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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what investment in infrastructure the Government plans to make in (a) Copeland constituency and (b) Cumbria as part of the Northern Powerhouse initiative.

The Government has provided several economic tools to help drive forward economic growth in Copeland and the wider Cumbria local enterprise partnership including:

• Growth Deal - £47.7 million
• Regional Growth Fund - £23.7 million
• Growing Places Fund – £6.7 million
• Broadband Delivery UK - £22.1 million
• Coastal Communities Fund - £3.8 million

The Department for Transport have also allocated £83.6 million to Cumbria County Council as the highway authority for infrastructure investment across the whole of Cumbria. The strategy for transport infrastructure investment in the North, including Cumbria, as part of the Northern Powerhouse, is still being developed by Transport for the North – and Government has committed £30 million over three years towards the running costs of Transport for the North, which will be set up as a statutory body.