Yesterday (24 July) the government issued a review of LEPs which issued a series of recommendations aimed at 'supercharging' economic growth and driving forward investment.
The publication of the ‘Strengthened Local Enterprise Partnerships’ review sees government delivering on its promise in the Industrial Strategy white paper to bring forward reforms to the leadership, governance and accountability of LEPs.
The review proposes a number of changes to boost the performance of LEPs, increase their diversity and ensure they’re operating in an open and transparent way. These include:
- Up to £20 million of additional funding between 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020 to support the implementation of these changes and embed evidence in Local Industrial Strategies
- Supporting LEPs to consult widely and transparently on appointing new Chairs and improve board diversity
- A requirement for women to make up at least one third of LEP boards by 2020 with the expectation of equal representation by 2023
- A mandate for LEPs to submit proposals for revised geographies including removing situations in which 2 LEP geographies overlap
