Oral Answers to Questions

Christine Jardine Excerpts

Monday 5th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

3. What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the process of delivering funds for successful levelling-up fund bids.

[Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)]

19. What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of criteria for awarding levelling-up funding.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Dehenna Davison)]

My Department has undertaken a robust assessment and decision-making process in both rounds of the levelling-up fund. Taking on board feedback, we made a number of improvements to better support applicants in the most recent round, including by making £65 million of support available to help with the delivery of projects. We are currently reflecting on the lessons learned from the first two rounds of the fund, and we will be making an announcement on round 3 shortly.

--- Later in debate ---

[Christine Jardine]

North Edinburgh Arts in my constituency recently joined the City of Edinburgh Council in a project to provide a new state-of-the art venue in a deprived area, building on already vital work, but that project failed to receive funds in both levelling-up rounds. Only 21% of bids are currently successful, and only 8% of the funds are going to Scotland. Does the Minister think we should review the criteria to make applications more efficient, so that communities can benefit from the levelling-up fund?

[Dehenna Davison]

I am certainly willing to meet the hon. Lady to discuss the project. It is worth noting that the allocations we have made to Scotland meet the commitments that we made in our first levelling-up fund prospectus, but of course we want to ensure that the funds reach the areas that need them most.