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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the criteria for allocation of funds to local authorities as part of the Towns Fund.

As part of the £3.6 billion Towns Fund, 101 towns were selected to develop proposals for Town Deals. Details of this selection process are available in the summary of accounting officer advice, published on gov.uk here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/towns-fund-selection-summary-of-accounting-officer-advice/towns-fund-selection-process-summary-of-accounting-officer-ao-advice.

Those 101 towns were asked to submit Town Investment Plans setting out their vision and strategy and detailing the projects they would like the Towns Fund to support.

In June 2020, the Department published further guidance detailing the process and assessment criteria for those Town Investment Plans. This guidance can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/926422/Towns_Fund_further_guidance.pdf

All towns have now submitted their proposals and 52 towns have so far been offered Town Deals. Assessment continues for the remaining towns, with further announcements expected in due course.