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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will operational by the end of the transition period.

The Government remains committed to creating the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to succeed European structural funds and provide vital investment in local economies. The fund will bind together the whole of the United Kingdom, tackling inequality and deprivation in each of our four nations.

We recognise the importance of this funding to local places. Through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund we have a real opportunity to design a fund that is driven by our domestic priorities. Final decisions on the design of the fund will be taken after a cross-government Spending Review.