Sir – Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has denied access to agendas and meetings to local and county councillors in Oxfordshire and refused minutes until after they have been approved by the next meeting of the LEP – when it is too late to do anything about the decisions which have been made.

Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are unelected bodies where self-appointed business leaders decide how public money should be spent with no democratic accountability. Between 2011 and 2015, LEPs were given £3.9bn of public money by central Government to spend on local growth schemes.

In addition, they have been given the responsibility of distributing £5.3bn of European Funding between 2014 and 2020.

LEPs can refuse to allow the public to attend their meetings and do not have to publish agendas or minutes of their meetings.

In 2014, the Government created an assurance framework setting standards of openness and transparency for LEPs. However it is not compulsory. For example, the local assurance framework is supposed to be published on the LEP website – Oxfordshire LEP has not done so.

The Nolan principles of public life should be applied to all bodies which allocate public money.

These principles are openness, transparency, integrity, accountability, objectivity, honesty and leadership.

Only the first two are covered by the assurance framework – and it’s voluntary.

Please sign this online petition asking Greg Clark MP, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, to apply the Nolan principles in full to LEPs. Or email Hazel Dawe for a paper copy of the petition at hazeldawe5@gmail.com

Hazel Dawe
Treasurer, Oxfordshire Green Party