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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to ensure that the proposed reduction in public sector representation on Local Enterprise Partnership Boards (LEP) will not dilute the democratic accountability and oversight of LEPs at a local level.

The Government published the Strengthened Local Enterprise Partnerships review on 24^th July, which brought forward reforms to leadership, governance, accountability, financial reporting and geographical boundaries. Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are public and private partnerships between local authorities, businesses and other key partners. This sets out our expectations around the active role of local authorities in providing a strong and direct link back to local people, and that local authorities continue to be a central part of each LEP’s democratic accountability. Collaboration between the public and private sector will remain key to LEPs’ success as locally elected leaders and businesses continue to work together to shape policies for their local areas.