Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 5
5
Accepted
Set out lessons learned from focused local support work and disseminate to all authorities.
Recommendation
The Department is providing focused support to some local authorities with project delivery, but it remains to be seen how the Department will use any learning from these activities to support all local authorities. In addition to the flexibilities introduced in the pathfinder simplification pilots (see above), the Department is providing focused support to local authorities to help them unblock and deliver their projects. This includes area teams that work with local authorities and departmental experts that it is deploying into 25 local authorities to help them unblock delivery. The Department also has an additional £65 million to provide additional funding to local authorities who received funds under the Levelling Up Fund and to provide external experts to build capacity and capability in local authorities. But the Department’s focused support is available to only a small number of local authorities. It remains to be seen how the Department is going to disseminate these lessons to support all local authorities and how they will use these lessons to improve their approach in the future. Recommendation 5: The Department should set out in its Treasury Minute response the lessons it is learning from its local support work and how it will disseminate the lessons to all local authorities.
Government Response Summary
The government states it already disseminates lessons through its Delivery Associate Network, which provides group learning, webinars, newsletters, and a 'Knowledge Hub' website for all local authorities. It also commits to using lessons learned from support offers and evaluations to inform the design of future capacity and capability support.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. authorities in receipt of Levelling Up funds with access to a network of delivery experts with the skills and experience to support in the delivery of DLUHC-funded projects. At present, the Delivery Associate Network works with local authorities and wider delivery partners to identify delivery issues and provide expert advice on effective solutions. Along with these targeted interventions, the Delivery Associate Network also offers broader, topic-based support, including group learning sessions, webinars, newsletters and a ‘Knowledge Hub’ website, available for all local authorities to access. These interventions are already shoring up delivery of individual projects. For example, delivery experts have unblocked a project finance issue for a direct grant recipient in Northern Ireland, resulting in the department flexing its approach to payments to ensure the recipient could get the best deal from contractors. The department will use lessons learned from the overall support offer, from its programme evaluations and from general engagement with local authorities to inform the design of future capacity and capability support.