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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of approved bids for Freeport bids were (a) led by and (b) involved companies with overseas (i) registration and (ii) beneficial ownership.

My Department led the fair, open and transparent selection process to determine successful Freeport locations in England. As part of that process, officials evaluated the memberships of bidding coalitions and proposed governance structures with respect to the requirements set out in the Bidding Prospectus

Freeports will be hubs for international trade and investment, attracting new businesses to the UK and bringing jobs and opportunity to some of our most deprived communities. They will unite ports, local authorities, businesses and other key local stakeholders in service of the common goal of boosting prosperity in their regions.