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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what benefits will arise for (a) Shropshire and (b) other counties from County Deals.

Devolution makes local politicians responsible for issues like transport, infrastructure and skills in their area; it enables those with local knowledge of the businesses and people to fix the problems their communities face; and it gives local residents the chance to judge how well they’re doing at the ballot box.

County Deals will enable local partners in Shropshire and in other counties to come together with powers exercised at the right level to make a difference for local communities. They also offer an opportunity for improvements in governance, efficiency and service delivery. As is the case with all devolution deals, County Deals are about strengthening local leadership, which is essential to levelling up, to delivering better outcomes and more joined-up public services at an appropriate spatial scale, to providing a convening focal point for innovation and local collaboration, and to improving local accountability. Further detail on County Deals will be set out in the Levelling Up White Paper.