The spotlight is today shone on how decisions to spend tens of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money in the region are being made behind closed doors.
Local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) are getting £12bn from the public purse from 2015 to 2020 to kick-start economic growth in the regions.
The LEP for Norfolk and Suffolk, called New Anglia, has received £38m of public money this year and is getting £220m over five years to power the region's economy.
But an investigation by this newspaper has found:
New Anglia is awarding public cash for projects which board members have declared an interest in, while those board members remain in the room.
There are several errors in the LEP's register of interests, where its 16 board members declare their employment and other activities to stop any potential conflicts of interests.
Minutes from LEP meetings, which are the only way the public can see what happens in the private meetings, do not always accurately record what has happened.
One key decision about how £10m of public money was spent was made before the LEP's board, which is meant to have the final say, had even met.
The LEP said it was now changing and updating some practices highlighted by this newspaper.
A previous investigation by this newspaper found the government had increased the amount of cash it was giving to the New Anglia LEP by 800pc last year to almost £37.4m.
But LEPs do not have to follow the same transparency rules as councils, despite being funded by taxpayers' money.
Andrew Boswell, Green Party Norfolk county councillor for Nelson ward in Norwich, said: 'The EDP investigations show that conflicts of interest, declarations of business interest and meeting minuting have been sloppy and handled disgracefully by the LEP.'
A lack of scrutiny of LEPs nationally was highlighted by the Public Accounts Committee last year.
South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon, who sits on the committee, said LEPs had to follow proper procedures to avoid conflicts of interest if people were to have faith in them.
But he praised the work of the New Anglia LEP.
'We are right to expect the highest standards of transparency but we should avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater,' he said. 'LEPs are a work in progress but they have already done a considerable amount for our region.'
Decisions on where to spend money are made by 16 members of the New Anglia board.
Board members declare interests at the start of meetings and are not allowed to vote on anything which they could benefit from.
But members only have to leave meetings at the chairman's discretion, if a project they have declared an interest in is being discussed.
In September 2016, three board members remained in the room while the LEP voted to invest £125,000 of public money to fund projects they had declared an interest in.
The minutes from that part of the board meeting are marked 'confidential' and do not say what the money was for, but they state that £75,000 was given to a firm called TechEast of which one board member, Tim Whitley, is a 'founder funder', according to the board minutes.
Another £75,000 was given to the East of England Energy Group (EEEGR), of which one board member, Mark Goddall, is a director.
Professor David Richardson, vice-chancellor of the University of East Anglia, also registered an interest in the EEEGR as the UEA is a partner in education with it.
A spokesman for the LEP said all three remained in the room when the funding was discussed and passed but they did not vote.
One way LEPs increase their transparency is by publishing a register containing their board members employment as well as financial and other interests.
But this newspaper has found a series of mistakes in the register of interests for one member of the New Anglia LEP board.
The register has now been updated by the LEP after we pointed out errors.
The LEP's voluntary sector champion, Davina Tanner, the former general manager of Chapelfield Mall in Norwich, is the director of companies which were not declared on the register of interests, while companies of Ms Tanner's which had been dissolved were on the register.
Two firms of which Ms Tanner is a director, called Marine Parade Great Yarmouth and Yummy Choices Ltd, were not declared.
They are listed as 'active' by Companies House, but a spokesman for the LEP said they were not trading. Both firms have now been added to the register. A third company, called Guildhall Enterprises, was also not on the register.
A LEP spokesman said an 'administrative oversight' on Ms Tanner's part had led to the omission.
A fourth company of Ms Tanner's, which was previously insolvent, called Rapid445 Ltd, was also not named on the register.
The LEP said it was listed under a different name, Davina Tanner Ltd.
The firm changed its name from Davina Tanner Ltd to Rapid445 in 2013 and the LEP said this had now been updated.
Another of Ms Tanner's companies, called Cambs Contracts Ltd, appeared under 'employment' on her register of interests but that was made insolvent in 2008 and dissolved in 2011.
Another company called DT Rentals, which was dissolved in 2015, also appeared on the register as Ms Tanner's employment. The LEP said both these firms had been removed.
The LEP spokesman said Ms Tanner had 'not attempted to hide any information about her business experience'.
See also: How NDR work got green light away from public
•What the LEP says...
On conflicts of interest: The chair will ask for specific declarations of interest pertaining to matters within that meeting's agenda.
The annual register of interests is also available on our website.
As per the LEP's conflicts of interest policy, signed off by government, board members expressing a conflict of interest in a specific agenda item will not play any part in the discussion, or vote on any decision.
On criteria used to choose board members: The New Anglia LEP board is made up of eight business representatives, two education leaders and six local authority leaders.
When private sector board vacancies arise, they are publicised on the New Anglia website as well as in the EDP and EADT newspapers.
The board pays particular attention to geographical representation, as well as to experience and expertise of our key sectors, and the sizes of businesses represented.
On how the board backs schemes: Decisions must be taken by a majority of the board.
To date, all decisions about project funding have had unanimous board support.
On not holding meetings in public: We keep under review the question of opening meetings to the public, but currently we have no plans to open meetings given the high level of commercially confidential information contained in papers and discussions.
On not consulting the public about where they spend public money: We do not directly consult the public over our project funding allocations, but of course many of the projects are open to public consultation through local authorities.
However, local authority leaders from Norfolk and Suffolk, who are democratically elected by members of the public in the areas they represent, sit on our board and therefore input directly into decisions being made. Those councillors are elected with the purpose of representing the interests of the public in their areas.
•Do you have a story which needs investigating? Email tom.bristow@archant.co.uk or call 01603 772834
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