Levelling up should be delivered with ‘clear and measurable targets’, local authority leaders say as MPs raise questions over the funding of the Government’s flagship agenda.
A new report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has warned of a lack of transparency by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) when it comes to how levelling up funds are awarded.
The PAC report found that ministers had finalised the principles for awarding the first round of £1.7bn of levelling up funds only once they knew the identities and scores of shortlisted bidders.
The committee also said it was concerned over the timing of ministerial input for funding awards, and said that realistic bids to the Levelling Up Fund had missed out at the expense of projects claiming to be ‘shovel-ready’ that have ‘since been beset with delays.’
The committee described this as ‘unsatisfactory’ and said that the ‘DLUHC has past form with this.’
In 2019, the PAC highlighted how DLUHC did not know the impact of its £12bn Local Growth Fund, and had also decided not to evaluate it. The following year, the committee also reported that the selection process for awarding the Towns Fund had ‘not been impartial’ and raised concerns about the lack of transparency over the towns selected.
‘The PAC has reported too often on the problems the Government has with delivery of its major projects, programmes and promises,’ said PAC chair Meg Hillier MP.
‘Without clear parameters, plans or measures of success it’s hard to avoid the appearance that Government is just gambling taxpayers money on policies and programmes that are little more than a slogan, retrofitting the criteria for success and not even bothering to evaluate if it worked.
‘The nation is being squeezed harder than it has for decades, there is no more to throw away like this. The government must learn again to account to taxpayers for its use of their money.’
A DLUHC spokesperson said: ‘The first round of the Levelling Up Fund is delivering vital investment to communities across the UK that have for too long been overlooked and undervalued.
‘The assessment process was transparent, robust and fair and the criteria included the need for projects to be deliverable and to fuel regeneration and growth to level up areas most in need.
‘Further rounds of the Levelling Up Fund will continue this work, with unsuccessful bidders given feedback and able to apply again.’
Responding to the report, Cllr Kevin Bentley, chairman of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) People and Places Board, commented: 'Turning levelling up from a political slogan to a reality will only be achieved if councils have the powers and funding they need to address regional inequality, tackle concentrations of deprivation and make towns and communities across England attractive places to live, work and visit.
‘Competitive bidding for short-term, small pots of funding creates uncertainty and uses up vital resources in councils, which could be better spent on planning ahead for their communities.
‘Timely, sustainable funding for levelling up, including the full rollout of UKSPF allocations, alongside clear and measurable targets as specified in this report would go a long way to achieving local solutions to the national challenges we face and ensure all parts of the country are able to prosper in future.’
