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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what due diligence was carried out by his Department ahead of the award of £2.5 million to Riding Sunbeams Apollo Ltd in November 2020 to ensure that those funds will not be used directly or indirectly to support campaign groups (a) Stop Funding Hate, (b) Momentum and (c) ToppleTheRacists.

Due diligence was delegated to the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) and focused on the track record of the company in delivering public contracts and its acknowledged expertise in its field. The contract between East Sussex County Council and Riding Sunbeams does explicitly prohibit funding being used for any purpose not part of the agreed project budget.