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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Welsh Government on the distribution of (a) the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and (b) levelling-up funds to promote regional development in Wales.

Transparency information on meetings with the devolved administrations, which cover a range of issues, is published as part of the Intergovernmental relations quarterly reports. These are available here.

Whilst DLUHC ministers are formally accountable to UK Parliament, we have engaged with the Senedd's scrutiny of the Government's vision for Levelling Up in Wales, including by responding formally to recommendations made by the Finance Committee in October 2022.

My department is considering the most recent recommendations made by the Senedd's Economy, Trade and Rural Affairs committee and will respond in due course.

To support local authorities in developing proposals for the Levelling Up Fund, my department provided every local authority in Wales with a £125,000 capacity funding payment.

The vast majority of Levelling Up funding in Wales has been distributed via an allocative model, including the £585 million of investment to Wales via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

In the Secretary of State's speech to the Local Government Association conference in July 2023, where he announced the Government's funding simplification plan, he explained that we will change how government provides local growth funding to local authorities. From next year, all departments will need to consider whether they can use existing funds to deliver new money, or can use an allocation methodology to distribute it rather than launching another new competition.