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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government of 22 January 2018, Official Report, column 20, who the backers of the Ayrshire Growth Deal are; and when last he met those backers.

The proposed Ayrshire Growth Deal is backed by the three Ayrshire local authorities, namely East Ayrshire Council, North Ayrshire Council and South Ayrshire Council; as well as the Ayrshire Economic Partnership, which includes representatives from Scottish Enterprise, Ayrshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry and individual business leaders working alongside the three local authorities.

As part of wider government discussions I met Patrick Wiggins, the Director of the Ayrshire Growth Deal, on 14 November 2017.