Recommendation 23

We questioned the Department on its approach to evaluation.60 The NAO had reported that the Department had published its overarching evaluation strategy in November 2022.61 The NAO report said the Department was behind where it wanted to be with the procurement of its evaluation work, so we asked the Department what it had done to correct this.62 In response the Department said it had now published feasibility studies and made progress on procuring evaluation for the funds and was working to strike the balance between having in place a robust methodology and speed of delivery. The Department told us it expected to have findings on impact and value for money of the funds between 2025 to 2027.63 In addition, it told us about two other activities that will provide information more quickly: it is carrying out 36 place-based evaluations looking at 51 Q 91 52 Q 99 53 Qq 10, Q16 54 Q 16 55 Q 52 56 Q 89 57 Q 86 58 Committee of Public Accounts, Local Economic Growth, Fifth Report of Session 2022-23, HC 252, 8 June 2022 59 Q 143 60 Qq 57, 115 61 C&AG’s Report Para 3.3 62 Q 115 63 Qq 119, 147 Levelling up funding to local government 17 the totality of funding intervention, and carrying out a survey of 180,000 people to seek to understand the impact that the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, in particular, is having on the pride in place mission set out in the Levelling Up white paper.64