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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the potential (a) commercial risks and (b) increased liabilities that (i) smaller councils with higher value bids and (ii) other local authorities may face following a successful levelling-up bid.

I hope you will understand that, for reasons of fairness, I cannot discuss bids further during this period of competition, whilst bids are being evaluated.

Applications to the Levelling Up Fund are subject to the robust assessment process set out in published guidance. This includes a deliverability assessment which considers three areas - (i) the whole funding package including how any financial risks will be mitigated (ii) the procurement strategy and (iii) maturity of the delivery plan and the capacity/ capability in place to manage that.

All successful Levelling Up Fund bids are subject to rigorous monitoring and evaluation to track delivery progress.