Source · Select Committees · Business and Trade Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Given the Government’s own focus on its levelling up agenda, the lack of clarity around...
Conclusion
Given the Government’s own focus on its levelling up agenda, the lack of clarity around its meaning and how it translates into specific policy initiatives and strategies is stark. As it currently stands, levelling up risks becoming an everything and nothing policy, not owned by any particular Minister or Department, and without any means in place of evaluating or assessing its impact or efficacy as policy in ‘improving everyday life and life chances’. (Paragraph 15) Why Levelling up?
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The Government is committed to publishing the Levelling Up White Paper to articulate how we will improve livelihoods across the country as we recover from the pandemic, and level up in every part of the country, from Aberdeen to Aylesbury, Belfast to Brecon. We hope that the Prime Minister’s remarks on 15 July 2021, shortly after this paper was authored, show a focus from the very top of Government on this important agenda and, in particular, offered additional information on some of these points. Within that speech, we would highlight the focus upon health and educational differences, along with the importance of private sector involvement and infrastructure improvements, particularly when the Prime Minister was contrasting regional variations both within the United Kingdom and more broadly. The Select Committee’s comments are very helpful in allowing the Government to formulate the precise detail and scope of that paper. Further detail on our plans will be included in the Levelling Up White Paper.