Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent changes have been made to the Green Book in assessing value for money to give weighting for bids from particular regions; and if he will set out that weighting.

The Green Book sets out guidance on how to appraise policies,

programmes and projects, to help public servants give objective advice to decision makers. In November 2020 the Government completed a review of the Green Book, which included new requirements for the appraisal of place based impacts. This guidance sets out that where a proposal has geographically defined objectives, then the principal frame of the analysis should be on the effects on that area specifically. Alternatively, where a proposal is expected to have different implications for parts of the UK, then these impacts on different places should be appraised and presented to support decision making.

Value for money is a judgement following the application of the wider Green Book method. These judgements also need to consider un-quantified factors and the extent to which different options best meet the objectives for intervention, rather than a quantified score alone. It is therefore not possible to apply regional weightings to these wider considerations which are necessary in assessing value for money.