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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what criteria were used in the Town Deals selection process in rejecting four of the eleven towns in the north east of England that had been recommended by officials to ministers.

Ministers considered a range of factors as part of the selection process for Town Deals, including income deprivation, productivity and exposure to economic shocks. We recognise that there are more towns in need than we were able to support through this first set of Town Deals and have committed to a further competitive element of the Towns Fund. More information will be provided in due course.