Select Committee · Public Accounts Committee

Levelling up funding to local government

Status: Closed Opened: 13 Dec 2023 Closed: 28 May 2024 10 recommendations 15 conclusions 1 report

The Government has allocated £9.5bn in levelling up funding, in support of over 4,000 local projects, to be spent by 31 March 2026. A further billion pounds in funding has yet to be awarded. In June 2022, the Committee’s report on local economic growth highlighted the uncertainty around funding pots for local economic growth, with …

Reports

1 report

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Twenty-First Report - Levelling up funding to local governm…	HC 424	15 Mar 2024	25	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

3 items

3 Recommendation Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund… Rejected

Set out clear principles and transparent decision-making process for awarding future Levelling Up funds.

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

13 Conclusion Twenty-First Report - Levelling up fund… Rejected

Department changed Levelling Up Fund rules mid-process, excluding successful Round 1 bidders without notice.

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

Levelling Up Fund Round 3 allocation disadvantaged local authorities unable to bid previously.

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

Oral evidence sessions

1 session

Date	Witnesses
15 Jan 2024	Jess Blakely · Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Sarah Healey CB CVO · Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Will Garton · Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities	View ↗

Correspondence

2 letters

Date	Direction	Title
5 Feb 2024	—	Correspondence from Sarah Healey CB CVO, Permanent Secretary, Department for Le…
15 Jan 2024	—	Correspondence from Sarah Healey CB CVO, Permanent Secretary, Department for Le…

Accepted	18
Acknowledged	1
Rejected	3