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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that local enterprise partnerships play a key role in regional economic recovery after the covid-19 outbreak.

The Minister of State for Regional Growth and Local Government chairs an Economic Recovery Working Group, bringing together representatives of local authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships, and Combined Authorities. This Group works with local regions to understand the full scale of the challenges they face in the short to medium-term.

We are not starting recovery planning from a blank page. Through the Local Industrial Strategies programme, Local Enterprise Partnerships have done excellent work to develop an evidence base and to scope long-term priorities for their areas. In the short-term, we encourage partners to prioritise those issues their existing strategies –have not considered. This will include how to restart the economy whilst maintaining social distancing in line with Government guidance.