Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to help ensure that (a) Clacton constituency and (b) deprived coastal areas in the South are included in the Government's levelling up agenda.

We are committed to levelling up opportunity across the UK – by boosting jobs, wages and prospects for all communities. The government is launching a new Levelling Up Fund worth £4bn for England. This will invest in local infrastructure that has a visible impact on people and their communities and will support economic recovery. We will publish more detail on the criteria for assessing bids in the prospectus.

The Department is also working to implement the findings of the Green Book Review to better reflect the government's strategic objectives in business cases, particularly on levelling up.