Insider Media Limited

Just two bids to form Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in the East Midlands have appeared on a 'success list' reportedly leaked from Whitehall. While bids from Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire County Councils alongside Nottingham and Derby district councils and Leicester & Leicestershire earned a spot on the list, proposals from Northamptonshire, South East Midlands and Greater Lincolnshire appear to have been omitted.

The government was quick to distance itself from the list of 22 bids reported to have been successful in their quests to become Local Enterprise Partnerships.

The list, which appeared online, is reported to be "circulating in Whitehall" and comes after communities secretary Eric Pickles told delegates at the Conservative Party conference that 15 to 22 LEP bids were "ready to go". This has caused some confusion as business secretary Vince Cable had previously indicated a preference for fewer and larger partnerships.

But a spokesman for the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: "No final decisions have been made on the successful proposals whatsoever.

"We are still considering all the proposals and will be providing feedback to the partnerships in due course.

"The list published is purely speculative."

The LEPs are set to replace the country's regional development agencies which are being axed in 2012.

The list, which comes with the warning that it is "provisional", says the following bids have been given the go-ahead:

North West: Greater Manchester; Merseyside; Cheshire & Warrington

Yorkshire & Humber: Leeds City Region; Sheffield City Region

West Midlands: Greater Birmingham; The Marches Enterprise Partnership; The Black Country; Coventry and Warwickshire and districts; Worcestershire and districts

East Midlands:Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire County Councils alongside Nottingham and Derby district councils; Leicester & Leicestershire

South East: Greater Cambridge & Greater Peterborough; Hertfordshire CC and districts; Kent-Essex; Coast to Capital; Solent; Oxfordshire City Region

South West: West of England (Bristol, North Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire); Empowering Enterprise (Cornwall and Isles of Scilly)

North East: Tees Valley Unlimited; North East Partnership

The list has emerged after Insider exclusively reported that ten LEP bidders are to be asked questions at a House of Commons' select committee on Tuesday. They include bids from: Cambridge and Peterborough; Coast to Capital; Enterprise M3; Greater Manchester; Leeds City Region; Business Voice West Midlands; Coventry and Warwickshire; Newcastle Gateshead; Cornwall and Isles of Scilly and South East Midlands.