Recommendation 21

We questioned the Department on why, despite billions of pounds spent on it over the years, there was so little evidence on what works for delivering local economic growth, particularly outside London. The Department’s Accounting Officer pointed to the inherent complexity of understanding how local economies grow, and that the precise mix of interventions needed and the engagement between private sector and society, varied from place to place. He explained that ultimately it was for central government to provide frameworks and funding, and for local areas to determine the right interventions. While acknowledging that the picture of evidence was imperfect, the Department told us that it was “not a counsel of despair” and that the Levelling Up White Paper drew very clearly on lessons from the past.63 As examples of successful local growth projects, he pointed to the Department for Transport’s Transforming Cities Fund and, he said, taking a broader interpretation of what makes a difference at a local level, the Supporting 56 Committee of Public Accounts, Accountability to Parliament for taxpayers’ money, Thirty-ninth Report of Session 2015–16, HC 732, 4 May 2016 57 Q 128 58 Q 128; HM Government, Levelling Up the United Kingdom, CP 604, 2 February 2022 59 Q 128 60 Q 132 61 Q 133 62 Q 36; C&AG’s Report, para 6 63 Q 12 Local economic growth 15 Families programme. Drawing from the White Paper, the Department emphasised the importance of a holistic definition of local growth that included not only investment in physical capital such as transport infrastructure, but how to combine that investment with other forms of investment such as skills.64