We are concerned that towns may not have the capacity to deliver their plans and spend the money well. The Department says that the towns most in need of investment would have been disadvantaged in a competitive bidding process because of a lack of leadership, resources or experience of dealing with government departments. The Department made £14 million available to towns to help them to develop their investment plans. The Department also made £8 million available for consultancy support to help towns with things like project management and valuing Selecting towns for the Towns Fund 7 real estate. While this funding may help towns to develop their plans, if these towns are indeed the ones least able to bid for funds then it must also raise concerns about their capacity to deliver their plans and spend the money well. The Department says that it is working at pace to agree the funding that will be available for the 13 towns in the first cohort but warns that it could take up to 12 months to agree business cases and issue final approvals before projects can begin. The Department has profiled the funding over the next four financial years but does not know yet whether the profile it has developed aligns with towns’ individual investment plans. Recommendation: From the end of March 2021, the Department should write to the Committee with annual updates to provide assurance that it is spending the money well. The Department’s updates should demonstrate that its due diligence processes have included an assessment of towns’ capacity to successfully deliver their plans.