Written questions by Blackman.

Communities and Local Government, what funding in real terms was allocated from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to organisations providing support for victims of sexual violence and domestic abuse in Scotland in (a) 2023–24, (b) 2024–25 (c) 2025–26 and (d) 2026-27.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) has a light-touch delegated delivery model, empowering lead local authorities to make decisions on how funding is allocated in their area. As a result, MHCLG does not hold annual project level data.However, lead local authorities have reported investment in five discrete projects supporting victims of sexual violence and domestic abuse in Scotland over the period April 2022 to March 2026, to the value of £307,714 (actual cost). We anticipate that other projects will also have supported victims of sexual violence and domestic abuse as part of their work, but this information is not held by the department. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is ending in March 2026. No new funding has been allocated for the period 2026-27.

Communities and Local Government, whether the independent review into foreign financial interference in UK politics will consider donations to individual (a) candidates and (b) politicians in addition to donations to political parties.

The Rycroft review into foreign financial interference in UK politics will involve an in-depth assessment of current financial and bribery related rules and safeguards that regulate political parties and political finance. Those rules apply to candidates for election and regulated donees (among other groups). The review will also offer recommendations to mitigate risks from foreign interference. However, given the review’s independence, we cannot pre-empt specifics of the ground it will cover, nor the recommendations it will make.The terms of reference for the review can be found here.

Communities and Local Government, how many posts there are for (a) press, (b) media and (c) other communications staff in her Department; and what the salary band is for each post.

In the central MHCLG communications team, there are a total of 53 Full Time Equivalent Government Communication Service professionals. Of this total, 19 work in the media discipline which covers press and media responsibilities. This is the latest available data from June 2024.