The Green Book will be updated to ensure that investment in all regions is given a “fair hearing” by the Treasury, Rachel Reeves has said.
Reeves announced the government’s latest plans to drive growth in a speech to an audience of business chiefs at Siemens in North Oxfordshire this morning
Alongside headline announcements backing Heathrow expansion and a new role for civil servant-turned-minister Sir Patrick Vallance as champion for the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor, the so-called "Silicon Valley of Europe", Reeves outlined the aims of the government's Green Book review, which is set to report back at the conclusion of this year's Spending Review. The SR is due to conclude on June 11.
She said: “As the metro mayor of Liverpool, Steve Rotherham, has called for, we will review the Green Book and how it is being used to provide objective, transparent advice on public investment across the country, including outside London, and the South East. This means that investment in all regions is given a fair hearing by the Treasury that I lead.”
The Treasury committed to refreshing the guide for civil and public servants on how to appraise policies, projects and programmes last week.
The Green Book “supports proper consideration of the costs, benefits, and trade-offs of alternative options for delivering policy objectives". It uses the “five-case model” as outlined in business-case guidance for projects and programmes.
It was most recently refreshed in March 2022 by the then-chancellor Rishi Sunak in Boris Johnson’s Conservative government.