Recommendation 30

We have previously expressed concern about a lack of evidence and transparency to justify scheme selection in other parts of government.67 In our 2020 report on the Towns Fund, we found that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government was not open about the process it followed and did not disclose reasons for selecting or excluding particular towns. This lack of transparency fuelled accusations of political bias in the selection process.68 In our 2022 report on local economic growth, we found that the 61 C&AG’s Report, paras 1.8 and 2.7, Figure 5 62 C&AG’s Report, para 1.10 63 C&AG’s Report para 1.9 64 C&AG’s Report, paras 9, 1.8 and 1.9 65 NHP00005 66 Qq 102–107, 115, 116 67 Q 108 68 Committee of Public Accounts, Selecting towns for the Towns Fund, Twenty-Fourth report of Session 2019–21, HC 651, 2 November 2020 The New Hospital Programme 17 Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities’ principles for awarding grants of levelling-up funding were only finalised by ministers after they knew which bidders would win grants as a result.69