New inquiry launched into devolution success

The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee has launched a new inquiry into progress on devolution in England.

Each devolution deal involves its own arrangements for funding and increased responsibilities, but can include greater responsibility over areas including business support, planning, transport and health. Since 2014, deals have been agreed in Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Cornwall, amongst other regions.

The inquiry will scrutinise the impact of recently agreed devolution agreements and ask if the transfer of further powers to England’s cities and regions can boost local economies and provision of public services. This includes considering how any benefits can be realised in more areas of the country and investigating the effectiveness of the current strategy of developing bespoke deals region by region, asking if increasing available powers without wider systemic changes would produce similar benefits.

Clive Betts, chair of the committee, said: “After the creation of the London Assembly there had been little development in devolution in England for over a decade. Between 2014 and 2017 a number of English cities and regions negotiated settlements allowing more powers at a local level. This flurry of activity has since slowed with little transfer of further powers, no new deals and the promised devolution framework still unpublished.
 
“The approach the government has taken is to develop bespoke arrangements for different areas, both in terms of the powers devolved to them and the administrative systems to execute them. We have launched this inquiry to understand the impact of the current approach. Has tailoring devolution to each locality improved decision making, the local economy and public services?
 
“Most importantly, we want to discover what opportunities there are for improving outcomes across the country. Notably in areas such as transport and health where provision doesn’t match existing local government structures, but also in improving the local economy, environment and infrastructure. We will be looking to see how improved devolution can boost cities and regions, and how it can be implemented more quickly.”