Cwestiwn ysgrifenedig WQ83148

The UK Government has excluded the Welsh Government and other devolved governments from the design and development of the Levelling Up Fund and EU successor funds despite frequent requests for meaningful collaboration.

I wrote to the UK Minister for Regional Growth and Local Government, Luke Hall MP, on 25 May requesting a meeting to discuss how we could best make these funds a success in Wales, and have received no response to date.

The approach the UK Government is currently taking is likely to lead to small amounts of money spread thinly across the country and an incoherent delivery landscape for programmes and services which risks duplication, patchwork provision, blurred accountability and poor value for money.

This isn’t just our view. The cross-party Business, Enterprise and Industrial Strategy Committee published a report on its inquiry into the UK Government’s Levelling-Up programme last month. In that report, they noted the lack of any overall coherent strategic purpose or focus of this fund and the absence of any meaningful strategic engagement with the devolved governments around the levelling up agenda.

Furthermore, the Institute for Government’s report on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund last month highlighted concerns on the effectiveness of this fund given the risk of fragmented provision of services, confused accountability, funding uncertainty, and the limited engagement with devolved governments.

The Senedd’s vote on the UK Government’s Levelling-up and Shared Prosperity funds on 15 June also made clear our legislature’s significant concerns.

If the warnings set out by a growing number of independent institutions and experts are ignored, we are concerned that poor outcomes will become inevitable for many Welsh communities, including Rhyl. While the proposed funds are directed exclusively at local government, it is clear that councils have not been offered meaningful engagement and that businesses, universities, colleges and the third sector are being cut off from access to significant funding. This incoherent approach will have a negative impact on the creation of jobs and businesses, skills provision and successful efforts to support the most vulnerable into work.

I have made it clear to UK Ministers in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government that there is a standing invitation to collaborate with us on shaping these funding arrangements, based on a clear commitment to UK Government and Welsh Government co-decision making. It is not possible to entirely mitigate against the damage already done by this delayed and chaotic programme but the Welsh Government will work in partnership where a genuine proposal is made by UK Ministers.

This is in the interests of securing the best outcomes for all partners, and above all for the communities in Wales that we serve.