MPs seek answers on Treasury ‘ban’ on levelling-up spending

Clive Betts, Chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee has written to Levelling-Up Minister, Dehenna Davison MP, to raise concerns on the Treasury’s involvement in signing off capital spend at the Department for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities.

This Committee correspondence follows a report in the Financial Times on 7 February and an Urgent Question in the House of Commons Chamber where Lee Rowley MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, acknowledged that the Department was now working “within a new delegation approach” which involved “sign off with Treasury on capital spend”.

The Committee has been undertaking an inquiry into the Funding for Levelling up, an area which will likely be impact by this change.

Clive Betts, Chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Committee, said: “The Treasury no longer appears to trust the Department for Levelling-Up to spend money without Treasury approval. This change raises very real concerns about what this means for the Levelling-up Department and its policies.

“How will current projects be affected? Will councils still receive the monies on time? How will funding pots such as the Levelling Up Fund be affected?

“The Government should also spell out publicly the concerns which were raised about the Department’s ability to deliver value for money.”