Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the Northern Powerhouse investment fund has done to increase employment in areas historically impacted by deindustrialisation.

The two generations of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) support employment across the North of England by increasing access to finance for smaller businesses to start, scale and innovate.

The first NPIF delivered more than £1 billion of combined public and private sector investment to businesses across the North of England, of which £613 million was private sector investment. The Fund created more than 7,900 jobs.

Since launch, NPIF II has supported more than 400 businesses, facilitating almost £275 million of investment, and we would expect job creation across the North as under the first-generation fund.