Recommendation 5

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 are concerned that decisions were taken without sufficient consideration of devolved governments’ priorities. These include on how much to allocate, what the criteria were, when to open and close bidding, and how to score bids,. The Department assures us that it is expecting significant collaboration with the devolved governments and with the local bodies responsible for delivery. However, it has not yet convinced us that that this collaboration will be effective in ensuring that priorities of the devolved administrations are adequately taken on board. Recommendation: The Department should set out: • How it will ensure that the processes for awarding funding for future rounds of Levelling Up Fund and the UKSPF will address the prioritisation of devolved nations. • How it plans to ensure ongoing engagement with the devolved administrations.