Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on local authorities making applications to the Kickstart scheme.

We are pleased to see the significant interest in the Kickstart Scheme from local authorities and recognise the excellent position they are in to support local opportunities.

We regularly meet with ministerial colleagues and our officials have engaged with local authorities, local enterprise partnerships and the mayoral combined authorities throughout the Kickstart Scheme development process.