Recommendations & Conclusions
27 items
2
Recommendation
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
Not Addressed
The Department does not yet have a strong understanding of what works for local growth but we welcome its belated commitment to evaluating local growth interventions. It is disappointing that, despite billions spent on local growth over many decades, government does not yet have a strong understanding of what works. …
Government response. The response does not address the recommendation of updating on progress with local growth evaluation commitments, and instead discusses internal performance measures and consultations with the sector.
HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
We are concerned that optimism bias has meant realistic bids to the Levelling Up Fund have missed out at the expense of ‘shovel-ready’ projects that have since been beset with delays. The Department told us that, four weeks from year end, it had paid out around £100 million of the …
Government response. 3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 3.2 The Levelling Up Fund is a new funding programme, and the accountable departments – the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Department for Transport (DfT) – understand …
HM Treasury
4
Recommendation
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
There remains considerable uncertainty for Local Authorities around funding, structures and responsibilities for local economic growth. The Department extols the virtues of local plans for coordinating and achieving value for money from central government funding. However local authorities’ attempts at long-term planning have been frustrated by the timing, co-ordination, and …
Government response. 4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: To be confirmed 4.2 The government has recognised that the local growth funding landscape has previously been complex and fragmented. That is why local growth funding has largely been …
HM Treasury
5
Recommendation
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
It is unclear how the Department is reconciling tensions between devolved responsibilities and administering local growth funding on a UK-wide basis. Economic development is a devolved power but the Department is administering the Levelling Up and UK Shared Prosperity funds (UKSPF) on a UK-wide basis. We Local economic growth 7 …
Government response. 5.1 The department agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: To be confirmed 5.2 Although the government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation, it disagrees with the conclusion it is based on. 5.3 The department’s priority is delivering effective investment …
HM Treasury
6
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
Accountability for levelling up outcomes remains unsatisfactory. This Committee has reported before that government’s accountability arrangements had failed to keep pace with increasingly complex ways of delivering policies and services. and that this had weakened accountability to Parliament for the use of public funds. The cross-government nature of the levelling …
Government response. 6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2022 6.2 The Levelling Up White Paper sets out twelve missions that support levelling up outcomes. Missions are a tool to break down silos and encourage collaboration across …
HM Treasury
7
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
The Department does not yet know how it will measure performance on a consistent basis across different geographical areas and timescales. We are concerned that data availability and quality is not yet adequate to track progress against the Levelling Up missions, either at a local level or to allow comparison …
Government response. 7.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2023 7.2 Although the government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation it disagrees with the conclusion on which it is based. 7.3 As mentioned in the Levelling Up White …
HM Treasury
1
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (the Department), HM Treasury, the Department for Transport and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy about Supporting local economic growth.1
Government response. Based on a report by the National Audit Office, the Committee took evidence on 2 March 2022 from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, HM Treasury, the Department for Transport and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial …
HM Treasury
8
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
LEPS, the business led-partnerships that have been an important part of the local growth landscape over the past decade, will take a back seat going forward as government delivers more funding through local authorities. The Department told us it is encouraging the integration of LEPs and their business boards into …
HM Treasury
9
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
Economic development is a devolved power and, since the late 1990s, local growth funding in the devolved nations has been managed by the Scottish and Welsh Governments and the Northern Ireland Executive.24 Since 2020 however, central government’s principle local growth programmes have been UK-wide. The Towns Fund, announced in July …
HM Treasury
10
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
We asked the Department how the part played by the devolved governments on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund compared to their part in deciding the allocation of the European funds it is replacing. The Department explained that for the European Structural Funds, the Devolved National Governments had been the “managing …
Government response. 5.1 The department agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: To be confirmed 5.2 Although the government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation, it disagrees with the conclusion it is based on. 5.3 The department’s priority is delivering effective investment …
HM Treasury
11
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
The Department reassured us that it was expecting to work very closely with each of the devolved Governments and with the individual local authorities responsible for delivery. We were, however, sceptical about how close past cooperation with devolved Governments had really been and the extent to which it enabled national …
Government response. 5.1 The department agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: To be confirmed 5.2 Although the government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation, it disagrees with the conclusion it is based on. 5.3 The department’s priority is delivering effective investment …
HM Treasury
12
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
We questioned the Department on whether the way in which it was awarding funding might mean some areas missed out multiple times across the various funding pots while others were given several opportunities to get funding.31 The Department explained that successful bidders from round 1 of the Levelling Up Fund …
HM Treasury
13
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
We reminded the Department that when we reported previously on the Towns Fund we had raised concerns over the opacity over some of its decision making.34 In November 2020, we reported that the selection process for awarding the Towns Fund had not been impartial. We said that a lack of …
HM Treasury
14
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
