Question

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Northern Futures project.

The Northern Futures project engaged with thousands of people across the north, with 2,000 people following the Northern Futures Twitter account and several events held across northern cities. We are making good progress on implementing the best ideas that came forward through this process, including:

• Confirmation at Autumn Statement of £7bn to improving road networks and replacing old fashioned pacer trains across the north
• The recruitment of the Head of TechNorth, a new arm of TechCity UK which will support the region's tech businesses, which is now underway.
• Finalising proposals for how to best use the £10m of funding made available to support the region's tourism industry, including through a DPM hosted roundtable meeting planned for later this month.
• Creation of a working group on the temporary use of vacant buildings and land to see how we can bring underused sites back into use to support businesses, artists and community groups in the north of England.