Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to close the employment rate gap between the North East of England and the rest of the UK.

The North East LEP Growth Deal is providing £379m to the North East LEP, to support the delivery of their Strategic Economic Plan, with its focus on more and better jobs. This has resulted in 67,000 more people in employment in the area than in 2010, and unemployment is at its lowest level for 20 years. We continue to work with the LEP in the development of an ambitious Local Industrial Strategy, designed to increase both the quantity and quality of jobs in the North East.