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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to relocate staff from London to other parts of England to support combined authorities to deliver their responsibilities; and if he will make a statement.

The joint Cities and Local Growth Unit – a partnership between the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy - already has teams in each region of England who work closely with combined authorities to support the delivery of their responsibilities.

In addition, at Budget 2017, the Government announced that mayoral combined authorities will receive £12 million of new funding over the next two years to further enhance their capacity.