Business secretary Vince Cable said he would listen to pleas to avoid handing crucial regional development agency powers to a quango in London.

Yesterday, at his first appearance before the Business, Innovation and Skills select committee, Cable said local economic partnerships – which the government wants instead of RDAs – could retain key RDA powers over working with businesses and inward investment.

Cable’s view is in contrast to communities secretary Eric Pickles who three weeks ago said all these powers would be handed to Whitehall quango UKTI.

Cable said: “If a case is made for doing certain things through local enterprise partnerships, then we will listen to that.”

But he defended the decision to scrap RDAs by saying they have not address inequality between London and the UK regions: “The central mission RDAs had has not been successful,” he said.

The Business, Innovation and Skills select committee is set to conduct an inquiry this autumn into the local economic partnerships that the government wants instead of RDAs. The committee is set to hear evidence in September, and report its findings by the end of this year.

The inquiry is set to cover arrangements for the government’s £1bn Regional Growth Fund, how to co-ordinate roles between LEPs, and set a timetable for converting RDAs to LEPs. The committee is calling for submission of evidence before 12 August.

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