Recommendation 12

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 would not be able to bid again in round 2, though it said it had made an exception for transport authorities which could bid for a transport project on top of another successful bid.32 We heard that the Department’s decision on which towns it had selected as eligible for the Towns Fund had been driven by need and so it hoped that any areas that were benefiting from the Towns Fund and had the opportunity to bid for the Levelling Up fund would be places in greatest need of local investment. The Department acknowledged that there were some ‘challenges’ to the competitive approach and told us that it had decided to award UKSPF by formula to ensure that there would be funding in every part of the country.33