Question to the Wales Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what funding they will provide to the Welsh Government to replace the (1) European Regional Fund, (2) European Structural and Investment Fund, and (3) European Social Fund, for (a) 2022–23, (b) 2023–24, and (c) 2024–25.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) will replace the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund. It will ramp up to £1.5 billion a year in 2024-25 as EU Structural Funds tail off and total funding will at a minimum match the size of EU Funds in all nations, each year. UKSPF funding in the next Spending Review period will total over £2.6 billion.

The UKSPF is key to levelling up the whole of the UK. It will help people access opportunity in places in need, such as former-industrial areas, deprived towns, rural and coastal communities and for people in disadvantaged groups across the UK. Further details about the Fund will be set out later this year.

In addition to the UKSPF, Wales will also receive £121 million from the first round of the Levelling Up Fund, £46 million from the UK Community Renewal Fund and £464,000 from the Community Ownership Fund. We are also providing the Welsh Government with an additional £2.5 billion per year on average through the Barnett formula, on top of its annual baseline funding of £15.9 billion. These are the largest annual block grants of any spending review settlement since devolution began.