Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he plans to take to assess the value for money of Town Deals.

Every Town Investment Plan we receive is robustly assessed against a range of criteria, with value for money a central consideration. Full details of our assessment are set out in the Towns Fund Further Guidance, which can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/926422/Towns_Fund_further_guidance.pdf

Funding is distributed through local authorities who are the accountable body. Local authorities have their own comprehensive processes in place for managing public money. Funding for projects will only be released when full, green book compliant, business cases have been approved.

The Department will publish its monitoring and evaluation strategy for the Towns Fund in due course.