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Help to Grow Management Programme: Accounting officer assessment 2021 (HTML)

Updated 12 June 2023

Department for which the accounting officer who made the assessment is responsible:

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Project title:

Help to Grow Management Programme

Main scheme project stage:

Full Business Case approved by PIC in February 2021 and the Programme launched in June 2021.

Introduction

It is normal practice for Accounting Officers to scrutinise significant policy proposals or plans to start or vary major projects, and then assess whether they measure up to the standards set out in Managing Public Money. From April 2017, the government has committed to make a summary of the key points from these assessments available to Parliament when an Accounting Officer has agreed an assessment of projects within the government’s Major Projects Portfolio.

This Accounting Officer Assessment was made of the Help to Grow Management Programme, following its Full Business Case stage. I have made the assessment as the Accounting Officer for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Background

Help to Grow: Management is a UK-wide Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) Programme designed to boost firm-level productivity. The Programme went live in May 2021 after being announced in the March 2021 Budget.

The UK has a long-standing productivity challenge at firm level. Evidence shows that this productivity gap can largely be attributed to poor adoption of digital technologies and modern management practices. Increasing leadership and management skills in our SMEs can help to address this issue and narrow the gap to the UK’s international competitors.

The Programme combines a practical curriculum, one-on-one support from a mentor, peer-learning sessions and an alumni network. Developed in partnership with industry, this Programme is designed to be manageable alongside full-time work. The Programme is 90% subsidised by government, with participants contributing £750.

Help to Grow Digital, which is designed to increase digital adoption in SMEs, is a separate Programme. We will take a combined approach to marketing both Programmes, enabling us to minimise overlap in targeting and media buying, however our activity and channels will be tailored to the different Programme offers and learnings, ensuring efficiency and value for money.

Assessment against the Accounting Officer Standards

Regularity

The Help to Grow Management scheme is within the Department’s legal powers under section 8 of the Industrial Development Act (IDA) 1982 with approval granted by the Industrial Development Act Board (IDAB). The main risks associated with the Programme are on compliance with procurement regulations and the regularity of the associated grant funding agreements. I have assessed the Programme in view of relevant procurement regulation and grant funding requirements and found it be compliant. The Programme is supported by scrutiny from BEIS legal advisers to ensure best practice has been applied across the Programme development.

Overall assessment: My assessment is that the regularity test is satisfied.

Propriety

The Help to Grow Management Programme has adopted the principles set out in the BEIS Integrated Assurance and Approval Strategy and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority Assurance Review Toolkit. Interdependencies and interaction with other public sector schemes and procedures have been carefully considered and documented during the development of the Help to Grow Management Business Case. The Programme has significant links with the Help to Grow: Digital Programme and the Department will ensure those links are managed appropriately.

The Help to Grow Management Scheme has been approved at both Outline and Full Business Case stage by the Cabinet Office Spend Controls, Commercial Assurance Board, Projects and Investments Committee, and HMT Treasury Approval Point process.

The robust Assurance and Approvals processes completed by the Programme include:

	Type of Assurance	Type of Activity	Date completed
1	Critical Friend Review	Quality Check	8/02/2021
2	Due diligence assessment of Chartered Association of Business Schools	Financial Assurance	03/03/2021
3	FBC to PIC	PIC approval	25/02/2021
4	HMT sign off business case	HMT sign off	To be signed off following PIC

Overall assessment: My assessment is that the propriety test is satisfied.

Value for Money

Research indicates there are several market failures which prevent businesses from seeking training and adopting technologies, primarily related to a lack of information. Many businesses do not realise the benefits of business support and lack information about its availability, cost, and quality. Addressing these market failures around information would impact positively on firm level productivity.

We appraised several alternative options to achieve higher firm-level productivity such as local peer networks and offering grants to access private sector training. We assessed each option on: its scope to deliver an improvement in productivity; its ability to recruit the target business population; and strategic alignment. Based on this analysis, we identified management and leadership training as the most useful intervention to undertake, as it has the capacity to directly support SMEs to develop skills to improve productivity and assists in overcoming market failures.

The benefits of this programme accrue largely from the expected increase in firm productivity experienced by SMEs that complete the programme.

The costs of this programme fall mostly to HMG, however participating SMEs will be expected to contribute £750 towards programme costs.

Using established economic appraisal techniques consistent with HM Treasury’s Green Book, the programme has been assessed to have a positive benefit-cost ratio of 2.3:1 (Help to Grow Management business case, 2021), demonstrating the programme represents good value for money and justifying the use of public funds to achieve the strategic aim of the programme.

The Programme was launched before the Help to Grow: Digital Programme which also aims to boost firm-level productivity through addressing the deficiency in SMEs adopting digital technology. The Accounting Officer Assessment for Help to Grow: Digital will be published separately.

Overall assessment: My assessment is that the value for money test is satisfied.

Feasibility

The Programme has an ambitious target for 30,000 small and medium sized businesses to access the scheme, with the Programme’s benefits being realised when each participating business completes the Programme and has embedded the course learnings into their business operation.

There is a risk whether this number is feasible to fully reach this target by 2025, particularly in light of the current prevailing economic conditions. However, the overall scheme design is deliverable, and should still deliver value for money even if the full target is not realised.

Overall assessment: My assessment is that the feasibility test is satisfied, although I note the risk to achieving the full targets

Conclusion

As the BEIS Accounting Officer I have considered the assessment of Help to Grow Management Programme and approved it on 25 February 2021.

I have prepared this summary to set out the key points which informed my decision. If any of these factors change materially during the lifetime of this project, I undertake to prepare a revised summary, setting out my assessment of them.

The summary included in this letter will be published on the government’s website (GOV.UK). Copies of this letter will be deposited in the Libraries of the House and sent to the Comptroller and Auditor General and Treasury Officer of Accounts.

Sarah Munby
Permanent Secretary, BEIS 25 February 2021