For all Growth Deal Projects, the allocation of any funding to projects identified within SELEPs Growth Deal was subject to approval by the SELEP Accountability Board. All funding decisions made by the Accountability Board to approve funding for a specific project had to be supported with a robust Business Case which had been independently assessed. This independent and impartial advice on the merits of project Business Cases was provided by the SELEP Independent Technical Evaluator.

Independent Technical Evaluator

Steers were appointed by SELEP as its Independent Technical Evaluator, to provide technical advice to the Strategic and Accountability Board on value for money and project deliverability of Growth Deal projects.  Following the review of Businesses Cases, the SELEP Independent Technical Evaluator made recommendations to the SELEP Accountability Board on the project’s Value for Money and the certainty of Value for Money being achieved.

Value for money

The review of a project’s Value for Money helped to inform the Accountability Board’s view as to whether the benefits which the project was expected to deliver justified the investment of public funds.