Working Neighbourhoods Fund: Birmingham
Communities and Local Government
Richard Burden (Birmingham, Northfield, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what progress he has made in his assessment of the effectiveness of the use of the Working Neighbourhoods Fund in Birmingham.
Rosie Winterton (Minister of State (Yorkshire and the Humber), Department for Communities and Local Government; Doncaster Central, Labour)
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has received a report from the regional director of the Government office for the west midlands, outlining the ways in which Birmingham intend to improve their delivery of the Working Neighbourhoods Fund (WNF) programme.
Improvements are being made but we still have concerns over the pace of the delivery of WNF programmes. The Secretary of State has written to the chair of Birmingham's LSP saying that issues that are impeding the delivery of WNF projects need to be addressed as a matter of urgency. We are determined that that the people of Birmingham should not be penalised for slow action by their local authority.
A further report on Birmingham and WNF will be provided to the Secretary of State in March.