‘Rogue’ spending commitments made by Michael Gove to sort out poor social housing may have led the Treasury to insist on sign-off for big projects, Labour has suggested.
The Levelling Up department must now get Treasury approval for new capital spending decisions, communities minister Lee Rowley confirmed in the Commons today. He said there are 'no implications' for the levelling-up agenda following the change.
Lisa Nandy asked if the decision had been prompted by ‘unauthorised spending commitments’ made by the Levelling Up Secretary announced during the Convention for the North in Manchester last month.
The shadow communities secretary referred to a report in the Financial Times, which stated the department has been ‘banned from making spending decisions on new capital projects without specific permission from the Treasury, after concerns were raised about the ministry’s ability to deliver value for money’.
Ms Nandy said: “If this report is true, we are in the absurd situation of having a Secretary of State for Levelling Up who doesn’t even have the authority to sign off on a park bench.
“Is it true that this decision by the Treasury was prompted by unauthorised spending commitments made by the Secretary of State at the Convention for the North to spend money on improving appalling housing standards after the desperate death of a two-year-old boy in Rochdale?
“I understand the Secretary of State is in Rochdale today. How can he possibly tell housing associations to sort themselves out if he can’t sort out his own department?
“We deserve to know whether the Chancellor of the Exchequer believes that a Secretary of State who is finally, belatedly, spending money on housing standards is a Secretary of State who has gone rogue, because that would be a very serious thing indeed.”
Mr Rowley confirmed the levelling-up department is having to ask the Treasury to sign off on big projects - but emphasised this would not have an impact on its agenda or ambitions.
“It is absolutely the case that processes change and they also may apply at times in different ways,” he told the Commons.
“We are working within a new delegation approach with Treasury which involves sign off with Treasury on capital spend. We will always work closely with Treasury, we value their value-for-money focus, they value our mission and they share our mission to level up the country as a whole, and we will continue to do that.”
When questioned by Ms Nandy he added: “There has been no change to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities budget whether capital or revenue, no change to our policy objective, no dilution of our ambition and there are no implications for the Government’s policy agenda.”
Mr Gove is due to meet the parents of Awaab Ishak in Rochdale this afternoon.
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