Recommendations & Conclusions
25 items
2
Recommendation
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Accepted
We are concerned the Department did not do enough to understand the readiness of project proposals and the challenges facing local authorities before it awarded funds. As we have found before, optimism bias has put impactful bids to the Levelling Up Fund at risk of missing out at the expense …
Government response. The government agrees and outlines implemented measures to ensure timely project success, including a project adjustment request process, funding for capacity, and reducing complexity through the Funding Simplification Doctrine. It also highlights the shift away from competition in Levelling Up …
HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Rejected
The Department changed the rules for applying for the Levelling Up Fund during the application process, wasting scarce public resources, disadvantaging some local authorities and hindering transparency. The Levelling Up programme was sub-optimal in this respect and it is important that lessons are learnt. There is as worrying lack of …
Government response. The government rejects the recommendation, stating that decisions about the rules of future programmes for awarding Levelling Up funds are a matter for Ministers at the time.
HM Treasury
4
Conclusion
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Accepted
We welcome the intentions to simplify the funding system, but the Department has more to do to implement its plans. The Department published its plans for funding simplification in Summer 2023. This plan covers the whole of government and aims to simplify the approach to, and number of, funding streams …
Government response. The government agrees, confirming the Funding Simplification Doctrine is published and in force, with an interim evaluation of the pilots due by year-end and a full evaluation in 2026. It describes improvements to fund management, but will not quantify costs …
HM Treasury
5
Recommendation
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Accepted
The Department is providing focused support to some local authorities with project delivery, but it remains to be seen how the Department will use any learning from these activities to support all local authorities. In addition to the flexibilities introduced in the pathfinder simplification pilots (see above), the Department is …
Government response. The government states it already disseminates lessons through its Delivery Associate Network, which provides group learning, webinars, newsletters, and a 'Knowledge Hub' website for all local authorities. It also commits to using lessons learned from support offers and evaluations to …
HM Treasury
6
Conclusion
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Accepted
We recognise the Department’s plans to evaluate these funds in the short-term, but we are concerned it has no long-term plans to measure the impacts. The Department is playing catch up in its efforts to carry out robust evaluation. Having previously not considered evaluation well enough, it is now putting …
Government response. The government confirms its evaluation strategies are publicly available, citing published feasibility and scoping studies for various funds. It details its approach to ensuring robust data, including building spatial data and commissioning external experts for impact evaluation, with reports to …
HM Treasury
1
Conclusion
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Accepted
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) about three significant levelling-up grants to local government.1
Government response. The government accepts the committee's foundational observation, and in response, provides detailed statistics on the distribution and spending of Levelling Up Funds, Towns Fund, and UK Shared Prosperity Fund, including the number of projects underway or completed.
HM Treasury
7
Conclusion
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Acknowledged
The Department sought to fund ‘shovel-ready’ projects in both the Towns Fund and Levelling Up Fund. The Department told us the latest figures across Rounds 1 and 2 of the Levelling Up Fund show that 284 out of 308 projects have commenced. For the Future High Streets Fund, it is …
Government response. The government acknowledges the committee's observations regarding project status and delivery, stating it has 'implemented' the recommendation (despite it being a conclusion). It clarifies the stages of funding distribution, provides updated figures on projects underway and completed, and explains how …
HM Treasury
8
Recommendation
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Accepted
Our report in 2022 on Local Economic Growth found there was an optimism bias in expectations for Round 1 of the Levelling Up Fund.14 The recent NAO report found that the Department’s monitoring reports are showing that projects are behind where it would expect to be at this stage of …
Government response. The government agrees and states the recommendation is implemented, having prioritised proposals from places confident of quick starts and requiring robust delivery plans. It has implemented programme-wide measures for managing costs and improving flexibility, including a Project Adjustment Request process, …
HM Treasury
9
Recommendation
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Accepted
We asked for assurance that Round 1 projects of the Levelling Up Fund would be able to spend their government funds by the 31 March 2024 deadline. The department told us that it had provided flexibility to local authorities and allowed them to extend Round 1 projects to March 2025 …
Government response. The government agrees and states the recommendation is implemented, having prioritised quick-start projects and provided flexibility for deadlines. It has implemented programme-wide measures including a Project Adjustment Request process, capacity funding, and simplified funding through the Funding Simplification Doctrine, and …
HM Treasury
10
Recommendation
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Accepted
We challenged the Department about whether allowing local authorities to extend the deadline to spend government funds for all projects in the Future High Street Fund and Rounds 1 and 2 of the Levelling Up Fund was a sign that there was a problem with how the funds were set …
Government response. The government acknowledges economic factors caused project delays and states it has already implemented programme-wide measures, including greater flexibility via a project adjustment request process, funding for capacity building, and reduced complexity through the Funding Simplification Doctrine.
