Streamlined Routes M&E baseline-setting research

BEIS introduced the Subsidy Control Bill1 to Parliament in June 2021.

The new Subsidy Control Regime will commence in January 2023.

The Regime will enable public authorities (PAs) to deliver subsidies that are tailored for local needs and deliver government priorities such as levelling up and transitioning to a net zero economy.

It will promote the effective operation of a dynamic and competitive UK market economy.

The Subsidy Control Bill makes provision for Streamlined Routes.

Streamlined Routes will offer public authorities a way to award subsidies more quickly.

They are intended to promote confidence and legal certainty among public authorities and businesses undertaking projects that are routine and low risk or aligned to UK priorities.

It is important to understand if they are meeting their objectives2 and what effects they are having on PAs' behaviour.

To achieve this, we must first conduct research to establish a pre-Streamlined Routes baseline against which PAs' experience of Streamlined Routes (Streamlined Routes) will be compared once the new regime commences.

Research summary The baseline will be established by engaging with PAs and analysing subsidies in areas that Streamlined Routes will cover post commencement: Energy Usage; Research, Development, and Innovation; and Local Growth.

The following key research questions form our objectives for the research: Which PAs have been awarding subsidies in these areas and how many subsidies have they awarded?

What sized subsidies are being awarded in these areas and who are the beneficiaries (enterprise size, sector, purpose of the subsidy)?

How easy have PAs found awarding subsidies in these areas?

How long has it taken them to develop schemes, and have they developed these themselves or contracted out to a consultant?

How well do PAs feel they have understood the current subsidy control guidance?

Have they used it?

The methodology will include: Analysis of subsidy awards on the public database.

Identifying the sample of PAs to survey.

Mapping the subsidy award process, to ensure our questions on the awarding experience are as specific as possible.

Online survey sent to every PA in the sample, asking closed questions, on an ordinal scale, about the subsidy awarding process.

In-depth interviews will with a smaller sample.

We expect open-ended questions to be asked, allowing for detailed views from PAs on the current subsidy control regime.

The outputs will include: A full report on the research findings on the project's completion, including but not limited to an analysis of subsidy award data on the public database and anonymised data provided by PAs in the Energy Usage, RDI, and Local Growth areas, the themes of respondents' answers to the open-ended questions, and aggregated responses to the online survey.

A brief interim report at the project's midpoint containing the process map developed and the quantitative findings from the online survey.