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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he plans to take to ensure that the devolved nations receive the full amount of funds allocated to them under the (a) Community Renewal Fund and (b) Levelling up Fund in the event that insufficient applications are submitted to reach that amount.

We are committed to ensuring that local partners across the UK are able to benefit through both the Community Renewal Fund and the Levelling Up Fund.

The Levelling Up Fund is a competitive fund, with funding distributed to places across the UK on the basis of successful bid selection. The Fund will set aside at least £800 million across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland over four years from 2021-2022 to 2024-2025. For the first round of funding, at least 9% of total UK allocations will be set aside for Scotland, 5% for Wales, and 3% for Northern Ireland.

For the Community Renewal Fund, we have assigned a lead authority for each local area across Great Britain. Lead authorities have invited bids from a range of project applicants, appraised and prioritised a shortlist of projects up to a maximum of £3 million per place, which were submitted on 18 June to UK Government for assessment and approval. In Northern Ireland, project applications were invited to bid directly to the UK Government.

Bidding authorities across the UK have been well supported for both funds to submit quality applications through webinars and guidance.  Capacity funding will also be made available to all eligible bidding authorities.