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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to measure the impact of the projects funded through the Levelling Up Fund on the change in the relative spatial deprivation of the most deprived areas of the relevant local authority.

The £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund will invest in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK, including regenerating town centres and high streets, upgrading local transport, and investing in cultural and heritage assets. The Fund will reflect this Government’s greater emphasis on high-quality evaluation, which is critical to understanding what types of interventions work well in addressing levelling up challenges, through individual projects and across varying spatial scales.

As part of business case development for the Levelling Up Fund, local authorities are asked to set out a proportionate plan for project-level monitoring and evaluation, which forms part of bid assessment. Further details on our approach to monitoring and evaluation are available in the published Levelling Up Fund prospectus on GOV.UK.