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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the appropriateness of the use by Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership of the £15 million of Growth Deal funds allocated for the purposes of land acquisition.

Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership’s (LEP) round 1 growth deal included a £16 million Government commitment to invest in the A1(M) transport corridor supporting the acceleration of housing delivery across this growth area. Government has put clear assurance systems in place to ensure that the LEP operates transparently and we will continue to work with them to ensure their systems offer value for money, and that public resources have been spent in a reasonable and considered manner.