The New Local Enterprise Partnerships

Memorandum submitted by RISE

This is the submission from RISE which is the body the voice of the social enterprise community operating across the south west of England. More information can be found on www.rise-sw.co.uk

The views expressed below are those derived from recent informal discussions with and input from our Members including the RISE Board, as well as those informed by the RISE work over the past six years.

Government states repeatedly that Social Enterprise is part of the Big Society and social enterprises are first and fore-mostly businesses. Therefore Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) need to join up with this aspiration to create a joined up approach or there will only be rhetoric at the national level with very little local delivery of this agenda. This will only be achieved if there are structures that recognise that there are different ways to do business and that Social Enterprises represent an important part of that picture, and that they should therefore be an important contributor, influencer and informer of the LEPs. Social enterprises ‘trade for people and planet’.

The functions of the new Local Enterprise Partnerships and ensuring value for money

It is not at all clear at this stage how the LEPs will derive their funding and ensure value for money in their operations. From current information available it would appear that whilst responsibilities will be deferred from Regional Development Agency (RDA) level to the new LEPs being established, its also being suggested that there will be no additional funding available for the purposes and responsibilities. This is a clear concern in general economic development terms, but especially in the specific development of successful social enterprises at a time when the Government is clearly expecting social enterprises to take a leading role in service delivery and support for its aspirations around the Big Society. See comment above.

The Regional Growth Fund, and funding arrangements under the LEP system 

It is understood that the Regional Growth Fund will be informed by LEPs and therefore there is a clear danger that allocation of funds will follow very localised agendas and not achieve the strategic and collaborative approach to large-scale investments and economies of scale. This provides some key concerns for social enterprises, many of which have developed their structures and support networks based on the regional model, and which would require significant business re-modelling to establish new links to LEPs in order to achieve support for Growth investment. It will also require a huge level of effort for each individual social enterprise to try to influence its own LEP, whilst trying to run its own business. The likelihood is that opportunities to maximise the co-ordination of scare resources will be lost.

Government proposals for ensuring co-ordination of roles between different LEPs 

There is no clear indication as yet as to how the LEPs will be co-ordinated effectively in the interests of large-scale impact in economic terms. It has been our experience that on the whole local authorities tend to emphasise the local at the expense of any co-ordinated approach across district, unitary and county boundaries. The hands off approach to this centrally is likely to increase this affect.

The Government needs to ensure that LEPs do take on board the impact which social enterprises have made and can actively contribute to the local economy whilst at the same time achieving social and environmental impact. In the south west there are many examples which have meant a large-scale change in social, economic and environmental impact and which are social enterprises that have worked across boundaries. One example would be the Eden Project which has benefitted from major investment but has equally achieved a very significant impact in its work and its work stretches not only region wide but nationally and internationally. Other social enterprises that work across local authority boundaries include co-operatives such Devon Doctors that are providing out of hours GP services, a model which has replicated the model elsewhere in the country. Another example is COSMIC which has also worked extensively with local authorities, as well as with private sector business and other organisations in the wider civil sector across the SW, and through its social objectives to increase digital inclusion.

Arrangements for co-ordinating regional economic strategy · Structure and accountability of LEPs 

At present a major concern is that none of the LEPs currently being formed is engaging in discussions with social enterprises or the networks which represent their interests here in south west. We are very concerned that the Government which has high expectations of the role which social enterprises will play in taking forward initiatives around public services, health services and the Big society are not being included in the formation of these important economic partnerships. Therefore it is essential that the LEPs are given a clear requirement to engage with social enterprise development in their area and to have a clear role in accounting for the views of social enterprises see my comments above re hands-off

The legislative framework and timetable for converting RDAs to LEPs, the transitional arrangements, and the arrangements for residual spending and liability of RDAs 

There is a clear risk in the timetable being considered which currently shows a period when the SW RDA will no longer be in operation, but the new LEPs will equally not have formed. At present it appears the SW RDA will cease its operations at some point after April 2011, but the new LEPs will not effectively be in place until April 2012. What happens in this period (which could be up to 12 months) is unclear, and could leave social enterprises without any formal type of support, information and access to vital networks such as RISE. Any residual spending from the RDA in the time up until March 2011 should focus on ensuring that RISE (and other vital networks) are able to continue until the LEP have been effectively established and are ready to engage with the support social enterprises in their area need.

Means of procuring funding from outside bodies (including EU funding) under the new arrangements

A major concern here is that social enterprises have been highly successful in recent years in attracting inward investment from EU programmes due to their unique contribution to the triple bottom line (economy, society and environment) and that this has been supported by the work of the regional bodies particularly SW RDA and GOSW. This success has been maximised because of a coordinated approach to policy and guidance that was agreed with major stakeholders beforehand. If social enterprises are to be supported by staff employed by new LEPs to carry out this critical work, then those staff will need to be given the capacity and skills to link effectively with social enterprises and to understand which opportunities fit with their ambitions now and in the future. A failure to address this need will result in many successful social enterprises which have proved highly effective and influential in a European context being no longer able to access the opportunities and support they need to survive.

13 August 2010