No-bids concern over new regional aid funding
FEARS have been expressed about the next round of postBrexit regional aid funding for Wales, with no bids having been invited from local authorities just two and a half months before the programme is due to be up and running.
The scheme, which is being coordinated by Michael Gove’s Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government, is controversial because the Welsh Government was excluded from involvement in it. Earlier this week council leaders from across Wales met with Mr Gove online, pressing him for early notification of when bids need to be submitted.
Andrew Morgan, the Labour leader of the Welsh Local Government Association, told us: “We’re also aware the Levelling Up Fund White Paper has been delayed. It was due before Christmas, but we are now told that it should be published by the end of January.
“There are also suggestions that there have been staff changes within the Whitehall department that oversees levelling up.
“This has the recipe for a confused and constrained timescale for bids yet again, and with local authority elections in May, I have already had
some expressing a view to me that we may see bids approved in a rushed manner before the elections simply for political advantage.
“My position is that we want a constructive, open and honest relationship that gives all local authorities the same fair chance of securing funding for our communities. If some of the poorest communities in Wales don’t benefit substantially through the Levelling Up and Shared Prosperity funds then it brings into question what this policy is actually all about. The ‘not a penny less’ pledge seems thin at best today.”
UK Conservative ministers promised that Wales would receive not a penny less than it was awarded by the EU before Brexit, but as yet have not been able to demonstrate that is the case.
Cllr Morgan said: “If local authorities and the third sector are forced to submit grant funding bids at short notice, there is a risk to the quality of the bids put forward, as well as a risk of not joining the dots with existing and complementary funding programmes.
“If bids are of lower quality due to constrained timescales, the risk in a competitive process is that areas that truly need the funding could miss out.”
Asked what the disadvantages were of only having two months in which to pull together bids, submit them and have them evaluated by Mr Gove’s department, Cllr Morgan said: “The biggest concern is that if bids are requested at short notice, without having the guidance well in advance, bids could be submitted right up to the deadline. That could cause a delay in approvals like in the current financial year, where it was several months into the new year before the bids were approved.
“This limited the time to spend the funding as the grants are all time-limited, creating a risk of underspending, or worse, spending the funding badly.”
Asked how the new arrangements compared with how things worked when the Welsh Government’s Welsh European Funding Office (Wefo) was overseeing the EU regional aid programme, Cllr Morgan said: “While local authorities want to make this work to ensure Wales and our county areas don’t miss out on funding, the lack of Welsh Government involvement in the programme is a concern as we have to make sure there isn’t duplication and schemes complement each other. After all, this is public money.
“While funding through Wefo wasn’t perfect, we need clear medium-term plans under the levelling-up agenda so local authorities working with other sectors and partners can plan and work together to deliver the investment. The current short-notice bidding process needs to be reflected upon.
A UK Government spokesman responded: “Levelling up is at the heart of our agenda to recover after the pandemic and was at the centre of the manifesto on which we promised to deliver for the people of the UK.
“The White Paper will be published in due course. Work is progressing well, with the Levelling Up Committee having met several times, and ministers are working closely together to deliver the UK Government’s central mission.”
The spokesman pointed out that last autumn more than 160 projects across Wales had been announced that will receive a share of more than £46m to help people into work, boost productivity and deliver carbon net zero.