The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has accused the government of “gambling taxpayers’ money” on policies such as levelling-up.
In a new report today, the PAC said ministers 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 – a situation the PAC calls “unsatisfactory”.
It added that the “DLUHC [Department for Levelling-Up, Housing, and Communities] has past form with this”.
Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “The PAC has reported too often on the problems the government has with delivery of its major projects, programmes, and promises.
“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.”
She added: “The government must learn again to account to taxpayers for its use of their money.”
In November 2020, the committee 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 committee says it “remains concerned” over the timing of ministerial input for funding awards, and also that realistic bids to the Levelling Up Fund have missed out at the expense of projects claiming to be ‘shovel-ready’ that have “since been beset with delays”.
In 2019, the committee highlighted how DLUHC did not know the impact of its £12bn Local Growth Fund – but had also decided not to evaluate it, and says now that “accountability for levelling up outcomes remains unsatisfactory”.
The government has spent billions on local growth policies over many years without “a strong understanding of what works” or how it will measure performance across different geographical areas and timescales, the committee said.
It added that the government “must demonstrate how the priorities of the devolved administrations will be addressed” in local growth funds.
The PAC report lists a number of conclusions and recommendations.
As written in the report, these are:
- It is unsatisfactory that ministers finalised principles for awarding the first round of the Levelling Up Fund only once they knew the identities and scores of shortlisted bidders
- The department does not yet have a strong understanding of what works for local growth, but we welcome its belated commitment to evaluating local growth interventions
- We are concerned that optimism bias has meant realistic bids to the Levelling Up Fund have missed out at the expense of ‘shovel-ready’ projects that have since been beset with delays
- There remains considerable uncertainty for local authorities around funding, structures, and responsibilities for local economic growth
- It is unclear how the department is reconciling tensions between devolved responsibilities and administering local growth funding on a UK-wide basis
- Accountability for levelling-up outcomes remains unsatisfactory
- The department does not yet know how it will measure performance on a consistent basis across different geographical areas and timescales
The Public Accounts Committee examines the value for money of government projects, programmes, and service delivery.
Image: Manchester, in the north of England, where the government is focusing its levelling-up efforts. Credit: Sam foster/Shutterstock
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