Recently, Professor Rebecca Riley (Bec) delivered a seminar on improving the use of the Green Book at the local level to better inform policy and investment decision-making. Bec is the Chair of the Green Book Network Steering Group. She is also Co-Director of the City Region Economic Development Institute, Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Regional Engagement at Birmingham University and Director of the Local Policy Innovation Partnership Hub.
The seminar provided important insights into how the Green Book is used at the local level. Bec reflected that the Green Book should be used as a strategic tool to explore local and regional problems, support the setting of SMART objectives and investigate options for achieving those strategic objectives. Instead, the Green Book is often viewed as a technical manual focused on overcoming benefit-to-cost ratio hurdles to get projects “over the line” and funded.
This misconception reflects that:
- The capability and capacity to use the Green Book was lost with the wind-down of the Regional Development Agencies – where Bec started her career – and Local Economic Partnerships;
- Previous administrations shifted funding towards competitive bidding exercises which focused local areas on trying to demonstrate their projects would deliver the highest benefits per £ of funding rather than effectively meeting local needs.
There needs to be more of a focus on promoting the strategic thinking role of the Green Book and how it enables better decisions to be made as well as renewing local analytical capability.
The Green Book Network Steering Group, which includes local partners as well as other government departments, has a key role to play in building capability and sharing good practices at the local level. It is currently reviewing its remit and membership to better support the devolution agenda [including greater participation from MCAs].
Key areas for the Group to going forward include:
- Promoting the strategic thinking role of the Green Book to local areas to collaboratively understand place-based problems, define objectives and explore options for meeting them;
- Assembling examples of good practice business cases so that local partners can understand what good looks like;
- Extending the role of the Group to improving analysis across all elements of the business case including appraisal, monitoring and evaluation.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government has a key role to play in supporting a better use of the Green Book at the local level and encouraging strategic place-based thinking as part of the devolution agenda. Its role in the Green Book Network Steering Group is essential for the success of its objectives.
This blog was written by Dr Andrew Charlesworth-May, Appraisal Lead, Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government.
Find out more about the Local Policy Innovation Partnership Hub.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this analysis post are those of the author and not necessarily those of City-REDI or the University of Birmingham.