Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which government funding streams have been available exclusively to Mayoral Combined Authorities since January 2024; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of this on areas without a devolution deal.

Most government funding streams delivered by Mayoral Combined (and Combined County) Authorities (MC(C)As) in England are devolved from national government. In areas where there is not yet a Combined Authority in place, national government continues to oversee these funds.

Several ongoing funding streams are targeted only at MC(C)As in England, but in certain circumstances are paid to a broader range of recipients including in the Devolved Administrations or local authorities.

Funds in England exclusive to MC(C)As include:

• Investment Funds (also known as ‘Gain Share’), which were agreed through Devolution Deals and support multiple themes including transport, infrastructure, skills, culture and enterprise & innovation within MC(C)As.
• City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (from 2022-2027; 8 MCAs were eligible). From 2027-2032 9 of the current 13 MCAs are eligible for its successor, the Transport for City Regions fund.
• The Department for Transport also provides a small number of grants to a subset of Mayoral Combined Authorities for the purposes of supporting transport networks specific to these areas; these grants generally pre-date current devolution arrangements.

The government has not commissioned analysis on the impacts of devolved funding to those without devolution agreements in England.