UK Inquiry Tracker

Supporting local economic growth

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 12 Jan 2022 Closed: 2 Sep 2022 Parliament page

Successive governments have tried to address regional economic disparities and raise productivity through a range of interventions, such as the £12 billion government committed to the Local Growth Fund between 2015-16 and 2020-21. In the 2020 Spending Review, and 2021 Budget, government reiterated its intention to “level up opportunity across … Read more

8 Recommendations

19 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

1 Letter

1 Event

Activity timeline 5 events

2 Sep
2022

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifth report from Session 2022-23

8 Jun
2022

Report published

Fifth Report - Local economic growth

21 Apr
2022

Correspondence

Correspondence from Bernadette Kelly, Permanent Secretary, Department for Transport, re Supporting local economic growth, dated 30 March 20…

2 Mar
2022

Oral evidence

Supporting local economic growth

2 Mar
2022

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Wilson Room, Portcullis House

Supporting local economic growth

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

2 Mar 2022

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Supporting local economic growth

Bernadette Kelly CB · Department for Transport Jeremy Pocklington CB · Ministry of Defence Sarah Munby · Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Will Garton · Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Fifth Report - Local economic growth	HC 252	8 Jun 2022	27	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

10 results

2 Recommendation Not Addressed

Fifth Report - Local economic grow…

The Department does not yet have a strong understanding of what works for local growth...

The Department does not yet have a strong understanding of what works for local growth but we welcome its belated commitment to evaluating local growth interventions. It is disappointing that, despite billions spent on local growth over many decades, government … Read more

Government Response

The response does not address the recommendation of updating on progress with local growth evaluation commitments, and instead discusses internal performance measures and consultations with the sector.

HM Treasury

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1 Conclusion Not Addressed

Fifth Report - Local economic grow…

On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...

On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (the Department), HM Treasury, the Department for Transport and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial … Read more

Government Response

Acknowledges the report and the evidence session, no commitment to action.

HM Treasury

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8 Conclusion

Fifth Report - Local economic grow…

LEPS, the business led-partnerships that have been an important part of the local growth landscape...

LEPS, the business led-partnerships that have been an important part of the local growth landscape over the past decade, will take a back seat going forward as government delivers more funding through local authorities. The Department told us it is … Read more

HM Treasury

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9 Conclusion

Fifth Report - Local economic grow…

Economic development is a devolved power and, since the late 1990s, local growth funding in...

Economic development is a devolved power and, since the late 1990s, local growth funding in the devolved nations has been managed by the Scottish and Welsh Governments and the Northern Ireland Executive.24 Since 2020 however, central government’s principle local growth … Read more

HM Treasury

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12 Conclusion

Fifth Report - Local economic grow…

We questioned the Department on whether the way in which it was awarding funding might...

We questioned the Department on whether the way in which it was awarding funding might mean some areas missed out multiple times across the various funding pots while others were given several opportunities to get funding.31 The Department explained that … Read more

HM Treasury

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13 Conclusion

Fifth Report - Local economic grow…

We reminded the Department that when we reported previously on the Towns Fund we had...

We reminded the Department that when we reported previously on the Towns Fund we had raised concerns over the opacity over some of its decision making.34 In November 2020, we reported that the selection process for awarding the Towns Fund … Read more

HM Treasury

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14 Conclusion

Fifth Report - Local economic grow…

The Department’s accounting officer reasoned that we had discussed and reported on the Towns Fund...

The Department’s accounting officer reasoned that we had discussed and reported on the Towns Fund at quite considerable length and that he felt it had a been a valid and fair process.37 In respect of the Levelling Up Fund, he … Read more

HM Treasury

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15 Conclusion

Fifth Report - Local economic grow…

We questioned the Department on the nature and timing of the role for Ministers in...

We questioned the Department on the nature and timing of the role for Ministers in making final decisions for the Levelling Up Fund.40 The NAO’s report explains that following an initial pass/fail gateway, officials scored and ranked bids against published … Read more We questioned the Department on the nature and timing of the role for Ministers in making final decisions for the Levelling Up Fund.40 The NAO’s report explains that following an initial pass/fail gateway, officials scored and ranked bids against published criteria and then passed a shortlist of the highest scoring bids to Ministers. Ministers then made final decisions, taking into account the scores as assessed by officials though the process allowed them some discretion in how bids met a pre-defined list of ‘other considerations’.41 The Department explained that Ministers made decisions about how much money to allocate; what score threshold to apply and what the balance of investment across the three themes of the Levelling Up Fund would be.42 We acknowledged that some decisions would always be taken subjectively by Ministers but wanted to understand how much discretion they had.43 We wanted to understand if Ministers had decided on the principles for awarding funding only after they knew who, from the 170 shortlisted bidders, would win and who would not as a result of those principles.44 HM Treasury told us after the evidence session that Ministers had seen a high level summary of all eligible bids prior to shortlisting but that they made decisions from a shortlist that had been locked down. The Department told us that none of the scores changed as a consequence of ministerial decision-making. It pointed us to the explanatory note which, it said, laid out the detail of how Ministers made their decisions.45 The explanatory note implies a single discussion in which Ministers discussed the shortlist and determined principles for award.46 However, the Department did not publish sufficient information for us to determine, as we would expect in the interests of openness and transparency, how much discretion Ministers had. For example, it did not publish lists of shortlisted or unsuccessful bidders, neither did it publish any information on how the Department had scored Show less

HM Treasury

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16 Conclusion

Fifth Report - Local economic grow…

According to its business case, the Department expected to allocate £720 million of the total...

According to its business case, the Department expected to allocate £720 million of the total £4.8 billion budget in the first round of the Levelling Up Fund. In October 2021, government announced 105 successful bids totalling £1.7 billion for the … Read more

HM Treasury

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17 Conclusion

Fifth Report - Local economic grow…

We queried whether making “up to” £600 million available for 2021–22 at the Spending Review...

We queried whether making “up to” £600 million available for 2021–22 at the Spending Review 2020 had set an expectation about the amount that would be awarded in the first year.51 The Department explained that this £600 million was the … Read more

HM Treasury

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Government Response AI assessment · 19 of 8 classified

Accepted 2

Accepted in Part 1

Acknowledged 14

Not Addressed 2

Total 8 recs + 19 conclusions

Correspondence 1 letter

21 Apr 2022 Correspondence from Bernadette Kelly, Permanent Secretary, Department for Transport, re Supporting local economic growth, dated 30 March 2022

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