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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to strengthen collaboration with regional leaders in (a) Stoke-on-Trent and (b) Staffordshire.

My officials are already engaging with the local government sector on all areas of the Levelling Up White Paper (LUWP), to ensure councils feedback informs strengthened collaboration with regional leaders and that joined- up discussions about each place happen. In the LUWP, Government has committed that by 2030, every part of England that wants one will have a devolution deal with powers at or approaching the highest level of devolution and a simplified, long-term funding settlement. We have just announced an ambitious programme of negotiations, including early County Deals, new Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs), as well as deepening the settlements of our strongest MCAs. Devolution provides further opportunities to strengthen regional collaboration by working together with Government and I would encourage Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire to consider the devolution framework in the LUWP. This is only our first step towards achieving the 2030 mission and we will set out a process for other areas to come forward in due course.

The LUWP also announced the creation of Levelling Up Directors, to provide a single point of contact for local areas with central government to work collaboratively to drive new and innovative local policy proposals. Levelling Up Directors will play a critical function in empowering decision-making in local areas and ensuring that central government decision-making is informed and shaped by local insight; the recruitment for these roles has now launched.