Treasury shows trust in Local Enterprise Partnerships Steve Hollis, Midland chairman for accountants KPMG and deputy chairman of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP, said he was seeing the "first signs" of "trust" building between Whitehall and the LEPs, which replace the nine regional development agencies this year. Mr Hollis said his LEP had feared the loss of control of a £25m capital equipment loan fund secured last year, when Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, decided to extend its reach nationally. However, after discussions with Treasury officials, the 14 LEPs approved to access the new £125m pot are being trusted to invest the money wisely, he said. It's novel in the UK as we are highly centralised, command and control. But there seems to be trust being built between central government and the regions. The original £25m LEP fund will be lent to advanced engineering businesses in the West Midlands and Liverpool that need to invest to take advantage of growing demand from car markers and aerospace groups. Mr Hollis said the four LEPs involved were trying to co-ordinate their lending decisions with the large car manufacturers, including Jaguar Land Rover and General Motors. We are getting some of the OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) to put the packages together on the supply chain they need. It means we have a potential supplier, this government money and the banks signing up too. We are putting together a strategy to manage the supply chain and have a much more co-ordinated approach. We could leave it to the market and it would get there eventually but by doing this we get our act together more quickly.