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

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether universities will be eligible to bid to the Shared Prosperity Fund for funding for research projects.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund will be a flagship policy in delivering this Government’s commitment to level up the country and will target the people and places most in need across the UK. It will be focused on our domestic priorities and seize the opportunities that come from our departure from the EU and the bureaucracy of EU structural funds.

Spending Review 2020 set out the main strategic elements of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in the Heads of Terms.  We will publish further details about the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in a UK-wide Investment Framework later in 2021 and its funding profile will be set out at the next Spending Review.