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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Northern Ireland Executive about their decision to open an office of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in Belfast.

We are committed to moving more civil servants out of London and closer to the communities they serve - including Northern Ireland. We will shortly start recruiting civil servants to be based in Northern Ireland, to help implement new UK-wide investment programmes announced in the Budget, benefitting from local knowledge of projects coming forward and working closely with the Northern Ireland Executive and others to maximise investment opportunities.