Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what mechanisms are in place to prevent conflicts of interest among Local Enterprise Partnership board members.

It is vital that Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are transparent in the way they work and accountable to the local people they work with. We are committed to the improvement of LEP governance and transparency and want all LEPs to be well placed to deliver economic growth at the local level. Strengthened LEPs (July 2018) set out Government’s continued commitment to LEPs and brought forward reforms to their leadership, governance, accountability, financial reporting and geographical boundaries.

Every year the Department undertakes an Annual Performance Review with each LEP where it evaluates each LEP’s performance in key areas of strategy, delivery and governance. The Department has also conducted a series deep dives to review the governance, transparency and accountability processes and culture in LEPs in more detail. We continue to build up a holistic system which provides assurance across the full range of LEP activity and is effective in responding quickly and identifying risks which require further support. Details of last year’s assurance process can be found in the Permanent Secretary’s response to the Public Accounts Committee Report into governance and department oversight of the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough LEP.

Through our LEP National Assurance Framework (November 2016) and through the publication of the LEP governance and transparency best practice guidance (January 2018), the Department has set out the policies and processes that LEPs must have in place to prevent conflicts of interests among board members and staff. In line with these requirements, each LEP must publish and implement a conflict of interest policy. All board members must adopt and publish the Department’s bespoke proforma register of interests which they are required to update regularly. We continue to work with LEPs to develop their capabilities around governance and transparency, with the Department actively monitoring key risks and intervening quickly when improvements are required.