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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Spending Review 2020, what specific local support for early years services his Department will provide under the Shared Prosperity Fund.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) will help to level up and create opportunity across the UK in places most in need and for people who face labour market barriers.

The Spending Review set out the main strategic elements of the UKSPF in the Heads of Terms. Funding for the UKSPF will ramp up so that total domestic UK-wide funding will at least match receipts from EU structural funds, on average reaching around £1.5 billion per year. The Government will publish further details on the UKSPF in a UK-wide investment framework in 2021 and its funding profile will be set out at the next Spending Review.

To help local areas prepare over 2021-22 for the introduction of the UKSPF, the Government will provide £220 million additional funding to support our communities to pilot programmes and new approaches. Further details will be published in the new year.