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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to ensure that local authorities can access cross-border, transnational and inter-regional co-operation funds from EU cohesion funding after the UK leaves the EU; and if he will make a statement.

The Chancellor’s statement of 3 October 2016 set out guarantees for local authorities’ funding for cross-border, transnational and inter-regional cooperation projects subject to certain conditions. The Treasury will guarantee funding for those projects which are signed after the Autumn Statement, but before the UK leaves the EU, provided that they provide strong value for money and are in line with domestic strategic priorities. This guarantee will apply even where those projects continue after the UK has left the EU. The Chancellor’s statement has provided certainty for local authorities and other UK participants in European Territorial Cooperation programmes.

Leaving the EU means that we can decide how to deliver the policy priorities currently delivered by EU funding programmes. We will consult closely with stakeholders, including local authorities, to review all EU funding schemes in the round, to ensure that any on-going funding commitments best serve the UK‘s national interest, while ensuring appropriate investor certainty.