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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the decision-making process followed by local enterprise partnerships is transparent.

We’ve set out clear standards on transparent decision making, which Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) must comply with through their local assurance frameworks. These are verified by their accountable section 151 officers. We commissioned the Government Internal Audit Agency to review the quality of these frameworks, and keep the system under review through annual performance conversations with each LEP.