The Department told us that it recognises that the needs of local areas differ, and said that it “is about working closely” with the local authority, local employers and local enterprise partnerships and mayoral combined authorities. We heard that the Department’s approach is for there to be “a national set of schemes and a national set of interventions, and local delivery, which means that [the Department] can then tailor those schemes and draw them together in terms of how they work on the ground.”60 However, there is a risk of a disconnect between the national approach the Department is taking to employment support, and the needs of local areas.61 While noting positive relationships between local authorities and local jobcentres, and the involvement of local authorities in the review process of bids for the Department’s Restart scheme, the National Audit Office report provided examples of how some local authorities feel that the relationship with DWP could be improved. In particular, local authorities want more opportunities for early involvement in the design and commissioning of the Department’s national programmes, they want to be informed in advance of changes to the Department’s central policy so they can ensure their own provision complements rather than duplicates the Department’s, and they want more consistent engagement with the Department, less reliant on individual staff relationships.62