Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what role, if any, regional Levelling Up Directors will have in awarding funding; and to whom will they be accountable for this function.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is committed to delivering levelling up outcomes in the best way possible. Further announcements will be made in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government which stakeholder groups regional Levelling Up Directors will be expected to work with in each region.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is committed to delivering levelling up outcomes in the best way possible. Further announcements will be made in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what duties they expect regional Levelling Up Directors, when appointed, to fulfil.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is committed to delivering levelling up outcomes in the best way possible. Further announcements will be made in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether regional Levelling Up Directors will be (1) budget holders, (2) responsible for the work of junior staff, and (3) line mangers to junior staff.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is committed to delivering levelling up outcomes in the best way possible. Further announcements will be made in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the annual pay rate will be for a Regional Director of Levelling Up.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is committed to delivering Levelling Up. The posts were advertised at salaries of up to £144,000 per annum. No appointments have yet been made. More details will be available in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Regional Levelling Up Directors have been appointed so far.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is committed to delivering Levelling Up. The posts were advertised at salaries of up to £144,000 per annum. No appointments have yet been made. More details will be available in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to hold a formal consultation on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund; and whether any such consultation will include a framework for the Fund to ensure that it is accountable and transparent in its distribution principles.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The 2019 Conservative manifesto commits to creating the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, a programme of investment to bind together the whole of the United Kingdom, tackling inequality and deprivation in each of our four nations.
The Government has been engaging with key stakeholders on the design and priorities of the fund since 2016, including holding a series of engagement events. Our engagement events have taken place across the UK including in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
Over 500 stakeholders attended these events across a variety of sectors including; businesses, public bodies (such as Local Enterprise Partnerships, Mayoral Combined Authorities, local governments), higher education institutions, voluntary and charity sector and rural partnership groups.
Final decisions on the allocation of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will be taken after a cross-government Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the timetable for the introduction of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government understands the importance of local growth funding to places and people and is committed to creating the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to succeed European structural funds, providing vital investment in local economies, cutting out bureaucracy and levelling up those parts of the UK whose economies are furthest behind.
The 2019 Conservative Manifesto committed to targeting the UK Shared Prosperity Fund at the UK’s specific needs, at a minimum matching the size of European structural funds in each nation. This builds upon previous commitments to create a fund which tackles inequalities between communities by raising productivity, especially in those parts of the UK whose economies are furthest behind.
Final decisions on the design and operation of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will need to be made following a cross-Government Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards establishing the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government understands the importance of local growth funding to places and people and is committed to creating the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to succeed European structural funds, providing vital investment in local economies, cutting out bureaucracy and levelling up those parts of the UK whose economies are furthest behind.
The 2019 Conservative Manifesto committed to targeting the UK Shared Prosperity Fund at the UK’s specific needs, at a minimum matching the size of European structural funds in each nation. This builds upon previous commitments to create a fund which tackles inequalities between communities by raising productivity, especially in those parts of the UK whose economies are furthest behind.
Final decisions on the design and operation of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will need to be made following a cross-Government Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what financial support they intend to provide to local councils to deal with any future COVID-19 outbreaks.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
We have already provided local authorities with an unprecedented package of support.
Local authorities have been allocated £4.3bn of support which can be used for expenditure pressures, including £3.7bn of unringfenced grants and the £600m Infection Control Fund.
We have also introduced a co-payment scheme for relevant, irrecoverable income losses in 2020-21, where councils will bear the first 5% of income losses but the Government will cover 75p in every pound beyond this.
On tax we have announced that the repayment of collection fund deficits arising this year will be spread over the next three years rather than the usual one. This support will give councils considerable breathing room when setting budgets for next year before we make a fuller announcement at the Spending Review.