Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans his Department has for public consultation during the development of local industrial strategies.

Local Industrial Strategies are developed locally and agreed with government. In the policy prospectus published in October 2018, we set out that Local Industrial Strategies should be the product of consultation with businesses, a broad range of public partners and civil society. In addition to this, the ‘Strengthened Local Enterprise Partnerships’ Review published in July 2018 made clear that Local Enterprise Partnerships should operate to the highest standards of accountability and transparency and ensure the communities they represent can influence the economic plans for the area.

To be successful, Local Industrial Strategies must be developed from the bottom up and led by those who best know the needs of local economies. This locally led approach means Local Enterprise Partnerships and Mayoral Combined Authorities should choose how they work in partnership with both public and private stakeholders and determine the best way to consult the public. Places have taken different approaches to public consultation; the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Oxford-Cambridge Arc and West of England Local Industrial Strategies, published recently, demonstrate this.