According to a select committee report, the government settled on a set of principles for allocating £1.7bn to several programs only after determining which bids would be successful.
In November of 2012, the public accounts committee of the House of Commons deemed “unsatisfactory” how 105 cash prizes were distributed.
Despite spending billions on a variety of local growth-enhancing initiatives in recent years, the government “still does not have a firm grasp of what works,” according to the report.
The most recent report focuses on the £1.7bn distributed in the first tranche of the £4.8bn leveling-up funds, which is intended to “enhance everyday living across the UK” via projects such as high street renewal, local transport upgrades, and investment in cultural and heritage institutions.
MPs discovered that by the time ministers settled on the criteria for allocating the funds, they had already determined which of the 170 selected bidders would be successful as a result of these criteria.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities, which was responsible for assigning the funds, failed to disclose unsuccessful bidders, according to the select committee, and there was “no openness on the location and nature of unsuccessful versus successful bids.”
The study continued, “We are also worried that some bidders may have been awarded contracts based on exaggerated assertions about the readiness of their projects to deliver, at the expense of other, more reasonable bids from abroad.”
This may have disadvantaged local governments unfamiliar with the bidding process, such as those in devolved administrations.
The designated “shovel-ready” projects have since encountered delays, the lawmakers discovered.
The government had expected to make up to £600 million of the £1.7 billion available by the end of the 2021/22 fiscal year, but as of four weeks before the end of that time, just £100 million had been spent, according to the study.
MPs stated that the government has a “history” of allocating funds inefficiently.
The committee has previously stated that the allocation of the £3.6bn towns fund “had not been impartial” and that the department’s preparations for its £12bn local growth fund lacked “a good grasp of what works.”
The committee’s leader, Dame Meg Hillier, stated that it “has reported too frequently on the difficulties the government has in delivering its key projects, programs, and commitments.
“Without clear objectives, plans, or metrics of success, it is difficult to avoid the impression that the government is gambling taxpayer money on policies and programs that are little more than a slogan, retrofitting the criteria for success and not bothering to examine whether or not it works.
“The nation is under greater pressure than it has been in decades; we can no longer afford to waste resources in this manner.
The government must relearn how to account to taxpayers for their money.
The Department of Levelling Up stated, “The assessment process was transparent, rigorous, and fair, and the criteria included the requirement for projects to be deliverable and to stimulate regeneration and growth to level up the most disadvantaged communities.”
