England's Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) are to be scrapped and replaced with a new network of local enterprise partnerships, the government has revealed.
Included in today's Emergency Budget report is the announcement that the RDAs, which drive economic development and business support in nine English regions, are to be abolished through the Public Bodies Bill later this year.
The agencies will be replaced, the document said, by "strong local enterprise partnerships" (LEPs) headed up by "locally-elected leaders".
Before the general election, the Conservatives said such a system would be financed by the government offering to match funding for three years with the other half of the money provided by councils and chambers of commerce.
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