Acting as an Independent Technical Evaluator for Local Enterprise Partnerships

In July 2014, the government negotiated a Growth Deal with all 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), awarding a total of £12 billion in funding for schemes seeking to boost local economic growth.

To secure this funding a business case is developed which must demonstrate the value for money and deliverability of each scheme. Responsibility for ensuring value for money passed from Central to Local Government and the requirement for LEPs to be advised by Independent Technical Evaluators was introduced.

As an Independent Technical Evaluator, our core responsibility is to provide technical assurance of business cases seeking funding for schemes. These schemes cover a wide range of policy areas including, transport, skills, enterprise zones, housing and commercial development, and environmental mitigation.

We employ a consistent methodology in line with the Green Book and supplementary departmental guidance to ensure that assessments are objective and impartial.

Our work on these roles has extended to a wide portfolio of additional tasks, including monitoring and evaluation support, strategic prioritisation, business case template development, assurance framework support and organising and delivering business case “good practice” workshops.

Our Independent Technical Evaluator role is primarily to provide independent business case scrutiny which is required as part of the LEP National Assurance Framework. However, our work has resulted in a greater articulation of the case for investment in local schemes, more comprehensive monitoring and evaluation of its outputs, outcome impacts, and ultimately better value for money on public spending.

In addition, the strategic support Steer provided has helped LEPs make the case to government for increased levels of funding across multiple policy and planning areas.