Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2026 to Question 32857 on European Social Fund, what was the nature of the ineligible expenditure that led to his Department issuing a financial correction against the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

The European Social Fund (ESF) was a European Union funding programme which supported employment, skills and social inclusion. In England, the 2014-2020 Programme provided funding to help people into work, improve workforce skills and support those facing barriers to employment.

In the final accounting period (2023-24) of the European Social Fund (ESF) England 2014-2020 Programme, 1,047 financial corrections were made in respect of irregular expenditure, totalling approximately £13.5 million. The majority of corrections were recovered to the UK Government from the grant recipient's next claim and where this was not possible it was repaid via demand note.