We asked the Department how the part played by the devolved governments on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund compared to their part in deciding the allocation of the European funds it is replacing. The Department explained that for the European Structural Funds, the Devolved National Governments had been the “managing authorities” but that decision-making for the UKSPF will be for the UK Government. We raised concerns that 20 Q 79, 80 21 Q 79 22 Q 80 23 Qq 90, 119–122 24 C&AG’s Report, para 4 25 C&AG’s Report, para 3.2; Committee of Public Accounts, Selecting towns for the Towns Fund, Twenty-Fourth Report of Session 2019–21, HC 651, 11 November 2020, para 2 26 Q 103,C&AG’s report, para 3 and Figure 2; Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, Freeports programme: accounting officer assessment, March 2022; Green Freeports in Scotland: bidding prospectus, March 2022 Local economic growth 11 the arrangements meant that where the Scottish Government, for example, had previously been able to allocate funds to local authorities using its priorities, the equivalent decision for the UKSPF would now be taken by the UK Government and based entirely on UK Government’s assessment of priorities.27 We noted that decisions such as those around how much to allocate, what the criteria were, when to open and close bidding and how to score bids, were taken by the UK government, whereas previously devolved governments would have had significant input.28