Lisa Nandy responds to damning NAO report on the government's stunted approach to levelling up

Damning NAO report reveals Britain’s regeneration is being held back by government’s stunted approach to levelling up – says Labour, calling on Government’s White Paper to “match the ambition and pride people have for their communities”.

A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) today said the Government’s bidding process by which Local Authorities compete for small pots of money for regeneration projects does “not usually drive significant growth”. Earlier this week, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said it was “simply not good enough to give us more of the same –pots of our money to scrap over – without real power on what it’s spent on”.

Lisa Nandy accused Michael Gove of “failing in his duty to the British people” as the NAO reveals “the government’s policies to stimulate local economic growth are not consistently based on evidence of what interventions are likely to be most effective.” Nandy says “far from the government’s policies being based on evidence, they are based on keeping power in the centre, with the places that used to power our country only getting the crumbs from the table.”

The NAO’s scathing report also suggests Michael Gove’s department has a “limited understanding of what has worked well in previous local growth programmes due to a lack of consistent evaluation or monitoring.”

The report shows the Government has received 1,399 bids for three funds - the UK Community Renewal Fund, the Levelling Up Fund and Freeports.

Nandy says for levelling up to “truly deliver on this promise, the Government must meet the ambitions people have for our own communities”. Specifically, this means:

1.   Good jobs in our home towns, so young people have choices and chances and don’t have to get out to get on.

2.   Our high streets are thriving because the local economy is thriving, with good local businesses and money in people’s pockets - not just papering over the cracks.

3.   Our towns and villages are better connected to jobs, opportunities, our family and our friends through good transport, digital infrastructure and affordable housing that we have too often missed out on.

4.   We get the power to take local decisions for ourselves – ending the system where we have to go cap in hand to Westminster to do things we know will work for us.

5.   Our town centres are safe and welcoming instead of plagued by anti-social behaviour, with criminals being let off and victims let down.

Lisa Nandy MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, commenting on the NAO report Supporting local economic growth, said:

“The Conservatives’ lack ambition for the people and places of Britain, and this reportreveals their policy approach to levelling up is not based on evidence, but keeping power in the centre.

“For decades, the places that used to power our country have only got the crumbs from the table. The Tory Government has made big promises, but they are failing to deliver. People need money back in their pockets. We need good jobs and wages. Labour would respect the ambitions people have for their communities, with prosperity and good jobs in our hometowns, thriving high streets, and power to take local decisions for ourselves.

“Michael Gove is failing in his duty to the British people. A few pots of money to scrap over or some new mayors won’t touch the sides. We need to change the settlement of our country back in favour of those who built it.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

·         The report by the NAO found that the government’s policies to stimulate local economic growth are not consistently based on evidence of what interventions are likely to be most effective, increasing the risk that billions of pounds awarded to local bodies will not deliver the intended benefits.

·         Pg. 9 – “The interventions allow limited scope for the major physical regeneration that expert advice to the Department has said can significantly improve local economic outcomes. The What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth has advised the Department that major physical regeneration can significantly improve local economic outcomes by fundamentally changing the nature and composition of firms and residents in an area. It said that smaller‑scale investments in the built environment or cultural assets do not usually drive significant growth, although they may have other desirable outcomes such as quality-of-life impacts for residents. The Department says it has intentionally designed the Levelling Up Fund to allow investment in small‑scale infrastructure that improves everyday life as well as to support recovery and that major physical regeneration is largely funded through other routes (paragraphs 2.13 and 3.4, and Figure 6).”

·         “DLUHC has a limited understanding of what has worked well in previous local growth programmes due to a lack of consistent evaluation or monitoring. By failing to conduct evaluations, DLUHC has wasted opportunities to learn lessons to inform future interventions, and it does not know whether previous policies achieved their aims”

·         “The NAO found that DLUHC has not consistently applied knowledge and key policy principles from this evidence base. For example, the way the interventions work makes it hard for local authorities to plan the joined-up investment strategies that the Department's research suggests are needed to promote local growth. DLUHC has received expert advice that major physical regeneration could significantly improve local economic outcomes, but the smaller-scale infrastructure investments it is funding through the Levelling Up Fund do not usually drive significant growth. DLUHC says it has intentionally designed the Levelling Up Fund to allow investment in small-scale infrastructure that improves everyday life as well as to support recovery and that major physical regeneration is largely funded through other routes”.

·         The Department has had to substantially increase its bid assessment capability to cope and at January 2022 had received a total of 1,399 bids for the UK Community Renewal Fund, the Levelling Up Fund and Freeports (paragraphs 3.15 and 3.16).