In June 2022, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) published a report raising concern over the transparency of funding allocations from the first round of the Levelling Up Fund, following similar concerns around the Local Growth Fund and Towns Fund in previous years.

Chair of the PAC, Dame Meg Hillier MP, joined us to explore the findings and implications of the report in more detail, the role and importance of evidence in the levelling up agenda, whether policy and funding decisions are evidence-based, and the work of the committee in scrutinising what has been effective in supporting local economic growth more broadly.

Dame Meg also set out her thoughts on how levelling up is defined, and the need to make sure levelling up announcements move from paper to practice.

Speakers:

Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee and Labour MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch

Paul Swinney, Director of Policy & Research, Centre for Cities