Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress has been made in applying aspects of the City Deal in Wales, in accordance with the undertaking given in paragraph 1.236 of the Autumn Statement 2013.

Autumn Statement 2013 committed the Government to delivering an ambitious City Deal for Glasgow by working with the Scottish Government and local delivery partners. Following the announcement of the Glasgow and Clyde Valley City Deal (Heads of Terms Agreement) on 4 July, the UK Government is now working with the Scottish Government and local councils in Glasgow to finalise the Deal.

This is a new approach to working with a city in a part of the UK where the UK Government, the relevant devolved administration, and local bodies have responsibilities which overlap and complement each other. As the next step, we hope to conclude the Glasgow City Deal, and take the opportunity to assess its immediate impact and longer-term out-workings.

Given the complexity of this process, we believe it is prudent to ensure this assessment can be undertaken before exploring the potential application of the City Deal process more widely across the U.K. At that point the lessons learned from Glasgow on funding, governance, responsibility and accountability covering a range of bodies should be clearer.

Separately, the UK Government is providing the Welsh Government with new tax and borrowing powers through the Wales Bill, the latter of which will further enable the Welsh Government to decide when and how to invest in infrastructure in Wales. And in advance of the powers in the Wales Bill being implemented, we have agreed that the Welsh Government can use its existing, more limited, borrowing powers to proceed with improvements to the M4, should it choose to do so.