Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 10
10
Accepted
Project delays attributed to inflation, supply chain issues, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recommendation
We challenged the Department about whether allowing local authorities to extend the deadline to spend government funds for all projects in the Future High Street Fund and Rounds 1 and 2 of the Levelling Up Fund was a sign that there was a problem with how the funds were set up. It told us that the early years of the projects were very seriously affected by inflation and supply chain issues, as well as the impact of the pandemic but its spending was now more aligned to its budgets than in the earlier years of the funds.25 The changing application process
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges economic factors caused project delays and states it has already implemented programme-wide measures, including greater flexibility via a project adjustment request process, funding for capacity building, and reduced complexity through the Funding Simplification Doctrine.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
As the National Audit Office (NAO) report recognised, wider economic factors have caused delays to projects. The department is working closely with LAs to support sure up delivery as set out in section 2. The department has implemented several programme-wide measures to support local authorities with managing changing project costs. This included providing greater flexibility through a project adjustment request (PAR) process; funding to improve capacity and capability; and reducing complexity to simplify the funding landscape. These commitments are set out in the Funding Simplification Doctrine.