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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much funding from the Towns Fund has been paid to each of the qualifying towns for that fund.

So far, each of the 101 towns has received capacity funding of £140,000, £162,019 or £173,029 depending on population size. In September 2020, each town also received a capital grant of £500,000, £750,000 or £1 million as part of £81.5 million accelerated funding to help towns respond to the immediate challenges of Covid-19.

In October 2020, we announced offers of Town Deals to the first seven towns. The first payments will be made once full business cases have been agreed for projects within those deals, and paid annually thereafter. This includes projects put forward to be fast-tracked. The majority of the remaining towns have now submitted their Town Investment Plans and these are being assessed by officials in the Department.

Furthermore, on 26 December 2020, we announced that up to £830 million has been allocated from the Future High Streets Fund. 15 areas have been awarded £255 million, with a further 57 areas to receive provisional funding of £576 million. This is a major boost for local high streets. The investment will support areas to recover from the pandemic and help transform underused town centres into vibrant places to live, work and shop.