Sixth Report - Supporting our high streets after COVID-19

The government agrees on the importance of learning lessons, states it has continually monitored economic impacts, and highlights an external evaluation commissioned by BEIS on the effectiveness of the Business Support Grant programme. However, it does not commit to the full, separate lessons learned review covering all specified aspects of the pandemic's impact on high streets, such as fraud/error or public health measure support.

The government acknowledges the committee's request and states that further information regarding the Monitoring and Evaluation Strategies for the Towns Fund and Community Renewal Fund has recently been published, partially addressing the recommendation for outcome frameworks across all listed funds.

The government already publishes details of successful bids and requires Levelling Up Fund applicants to provide bid development costs, partially addressing the recommendation. They did not commit to publishing unsuccessful bids or undertaking a broad cost-benefit analysis of the bidding process.

The government justified the 50% capital funding requirement but did not commit to removing it. They are reviewing the prospectus to clarify eligibility criteria for future rounds and have commissioned an external evaluation of the fund to capture lessons learned.

The government has tendered for research to determine if commercial landlords are unfairly treated in Company Voluntary Arrangements, the findings of which will inform if a further review is needed.

The government has accepted in part by committing to establish a new beneficial ownership register of overseas entities that own UK property under the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022. The broader review of landlord and tenant legislation, which may consider wider property ownership transparency, is deferred.

The government committed to devolving adult education functions and the associated core AEB to new areas, building on the 60% already devolved, but did not set out specific targets for high street employment.

The government provided overall bus funding figures and committed to publishing new guidance for Local Transport Plans, but did not fully clarify the precise split of £3 billion for COVID-19 recovery versus improvements or explicitly confirm all requested high street accessibility criteria in funding.