Plans to appoint a dozen levelling up directors may be scrapped, a minister has admitted.
Levelling up minister Dehenna Davison was pressed on the matter as she appeared before the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee yesterday.
She said, although interviews were conducted during the summer, no directors had yet been appointed and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) was now ‘reviewing the process internally’.
Ministers had promised the 12 roles would carry clout to ‘unlock silos’ and ‘champion local places’ in Whitehall.
But Jessica Blakely, a DLUHC director, told the committee it was felt the roles ‘might not be achieving the aims we hoped for’ and the decision had been made for a ‘pause and reassessment’.
Under repeated questioning from MPs, Ms Davison conceded the review might mean the roles were scrapped altogether.
This article was originally published by The MJ (£).
