Acevo has complained to the Department for Communities and Local Government that the voluntary sector has been ignored in the blueprint for new local enterprise partnerships.

Acevo’s CEO Stephen Bubb told delegates at yesterday’s national conference that “it incredibly pisses me off that chambers of commerce and small business federations have more power and influence in that structure than we do”.

He was responding to a question from the floor about whether the sector has a role in local enterprise partnerships, which are described on the CLG website as “locally-owned partnerships between local authorities and businesses”. They will replace Regional Development Agencies.

Bubb admitted he was “worried about this development, the way it has been set up and delivered around local authorities working with the private sector. So far they have excluded our sector, and that is a big mistake.”

He said that Acevo has already met with CLG to make this point and to “ask them to make sure that these partnerships develop by taking account of our sector”.

At this comment, Mike Nussbaum, vice president of Volunteering England, interjected to say that Greg Clark, minister for communities and local government, had recently written to Navca chief executive Kevin Curley to make clear that the government’s expectation is that charities and social enterprises should be involved in LEPs.

And within the South East Midlands local enterprise partnership, that is already happening, Nussbaum said, despite opposition from the local Institute of Directors.

Navca told Civil Society that Nick Hurd had agreed to take up the issue with the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

Navca is also surveying its members to find out about LEP involvement across England.