Recommendation 8

Our report in 2022 on Local Economic Growth found there was an optimism bias in expectations for Round 1 of the Levelling Up Fund.14 The recent NAO report found that the Department’s monitoring reports are showing that projects are behind where it would expect to be at this stage of the Towns Fund (consisting of Town Deals and the Future High Streets Fund) and Levelling Up Fund.15 We challenged the Department about how it had got the timescales so wrong and queried whether the Department had done enough to understand if projects were able to deliver within the 18 to 24 months they were given. 7 Correspondence from Permanent Secretary, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, dated 29 January 2024 8 Figures do not sum due to rounding 9 Q 48 10 Qq 41, 48; Correspondence from Permanent Secretary, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, dated 29 January 2024 11 Q 44 12 C&AG’s Report Para 2.2 13 Qq 61-77 14 Committee of Public Accounts, Local Economic Growth, Fifth Report of Session 2022-23, HC 252, 8 June 2022 15 C&AG’s Report Para 8 12 Levelling up funding to local government For example, we asked the Department whether local authorities should have planning permission, compulsory purchase powers approved or a feasibility study before they bid. The Department told us there is a balance between asking local authorities to have everything ready to go when they bid for funds against its desire for deliverability.16