Aligning local skills with local needs is vital, if the UK economy is to return to sustained growth – and LEPs may well have a role to play, says Giles Roca.

The all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on local growth, local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) and enterprise zones is announcing a call for evidence around an inquiry on local growth and the skills system, to report later in the spring. This inquiry builds on the APPG's Where next for LEPs report, published last year, which looked at the effectiveness of LEPs to date, and what they needed going forward.