Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what progress they have made with
the allocation of Levelling Up funding.
(Lab)
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on
the Order Paper, and I declare my interest as a member of Cumbria
County Council.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Levelling Up, Housing & Communities () (Con)
My Lords, levelling up is one of the driving missions of this
Government. We are delighted to announce the outcome of the
second round of the levelling up fund, which has seen £2.1
billion award to 111 bids that we know will stimulate growth and
benefit communities across the United Kingdom. This builds on the
success of the first round, which saw £1.7 billion award to 105
successful projects across the UK, to drive regeneration and
growth in areas that have been overlooked and unappreciated for
too long,
(Lab)
I thank the Minister for her reply. I think many of us on this
side of the House were delighted that the Government were making
levelling up a priority to deal with the growing regional
inequalities in our country. However, the Prime Minister made no
reference to levelling up as one of his priorities in his new
year speech. The announcement last week was slipped out without
any Statement in the House of Commons, as though it was slipped
out in shame. The grants awarded appear to have no coherence or
consistency and owe much to political jobbery. Do the Government
still believe in levelling up? If they do, what on earth do they
mean by it?
(Con)
My Lords, we absolutely still agree with the whole project of
levelling up. I just need to say that, of all the bids, the
north-west—this will please the noble Lord opposite—had the
highest number of successful projects and was second in funding
per capita; Wales was top and the north-east was third. I suggest
that that is putting the money where it is required.
(Con)
My Lords, I quite understand why the Government wanted to
kick-start the levelling-up policy with these centrally allocated
grants, but looking ahead, and given the commitment in the
levelling-up White Paper to usher in a revolution in local
democracy, should not these funds in future be added to the block
grant given to the increasingly large local authorities set up
under the Bill and then local people could decide what their
priorities are, with local councillors accountable to their local
electorate?
(Con)
My Lords, competitive funding can be a very effective tool for
protecting value for taxpayers’ money. Competitions such as the
levelling-up fund can also support fair and transparent awards of
funds and drive innovation, but I understand my noble friend’s
concerns and the Government have committed, within the
levelling-up White Paper, to reducing the complexities of local
government funding.
(LD)
The Minister has just said that competitive funding is an
effective way of accessing this funding pot. There were 525 bids
in this latest round; only 111 were successful; that means 80%
were not successful. Each bid is estimated to cost £30,000 to
make; that is £12 million of hard-pressed council funding
basically wasted on bids. Can the Minister not find a more
effective way, such as devolving the money to local authorities,
so that this money is not wasted when it is desperately
needed?
(Con)
My Lords, this is capital funding. There were 111 successful bids
this time; before, there were 105 successful bids; and there will
be a third round. If we added all this money and gave it to local
authorities, I do not think there would be enough for the large
infrastructure projects—projects that people are very happy to be
delivering and projects that local authorities have put forward
because they are important to their people. I think this is the
way to do it.
(Lab)
My Lords, is the problem here not so much a social one as a
constitutional one? Is it not, in fact, an abuse of the power of
prerogative that Governments should hand out money in this
party-political way, a way that is not transparent?
(Con)
My Lords, we give this money out in a very transparent way: it
can all be seen on GOV.UK, and 45% of all funding from the first
two rounds was given to local authorities run by the Opposition
parties. I would have thought that was quite fair.
The Lord
My Lords, I welcome the new devolution deal that has been done
for the north-east and look forward to the appointment of an
elected mayor for the region. If this devolution deal goes ahead,
which I trust it will, can His Majesty’s Government clarify what
proportion of the estimated £4.2 billion of investment into the
region will be truly new money that the local new mayor can
allocate out?
(Con)
I thank the right reverend Prelate for that question and I will
have to give him a written answer: I do not have that information
on the north-east devolution deal.
(Con)
What are the implications for Northern Ireland? Is it receiving
its fair and proper share of the funding? Will it be spent in
Belfast and throughout the Province for the benefit of all
sections of the community?
(Con)
My Lords, a very fair amount of money went out to all the
devolved authorities across the country and it will be up to the
local authorities that put in a bid as to how that money is
spent, according to the projects that they bid for.
of Ullock (Lab)
My Lords, local authorities have recently complained about the
Government’s proliferation of competitive funding pots creating a
system beset by fragmentation, inefficiency and complexity. Does
the Minister really think that the best way to do levelling up is
to force struggling councils to constantly compete just to get
the investment they desperately need?
(Con)
My Lords, we do not know of a better method for capital funding.
There is not just the levelling-up fund but a suite of funding
going out to local authorities for capital projects, including
the towns funds, the community ownership funds, the freeports and
the UK shared prosperity fund, which is given out in terms of
percentages.
(Lab)
My Lords, many people see child poverty as the measure of where
levelling-up funding should be targeted. Why then in the
north-east did no authority north of the Tees get anything? What
do authorities such as County Durham have to do to be recognised
by the Government?
(Con)
My Lords, the north-east got the third-highest level of funding
per head of capital across the country. It is up to local
authorities to bid for their priorities; I am sorry if they did
not get them, but if they did not bid for them then I hope they
will do so in the third round.
Lord McLoughlin (Con)
My Lords, the very fact that so many local authorities tried to
bid for levelling-up funding shows that there is an appetite in
the country for it and for these projects. Will His Majesty’s
Government ensure that the successful schemes are shovel-ready
and that we will see them delivered in a timely manner?
(Con)
My noble friend is absolutely right. That is one of the issues
that the Government will have looked at. We wanted projects that
were ready to go so that services and infrastructure would be
delivered for people as soon as possible.
(GP)
My Lords—
(LD)
My Lords—
(PC)
My Lords—
(Lab)
My Lords—
(Con)
My Lords, it is the turn of the Green Party.
(GP)
I will follow on from the number of questions about the
methodology for levelling up. This funding is allocated according
to criteria set by the Government and is judged by government
Ministers in Westminster. Is this what they call devolution?
(Con)
My Lords, the devolution part of it is that local authorities
have the money to put forward their specific issues for which
they need funding. It is not necessarily Ministers; they are
tested against criteria that have been set up, and those that
come highest up against the criteria will get the funding.
