To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reasons the Port of Tyne has not received grants from the Brexit Readiness Fund.

Across 2017/18 and 2018/19, my Department has made available £77 million to help local areas prepare for Brexit. This includes £60 million that has been distributed between all local authorities in England, and an additional £8.15 million allocated to further support councils which either have, or are near to, a major air, land or sea port to ensure they continue to operate efficiently.

The additional funding for councils with ports is to boost those councils’ capacity and help them put in place measures that will protect the services that residents, communities and businesses rely upon. The allocations for this funding have been based on a number of factors including the expected impact on the local area, the amount of EU goods received by port areas into the country and the areas’ wider importance to the UK’s trade network. The Port of Tyne is within the boundaries of North Tyneside Council, which has received £314,952 of Brexit capacity funding from MHCLG.