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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to support life sciences in the North East as part of the North East Devolution Deal.

The new powers and funding agreed through this devolution deal will give the region greater say on how it is run as well as the ability to seize opportunities to innovate and grow. The Health and Life Sciences sector is one of many assets in the North East to be proud of and this deal will bring opportunity to build on that existing sector strength and the excellent work already being done by the likes of the region’s universities, the National Innovation Centre for Ageing and many others, to ensure growth of the sector for the future.