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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment the Government has made of the potential effect of funding disparities between areas with and without mayoral combined authorities on business location decisions in those areas.

Given the differing roles and funding models, per capita comparisons for skills, transport and infrastructure between Mayoral Strategic Authorities and Local Authorities are not directly comparable. No direct assessment has been made on the potential effect of funding disparities on business location decisions, however through the Local Government Finance Settlement, the Government delivered fairer funding, targeting money where it is needed most. All funding information is published online through the “Local authority capital expenditure and receipts” and “Local authority revenue expenditure and financing” collection.

The Government has outlined intentions through the English Devolution White Paper to delivering ongoing process and impact evaluations of devolution as evidence becomes available, looking at delivery and implementation, future trends, and impact in place, including of infrastructure investment. In addition, all programme and project funding has monitoring, evaluation and reporting requirements to assess outcomes with exact requirements depending on the funding stream.