Issue - meetings

(1)       The work of the National Evaluation Panel and the National Evaluation framework which has been developed for the 11 devolved areas in England be noted.

(2)       The interventions proposed for evaluation as detailed in paragraph 2.7, including Coventry City South, Friargate, HS2 Connectivity package, UK Central (local infrastructure) and Land and Property Investment Fund, be approved.

(3)       The requirement for further work to be done on identifying the key details of the interventions that are within the scope of the evaluation and that further information will be reported in due course be noted.

The board considered a report on the process and timetable for the evaluation of interventions supported through the Devolution Deal, and on the specific interventions for evaluation.

The West Midlands devolution deal provided £36.5m per year in revenue to support an £8bn capital investment programme. The Government established a National Growth Panel to work with all the areas of the country that received a devolution deal to evaluate the impact on local growth of specific interventions that the funding had enabled. This would provide evidence which would help inform the first ‘gateway review’ due for the West Midlands in 2020.

The report identified the proposed interventions for evaluation within the West Midlands, being those ones where delivery was anticipated to have led to measurable impacts by 2020. Projects that were scheduled to spend further into the future and which would have only incurred minimal expenditure within the gateway review period would be considered as part of the progress elements of the evaluation.

Resolved:

(1)       The work of the National Evaluation Panel and the National Evaluation framework which has been developed for the 11 devolved areas in England be noted.

(2)       The interventions proposed for evaluation as detailed within the report, including Coventry City South, Friargate, HS2 Connectivity package, UK Central (local infrastructure) and Land and Property Investment Fund, be approved.

(3)       The requirement for further work to be done on identifying the key details of the interventions that were within the scope of the evaluation, and that further information would be reported in due course, be noted.