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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to increase awareness of the Community Ownership Fund in Northern Ireland.

The first bidding round of the Community Ownership Fund has now closed and the successful bids have been announced. We are reviewing applications and uptake across the United Kingdom in each nation as part of our first round review and will consider how to increase awareness in the next round.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities officials worked closely with officials at the Northern Ireland Executive, the Northern Ireland Office and the Cities and Local Growth Unit Northern Ireland Area team during the first bidding round to ensure that communities were aware of the fund. They will continue to do this in future rounds.