Recommendation 21

When we asked about the current situation, DBT told us it now has a specialist business grants and investment directorate of 120 people with 30 working on grants, which it describes as a centre of excellence. It highlighted that members of the grants team have extensive experience in delivering grant schemes such as the Regional Growth Fund.46 In a letter after the session, DBT clarified that 14 members of the grants team 35 Qq 82–83 36 C&AG’s Report, para 2.14 37 Letter from Philip Duffy, HM Treasury to the Public Accounts Committee, dated 17 May 2023 38 Qq 24, 117; C&AG’s Report, Figures 3 and 4 39 Q 79 40 Qq 9, 15, 53, 83, 95, 100–101 41 Q 117 42 Q 102; C&AG’s Report, paras 2.9 and 2.11 to 2.13, and Figure 10 43 C&AG’s Report, para 2.14 44 Qq 82–84 and 117; C&AG’s Report, para 2.15 and Figure 3 45 Q99; C&AG’s Report, Figure 8 and para 2.20 46 Qq 2, 9, 17, 39–41 Local authority administered COVID support schemes in England 13 work on assurance and debt recovery.47 DBT was keen to impress on us the difference that this increased capacity within a specialist unit had made. Examples we were given included specialist grant and counter-fraud input for policy teams designing grants, a standard set of documentation available for customisation, greater focus on the clarity of criteria and definitions, being able to think about the detail of the end-to-end grants process and build this into guidance from the start, and greater capacity to engage with local authorities during both scheme design and delivery.48 47 Letter to the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee from Gareth Davies, Permanent Secretary, Department for Business and Trade, 25 May 2023 48 Qq 17, 82–83, 89, 91, 95–96 14 Local authority administered COVID support schemes in England 2 Building on the experience Understanding impact