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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made on the northern powerhouse project since 2014.

Since the Northern Powerhouse was launched in 2014, we have seen increased investment, enhanced international profile for the North and devolved new powers to the North. Since 2014, we have:

• Released £3.4 billion of Local Growth Funding to locally-determined projects across the North. The Lancashire Growth Deal - £320 million – is the largest of its kind outside of city regions. This has included 17 transport schemes, including £9million for the Clitheroe to Manchester Rail Line.
• Created the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, worth £400 million, to support SME’s to grow and scale-up. To date, this has supported 280 businesses.
• This Government has delivered unprecedented levels of investment in better transport across the North – over £13 billion (between 2015/16 – 2020/21) – more than any Government in history. We’ve given Transport for the North, £260 million, and equipped them with statutory powers to develop a Strategic Northern Transport Plan. The new Northern franchise will deliver new trains through the Northern Connect service, linking Accrington, Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley and Chorley.
• Supported improvements in education in the North with £70 million for the Northern Powerhouse Schools Strategy.
• Boosted the international profile of the Northern Powerhouse through a commitment of £15 million to support Northern Powerhouse Trade Missions and £7 million for a Northern Powerhouse Taskforce to boost trade and investment – completed over 50 missions, 18 in the last year alone.

We seek to build on this success and have committed to refresh the Northern Powerhouse Strategy at Autumn Budget 2018.