The Department’s accounting officer reasoned that we had discussed and reported on the Towns Fund at quite considerable length and that he felt it had a been a valid and fair process.37 In respect of the Levelling Up Fund, he said that there had been a very high level of …
HM Treasury
15
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
We questioned the Department on the nature and timing of the role for Ministers in making final decisions for the Levelling Up Fund.40 The NAO’s report explains that following an initial pass/fail gateway, officials scored and ranked bids against published criteria and then passed a shortlist of the highest scoring …
HM Treasury
16
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
According to its business case, the Department expected to allocate £720 million of the total £4.8 billion budget in the first round of the Levelling Up Fund. In October 2021, government announced 105 successful bids totalling £1.7 billion for the first round.47 The Department told us that there had been …
HM Treasury
17
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
We queried whether making “up to” £600 million available for 2021–22 at the Spending Review 2020 had set an expectation about the amount that would be awarded in the first year.51 The Department explained that this £600 million was the amount it expected bidders to spend in the first year …
HM Treasury
18
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
The Department told us that getting started on delivery was, in many cases, taking longer than expected but that it did not want to penalise places now that they had got through the assessment process. We heard that delays have often been for good reasons such as areas taking more …
Government response. 3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 3.2 The Levelling Up Fund is a new funding programme, and the accountable departments – the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Department for Transport (DfT) – understand …
HM Treasury
19
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
This Committee reported in 2016 that government’s accountability arrangements had failed to keep pace with increasingly complex ways of delivering policies and services and that this had weakened accountability to Parliament for the use of public funds.56 Noting the long timescales and magnitude of the delivery challenge, we questioned witnesses …
Government response. 6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2022 6.2 The Levelling Up White Paper sets out twelve missions that support levelling up outcomes. Missions are a tool to break down silos and encourage collaboration across …
HM Treasury
20
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
We heard that a lot of the missions were cross-cutting and would require leadership from several departments while others were more focussed and there would be more of a role for a lead department.59 For example, the Accounting Officer from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy told us …
Government response. 6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2022 6.2 The Levelling Up White Paper sets out twelve missions that support levelling up outcomes. Missions are a tool to break down silos and encourage collaboration across …
HM Treasury
21
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
We questioned the Department on why, despite billions of pounds spent on it over the years, there was so little evidence on what works for delivering local economic growth, particularly outside London. The Department’s Accounting Officer pointed to the inherent complexity of understanding how local economies grow, and that the …
Government response. 2.1 The department agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: September 2023 2.2 The department has a strong understanding of what works for local growth, as demonstrated by the literature review within the Levelling Up White Paper. 2.3 What …
HM Treasury
22
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
In 2019, this Committee reported that the Department did not understand what impacts its £12 billion Local Growth Fund had had on local economic growth yet had decided not to evaluate it.65 We were encouraged to learn that the Department has now decided to reverse that decision but, as the …
Government response. 2.1 The department agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: September 2023 2.2 The department has a strong understanding of what works for local growth, as demonstrated by the literature review within the Levelling Up White Paper. 2.3 What …
HM Treasury
23
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
The Department has been considering an overarching monitoring and evaluation framework for local growth to include common objectives and outcomes, within which individual programme-level frameworks would sit. This would enable it to compare the relative effectiveness of similar initiatives and minimise the data collection burden on local authorities. The Department …
Government response. 2.1 The department agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: September 2023 2.2 The department has a strong understanding of what works for local growth, as demonstrated by the literature review within the Levelling Up White Paper. 2.3 What …
HM Treasury
24
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
When we asked what success would look like for people in areas where, for example, it is hard to get a job or the High Street is struggling, the Department highlighted the importance of taking a broad definition of growth.71 We heard that that success would include people having access …
Government response. 7.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2023 7.2 Although the government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation it disagrees with the conclusion on which it is based. 7.3 As mentioned in the Levelling Up White …
HM Treasury
25
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
Two of the missions in the Levelling Up White Paper are ‘overarching’ missions. The first is around living standards and includes measures of productivity, pay and jobs and the second is around measures of well-being.73 With reference to the first, we asked the Department how it intended to measure local …
Government response. 7.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2023 7.2 Although the government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation it disagrees with the conclusion on which it is based. 7.3 As mentioned in the Levelling Up White …
HM Treasury
26
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
When we asked the Department whether it expected to be able to get this data quickly enough to be able to measure what impact the funds under its levelling-up agenda were having, the Department told us it would be able to make some progress quickly but some of it would …
Government response. 7.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2023 7.2 Although the government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation it disagrees with the conclusion on which it is based. 7.3 As mentioned in the Levelling Up White …
HM Treasury
27
Conclusion
Fifth Report - Local economic growth
We asked the Department how it intended to pull together all this data to show a big picture, as well as a local picture, to demonstrate the effectiveness of government’s levelling up agenda. The Department told us it had committed to reporting annually on levelling up and its performance against …
Government response. 7.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2023 7.2 Although the government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation it disagrees with the conclusion on which it is based. 7.3 As mentioned in the Levelling Up White …
HM Treasury