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Local Enterprise Partnerships

Local Enterprise Partnerships

 

Toolkit

For a summary of information on Local Enterprise Partnerships please view our LEP Toolkit  

 

BIS Presentation on LEPs

We recently attended a briefing by BIS where the Government outlined its national strategy on LEPs.

 

Background

It was announced in the recent Emergency Budget that Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in England will be abolished and replaced by Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).

 

In June we wrote to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills setting out our early thoughts on the proposed LEPs.  Our letter to Vince Cable MP

 

It is likely that the various LEPs will look different and we do not expect to see much in the way of firm, detailed rules or guidelines for future LEPs from the Government. How should LEPs look?

 

The deadline for the submission of proposals to government was 6th September 2010, and 57 proposals were received. This poses a serious challenge for making the voice of small and micro businesses heard.  As the only national business organisation specifically representing these sectors, the FSB is lobbying nationally and locally to ensure that small business interests are represented on the new partnerships.

 

Work to date

Our National Chairman John Walker met with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles in July.  We were pleased to see that the FSB is set to be a key business partner in the new LEPs. The Secretary State said after the meeting that the FSB has a central role to play, working hand in hand with local leaders, to develop and deliver new local enterprise partnerships  Read the press release


Following the closure of the deadline for submissions we wrote to Government Ministers again urging them to take a firm line with those proposals that did not have proper business support and involvement.  Read the press release


Our members have been working hard in every area of the country to ensure that small business interests are represented on the LEPs and the FSB is continuing to lobby nationally so that Government ensures that any LEP proposals are committed to a genuine partnership with business.