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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2020 to Question 59479, on Reopening High Streets Safely Fund, what assessment his Department has made of the compatibility of the criteria of the Re-opening High Streets Safely Fund with the Equality Act 2010.

The public sector equality duty is complied with at programme level for the European Regional Development Fund in England. This compliance applies to all projects funded by the programme, including the Reopening High Streets Safely Fund (RHSSF). Local authorities will be subject to that duty in delivering this additional targeted funding. The RHSSF is targeted at specific ERDF programme priorities, and is not designed to fund all of the activities covered by the Safer Public Places guidance published on 13 May.