HM Treasury
11
Recommendation
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Accepted
Evidence we received from the South East Councils told us that the bidding process for funds had led to a ‘begging bowl’ culture where Councils were required to spend too much time and money to meet ever-changing demands of ministers, rather than planning for the long-term to truly deliver for …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation, stating it is moving to a simpler, more streamlined funding system. It has implemented a Funding Simplification Doctrine with four principles for new funding to local government and moved away from competition for Levelling Up …
HM Treasury
12
Conclusion
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
The NAO reported that local authorities and other bodies submitted 834 bids across Rounds 1 and 2 of the Levelling Up Fund. Of these, 216 bids were successful with a value of £3.78 billion, and 618 (just under three-quarters) were rejected, with a value of £9.74 billion.28
HM Treasury
13
Conclusion
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Rejected
We questioned the Department on why it changed the rules for the Levelling Up Fund between the rounds. It told us that having seen how many bids were submitted for Round 2 of the Levelling Up Fund, ministers decided that local authorities that were successful in Round 1 would not …
Government response. The government disagrees with the committee's implied criticism about changing rules for the Levelling Up Fund between rounds without prior communication, stating that future programme rules are a matter for Ministers. It refers to the new Funding Simplification Doctrine which …
HM Treasury
14
Conclusion
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Rejected
Round 3 of the Levelling Up Fund was run as an allocation to some of the unsuccessful bids that were submitted in Round 2. We challenged the Department that this disadvantaged some local authorities who might have wanted to submit a bid in Round 2 but decided not to, because …
Government response. The government disagrees with the committee's implied criticism regarding the Round 3 Levelling Up Fund allocation, stating that decisions on rules for future programmes are a matter for ministers. It defends the approach of allocating funds to unsuccessful Round 2 …
HM Treasury
15
Conclusion
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
The Levelling Up Fund is UK-wide.36 We noted that the prioritisation of local places used criteria that was Great Britain wide, as well as three separate sets of criteria for Scotland, England and Wales. A different approach to delivering the Levelling Up Fund was taken in Northern Ireland, which took …
HM Treasury
16
Conclusion
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
We also questioned the Department on the future role of MPs in ‘signing-off’ bids and whether they have a veto. The Department said it was clear that ministers wanted MPs to have a role, but that MPs did not have a veto although a policy decision had been made that …
HM Treasury
17
Conclusion
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Accepted
The Department published its plans for funding simplification in Summer 2023. The plan covers the whole of government and aims to simplify the number of separate funding streams available to local authorities.42 The Department told us it has introduced several practical and concrete ways to make the system more responsive …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's conclusion regarding funding simplification, setting an implementation date of April 2025. It confirms that all ten pathfinder pilots have been agreed, the Funding Simplification Doctrine published, and provides timelines for interim and full evaluations …
HM Treasury
18
Conclusion
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Accepted
The Department told us that there are a lot of delegated flexibilities. For example, local authorities can move money between years, without seeking approval from the Department.45 The NAO reported that part of the simplification plan was to allow local authorities to make changes within individual programmes up to a …
Government response. The government confirms its implementation of programme-wide measures for flexibility, including the Funding Simplification Doctrine and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. It commits to continue improving funds and speeding up decision-making for Project Adjustment Requests by allowing S151 Officers to …
HM Treasury
19
Recommendation
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Accepted
During our evidence session we questioned the Department about how local authorities were supported to deliver their projects and what it is learning from this.49 As part of its simplification plans the Department told us it has allowed ten local authorities who are receiving money from multiple funds to each …
Government response. The government states it has reflected on lessons learned from pathfinder pilots and is moving towards a simpler funding system. It commits to publishing an interim evaluation of the pilot by year-end and a full evaluation in 2026.
HM Treasury
20
Recommendation
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Accepted
The Department said it had locally-based area teams who knew their local authorities and can provide support across all the funding sources they may be accessing.53 We asked about support for local authorities who were struggling. The Department told us it had a ‘discovery team’ who were working with 25 …
Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation and states that the Delivery Associate Network, launched in January 2024, provides expert delivery support to local authorities. It commits to using lessons learned from this and other engagement to inform the design of …
HM Treasury
21
Conclusion
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Accepted
In addition to the support already mentioned, the Department told us it had an additional £65 million of funding to provide further support to local places and procure expert support. The funds were split across: £6 million for Delivery Associates; £38 million in direct grant support to local areas; £11 …
Government response. The government agrees, describing the existing Delivery Associate Network which provides expert support to local authorities. It commits to use lessons learned from the overall support offer to inform the design of future capacity and capability support by Summer 2025.
HM Treasury
22
Recommendation
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Accepted
In our report on Local Economic Growth, we were critical of the Department for not yet having developed the promised overarching monitoring and evaluation framework for local growth.58 The Department told us that, in response to recommendations from the Committee, it was putting in place robust plans for evaluation that …
Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation and states it has robust plans to measure long-term impact, with a target implementation date of December 2025. It has published evaluation strategies and feasibility studies for key local growth programmes and is commissioning …
HM Treasury
23
Conclusion
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Accepted
We questioned the Department on its approach to evaluation.60 The NAO had reported that the Department had published its overarching evaluation strategy in November 2022.61 The NAO report said the Department was behind where it wanted to be with the procurement of its evaluation work, so we asked the Department …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's conclusion regarding its approach to evaluation and progress on procurement, setting a target implementation date of December 2025. It reaffirms its plans for long-term impact measurement, detailing published evaluation strategies, feasibility studies, data requirements, …
HM Treasury
24
Conclusion
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Accepted
We were interested to hear how the Department was going to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the £10.47 billion total that is being spent. It told us that there was always a balance, when doing place-based interventions, as to the timing of when you do them versus waiting for the …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's conclusion regarding the need for comprehensive evaluation of spending, setting a target implementation date of December 2025. It asserts that it already has clear plans for long-term impact measurement, detailing published evaluation strategies, feasibility …
HM Treasury
25
Conclusion
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund…
Accepted
We asked the department whether it had a plan to use publicly available data to have a snapshot review at different points, for example five, ten or 15 years after a project had concluded, so that the department could continue the learning about what works. The Department told us it …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's conclusion that it should have a plan for long-term project review and states a target implementation date of December 2025. It clarifies that it believes existing evaluation strategies and published studies already incorporate plans …
HM Treasury