Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government's press release of 11 June 2020, entitled £63 million for local authorities to assist those struggling to afford food and other essentials, how much of that funding he plans to allocate to each local authority in the North East; and when he plans to issue guidance on the use of that funding.

We are allocating the funding according to the size of a local authority’s population and the level of deprivation. The exact amounts will be published on the GOV.UK website in due course. We issued guidance to local authorities on Friday 10 July, which is available to view at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-authority-emergency-assistance-grant-for-food-and-essential-supplies.