Recommendation 11

Evidence we received from the South East Councils told us that the bidding process for funds had led to a ‘begging bowl’ culture where Councils were required to spend too much time and money to meet ever-changing demands of ministers, rather than planning for the long-term to truly deliver for their communities.26 The Local Government Association 16 Qq 29, 30 17 Q 9 18 Q 43 19 Q 13 20 Qq 34, 36 21 Correspondence from Permanent Secretary, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, dated 29 January 2024 22 Q 16 23 Qq 120, 121 24 Q 121 25 Qq 15, 59, 78 26 Q 101, LFG0002 Levelling up funding to local government 13 (LGA) estimated the average cost to councils of pursuing each competitive grant to be in the region of £30,000 (with each local authority spending roughly £2.25 million a year chasing down various pots of money distributed from across Whitehall).27