The London Development Agency remains on track to deliver for Londoners, Assembly told.

The London Development Agency is achieving real benefits for Londoners and is independently assessed by the National Audit Commission as 'performing well', its Chief Executive will tell the London Assembly today 7 February 2008.

London Development Agency's Chief Executive Manny Lewis will say that the LDA would not be diverted by attacks on a small number of its projects. He will tell the special session that the LDA would continue its work in promoting and developing London's economy, including working on the Olympic legacy for London, marketing and promoting the city globally and securing the right conditions for London's business growth and helping all Londoners, in particular disadvantaged people, share in the success of the capital.

Mr Lewis will also tell the Assembly that allegations made by the Evening Standard related to 0.05 per cent of the LDA's budget which has been almost £3.2 billion since 2000. These allegations have been properly investigated by the LDA. The Standard had suggested some organisations had received and spent LDA funds because of collusion or corruption inside the LDA. The LDA's review found no evidence to support these claims.

However, no matter how small the sums in relation to the overall budget of the LDA, the agency will treat any allegation, for which actual evidence is presented, very seriously. This means not only using its own resources to investigate but given its limited powers, if necessary, to refer matters to the police. This is a matter of routine as the LDA cannot sequester bank accounts, force disclosure of emails or accounts, or interrogate individuals.  Such a referral does not mean that the LDA necessarily believes criminal actions have taken place but all issues must be thoroughly investigated.

The LDA worked with the independent District Auditor throughout this process. The Report has been sent to the District Auditor.

The LDA's Chief Executive said:

"Over the last three to four years the LDA has secured a number of benefits for London and Londoners from our work in Wembley, the Elephant and Castle redevelopment, the support of our delivery partners Think London and Visit London, our provision of childcare places, etc, all of these have delivered long lasting and real impact.

"We are an organisation that strives for continuous improvement. The Audit Commission found weaknesses in our project management in 2004.  I have since restructured the organisation, changed the way it works and strengthened the senior management team.  And the Audit Commission now says that we are "performing well" and rates our performance as "good".

"The criticisms of our support for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups will not deflect the London Development Agency from continuing to find ways to support all of London's most disadvantaged and marginalised people."

The biggest economic challenge facing London is getting jobless Londoners into employment. While London's overall economy is thriving, the employment rate remains more than 5% below the UK average - at 69.3% compared to 74.4% for the UK overall. Millions of Londoners are missing out on benefits from the city's continued economic growth, due to London's relatively low skills levels and to the particular barriers faced by some black and minority ethnic groups, disabled people, households with children and lone parent families. To help address this the LDA funds hundreds of community projects at grassroots level aimed at helping the most disadvantaged groups in London's society.

-Ends-

For media enquiries: please contact Robert Beasley at the LDA Media Team on 020 7593 8437; for public enquiries, please call 020 7593 9000.

Notes to Editor:

1. The London Development Agency works to deliver sustainable economic growth in London.
2. The total value of projects that have been referred to the police is around £1,500,000.
3. The LDA's review of projects was discussed by the LDA Board on 11 January 2008.
4. The LDA is inspected annually by the Audit Commission which reports that the organisation is "performing well" and rates its use of resources as "good". The London Development Agency is rated within the overall assessment by its external auditor Baker Tilly as scoring four out of four for accountability over the last year.
5. LDA recent successes include:
• 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games/Lower Lea Valley Regeneration: we supported the bid to bring the 2012 games to London, have acquired all the land interests for the Olympic Park, relocated the previous residential and businesses occupiers and are pursuing the 2012 legacy now, particularly for the benefit of the five host boroughs but also London as a whole. This includes the successful development of four business parks and the recent launch of CompeteFor, an on-line resource to enable London's businesses to benefit from the circa £6bn procurement opportunities arising from the Games;
• Business Link London: our biggest single annual contract, £20m per year to SERCO PLC for London's Business Link service, providing business support services for emerging and growing entrepreneurs covering micro, small and medium sized enterprises, targeting 90,000 businesses a year;
• London Promotion: our major investments in Think London and Visit London that are responsible for securing foreign direct investment and tourism respectively, noting London's  significant success in these areas;
• Creative Industries: our work to support creative industries to maintain London's international leadership by investing successfully in London's Fashion Week, Design Festival and Film Festival, bringing millions of pounds of economic value to the sector and into London;
• Major Regeneration Schemes: our work in bringing about major new stadia development, associated mix-used schemes, major housing and leisure developments to the capital such as Wembley, Ashburton Grove, Royal Arsenal, Tate Modern, Hillingdon's new swimming pool and Crystal Palace.