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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the UK Community Renewal Fund: prospectus 2021-22 and the design of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, whether the place-based portion will be targeted based on indices of multiple deprivation data.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund will help to level up and create opportunity across the UK for people and places.

A portion of the Fund will target places most in need across the UK, such as ex-industrial areas, deprived towns and rural and coastal communities. It will support people and communities, opening up new opportunities and spurring regeneration and innovation.

A second portion of the Fund will be targeted differently to people most in need through bespoke employment and skills programmes that are tailored to local need. This will support improved employment outcomes for those in and out of work in specific cohorts of people who face labour market barriers.

The Government will set out further details of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in a UK-wide investment framework published later in 2021.