Autumn Statement 2012: shake-up transfers £60bn spend from Whitehall to regional bodies It follows a report by Lord Heseltine, former deputy prime minister, who had called for the transfer of economic power from central government to the regions where the business-led partnerships working with local authorities would have a powerful policy role. The shake-up involves money earmarked for the regions being placed in a central "pot" from April 2015 and open to bids from LEPs to invest in projects and schemes they feel will benefit the local economy. Lord Heseltine suggested that almost £50bn of the "pot" could come from the budgets of Whitehall departments and the rest from EU regional funding. The Government already operates a bidding set-up with the Regional Growth Fund providing loans and grants to businesses in areas hit by public spending cuts, but under Lord Heseltine's plan the pot would be considerably bigger, drawing on 59 funding sources. The Chancellor, who commissioned the report, has made it clear he wants to implement as many of Lord Heseltine's recommendations as possible but is facing opposition from key Whitehall departments reluctant to lose even more money from their budgets. It is estimated the Business Department could lose the £14bn it spends on improving skills and the Education Department £3m from its apprenticeship programme. Mr Osborne is also offering cheap loans to LEPs for infrastructure projects costing up to £1.5bn and providing a further £350m for the Regional Growth Fund. The 39 LEPs replaced Labour's Regional Development Agencies but have complained about being forced to operate on a shoestring to survive while having oversight of more than £1bn of local economic funding. They would have considerably more clout as a result of the Heseltine reforms and be encouraged to provide a stronger voice for the private sector in promoting growth through business organisations.