Recommendation 170

Ministers from the new Government agreed with the conclusions of Adam Hawksbee, the former Towns Tsar that competitive bidding processes may not be useful for “places that have the lowest level of capacity or the lowest level of leadership, because they will always be least able to put together bids”. 341 The Government told us that it, in line with the previous Government’s conclusions, felt the bidding approach to funding “has had its day” and it would pursuing a more allocative approach for future funding. 342 Whilst it was acknowledged that bidding processes can help to ensure value for money from Government investment, the Minister suggested that programmes such as the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which provide funding to all local authorities with themes and parameters on which it should be spent, could provide the inspiration for future programmes. 343 It was suggested that improved local authority auditing practice, local democracy and measures potentially introduced through the English Devolution Bill would provide appropriate accountability for local authority spending associated with more loosely defined programmes. 344