My Lords, this group of amendments is related to the levelling-up fund, which directly supports the mission set out in the White Paper through investment in the infrastructure that improves the everyday lives of local residents across the country, focusing on regenerating town centres and high streets, upgrading local transport and investing in culture and heritage assets. The second round of the levelling-up fund announced by the Government will invest £2.1 billion in 111 local infrastructure projects across the UK, helping to create jobs and spread opportunity right across the country, from the higher education skills campus in Blackpool to the ferry infrastructure in Shetland.
Amendment 50 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor of Stevenage, would require government to explain how allocations from the levelling-up fund support the levelling-up missions. I will not speak about Amendment 56 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, as he is not here; we will wait for that to come later. Amendment 57 in the names of the noble Baronesses, Lady Valentine and Lady Hayman of Ullock, and the noble Lord, Lord Stunell, would require government to follow set distribution criteria when allocating levelling-up funding and publish a statement explaining how funding allocations meet these criteria.
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Levelling up requires a multifaceted approach, and it is important to recognise that the levelling-up fund is just one part of the Government’s levelling-up strategy and is being delivered as part of a broad package of complementary UK-wide interventions, including the UK shared prosperity fund. A total of £9.6 billion from levelling-up related funds has been allocated from my department alone across the UK since 2019. This is in addition to the 30-year £7.5 billion commitment to the nine city-based mayoral combined authorities in England. Furthermore, the UK Government, devolved Administrations, local authorities and businesses are together delivering more than £11 billion of public and private investment into city deals in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Across government, there is an extensive funding envelope contributing to the delivery of the levelling-up agenda. This includes: a £40 million pot from the Department for Education between 24 priority areas of 55 education investment areas; £5.7 billion investment from the Department for Transport into transport in key city regions; £1 billion from the Department for Transport for the bus service improvement plan; a £125 million pot from the Home Office for the safer streets fund; £5 billion invested by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in the Project Gigabit programme; and a £48 million pot from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for the cultural investment fund, with an additional £128 million to be distributed.
The levelling-up fund empowers areas to identify and bring forward genuine priorities while consolidating and simplifying the historic set of funding pots. The competitive process has played an important role in driving up quality. Only the strongest bids were shortlisted. Every project submitted is robustly assessed, including on deliverability, to ensure that it can deliver high-quality outcomes for residents in a timely manner. Strength of
bids was always a key factor in driving the selection of successful bids, as is clear from our published Explanatory Notes. As we committed to in the Public Accounts Committee report on local economic growth, we have published thematic and geographic information about all the successful and unsuccessful bidders.
Noble Lords mentioned support for local authorities. Local authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and top-tier councils in England received support of £125,000 for extra capacity to help support their bids. The department has gone back to all local authorities that made unsuccessful bids to help them and to give them feedback for round 3, should they require it.
As far as inflation is concerned, we are monitoring the situation closely with the formal monitoring mechanisms. We have already agreed a £65 million package of support for local authorities to help ensure that they have the necessary capability to deliver their projects. We are supporting local authorities through all this, of course.
I was concerned by the comments from the noble Baroness, Lady Valentine, about the Blackpool education funds. I do not know about this—it is not my department —but I will certainly look into it and come back to her, because that does not seem correct to me.
To clarify, the bids in the levelling-up fund need to be delivered by 2025 and not by next year. I will reiterate what I said to the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, on where the money went. Once again, the majority of money per head of population in the last round of bidding for levelling-up funds went first to Wales, then to the north-west and then to the north-east. I suggest that these are areas that probably needed that levelling-up money.
The Government have committed to a further round of investment through the levelling-up fund and will reflect on the learnings from rounds 1 and 2 when we are designing that fund for the future. Local authorities are encouraged to secure wider match funding to supplement the Government’s contributions provided under the levelling-up fund to support the successful delivery of their projects. But it would not be fair to place restrictions on what local authorities are able to access, which could impede the overall delivery of their schemes and the delivery of wider benefits to the public.
Amendment 502, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman of Ullock, would put into law the requirement to review the effectiveness of the levelling-up fund bidding process. Local government consistently points to the inefficiency, decision-making complexity and reporting burdens that result from the number of local funding pots and the strings attached to them. We are listening to that, and initial steps have been taken to address that complexity. I think I have said that more than once at this Dispatch Box. We need to address the complexities in the funding landscape and, as announced in the White Paper, the Government will set out a plan for streamlining the funding landscape, which will include a commitment to help local stakeholders navigate funding opportunities. Adding additional reporting requirements on the link between specific allocations and the missions would undermine that objective.
This Government are transparent about their use and allocation of public funds, including levelling-up funds, and these amendments are unnecessary. I ask the noble Baroness to withdraw her amendment.