Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Government’s Levelling Up agenda is implemented across all parts of the North of England.

Levelling Up is at the heart of the Government’s agenda to build back better after the pandemic and was at the centre of the manifesto on which the Government promised to deliver for the people of the UK.

Levelling Up was the golden thread running through the whole of Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 which funded an ambitious domestic agenda, including an unprecedented investment package of £5.7 billion for eight English city regions to transform local transport networks through London-style integrated settlements, benefitting West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, South Yorkshire and Tees Valley.

We have also announced the £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund, which will invest in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK, supporting town centre and high street regeneration, local transport projects, and cultural and heritage assets.

At the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021, £519 million from the Levelling Up Fund was confirmed for 27 projects in the North of England from the first tranche of allocations.

Almost half of the towns that will benefit from the £3.6 billion Towns Fund are in the North of England. All Town Deals have now been announced, with those in the North totalling over £1 billion.

The Government will shortly be publishing a Levelling Up White Paper, building on existing action we are already taking across Government and setting out a new policy regime that will drive change for years to come.