficult area, referencing the Minister's prior evidence session, but did not commit to any specific actions or provide further clarification.
Paragraph Reference:
94
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
15. This is a difficult area as the Minister for the Cabinet Office made clear in his evidence session.