Healthy Working Life Board - Monday 22 September 2025, 9:00am - West Yorkshire Combined Authority Webcasting

Healthy Working Life Board
Monday, 22nd September 2025 at 9:00am 

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  1. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  2. Prof John Wright
  3. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  4. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  5. Jennifer Connolly, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
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  1. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  2. Prof John Wright
  3. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  4. Kim Shutler
  5. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  6. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council)
  7. Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council)
  8. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  9. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  10. Ms. Salma Arshad
  11. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  12. Kim Shutler
  13. Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion)
  14. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  15. Cllr Jane Rylah
  16. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  17. Cllr Kayleigh Brooks (Leeds City Council)
  18. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  19. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  20. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  21. Lorraine Jackson
  22. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  23. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  24. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  25. Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council)
  26. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  27. Prof John Wright
  28. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  29. Kim Shutler
  30. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  31. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  32. Cllr Jane Rylah
  33. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  34. Cllr Jane Rylah
  35. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  36. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  37. Nia Jackson-Owens
  38. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  39. Nia Jackson-Owens
  40. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  41. Nia Jackson-Owens
  42. Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council)
  43. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  44. Kim Shutler
  45. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  46. Cllr Duncan Smith
  47. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  48. Cllr Duncan Smith
  49. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  50. Cllr Duncan Smith
  51. Kim Shutler
  52. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  53. Prof John Wright
  54. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  55. Kim Shutler
  56. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  57. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  58. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  59. Kim Shutler
  60. Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion)
  61. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  62. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  63. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  64. Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council)
  65. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  66. Anna Myers
  67. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  68. Kim Shutler
  69. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  70. Anna Myers
  71. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  72. Anna Myers
  73. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  74. Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council)
  75. Anna Myers
  76. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  77. Lorraine Jackson
  78. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  79. Lorraine Jackson
  80. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  81. Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council)
  82. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  83. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  84. Cllr Kayleigh Brooks (Leeds City Council)
  85. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  86. Cllr Kayleigh Brooks (Leeds City Council)
  87. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  88. Cllr Kayleigh Brooks (Leeds City Council)
  89. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  90. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  91. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  92. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  93. Jennifer Connolly, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  94. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
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  1. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Kim Shutler
  3. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  4. Kim Shutler
  5. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  6. Kim Shutler
  7. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  8. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  9. Jennifer Connolly, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  10. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  11. Lorraine Jackson
  12. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  13. Jennifer Connolly, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  14. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  15. Kim Shutler
  16. Ms. Salma Arshad
  17. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  18. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  19. Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council)
  20. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  21. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  22. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  23. Ms. Salma Arshad
  24. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  25. Rob Webster
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  1. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  2. Ms. Salma Arshad
  3. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  4. Rob Webster
  5. Webcast Finished

1 Apologies for Absence

Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:00:10
Good morning folks, so brilliant to see you. What a great meeting at the start of the week.
First meeting to talk about Healthy Working Life Board. This is our second meeting and
the first public meeting of our board and suddenly it's logistical reasons it has to
here at the Combined Authority, but really, really keen to have meetings out and about
across the region.
And thank you, Calderdale.
Where are you, Calderdale?
Thank you, Sarah, for your offer for us to come to Calderdale.
We would love to take you up on that.
But we want to go across the whole of the region and to see the brilliant work that
you're all doing.
So please do offer venues for future meetings.
We can be inspired by venues such as the amazing Regional Centre that are doing excellent work.
Before I go any further, can I just say unfortunately I've got to leave at 10 .30 to get a train to London
But I will hand you over to Rob as I go
Also, we have two new members to this board who I'm delighted to welcome. First is Professor John Wright
Lots of accomplishments. Everybody will know you around this table. You set up Born in Bradford in
in 2007, was it that long ago?
And continues to this day as Chief Investigator.
John, would you like to introduce yourself to the board,
and if you just press the button, speak.
Yeah, thank you, Tracey.
Yes, my name's John Wright, I'm an NHS doctor.
I run the Bradford Institute for Health Research
and the Yorkshire and Humber Klein Research Collaboration.
So I think what I bring to the table is
good networks into evidence and research.
And in particular, born in Bradford, 2007,
and they're turning 18 this year for the first one.
So we have 30 ,000 teenagers in West Yorkshire
who we have very detailed information on,
transitioning from school to education and training or NEET.
So I think we are in a very good position
to be well informed about this next generation,
Prof John Wright - 0:02:09
about the challenges and what we can do
in terms of interventions about it.
Thank you and I know that you'll bring
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:02:15
a whole new level of enlightenment to our challenge, which is a very complex challenge
that we've been set. Our second new member, Kim Schutler. Kim has been the CEO of the
Cellar Trust, a Bradford -based mental health charity since November 2014, and is also a
member of our sister board, the Healthy Working Life programme board, and your influence has
been really impactful in helping us shape our thinking, so thank you for your contribution.
Would you like to introduce yourself?
Hi, everybody.
Thanks, Tracey.
Really pleased to be here today.
This is an area that I'm really passionate about.
I'm here to represent the voluntary community
and social enterprise sector as best as I can.
We've got over 14 ,000 BCSE organisations
in West Yorkshire.
It's one of our greatest strengths
and hugely contribute to this agenda.
So I hope to bring just a bit of a flavour into the meetings.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:03:16
Thank you and this would all of this work the majority would not be possible
without the VCSE sector so thank you for all that you've done.
Okie doke. So we've made significant progress knitting together work, health
and related agendas and that's obviously reflected in the establishment of this
Healthy Working Life board and also progress in translating our work and
plan into action. This is the one thing I keep pressing the team on, show me what
we've done, show me where the delivery is and it's been really good to see lots of
innovations, for example free travel for residents in Bradford, investing in
digital tech and support for residents in Calderdale, the pioneering stroke
vocational rehab service pilot, we're scaling up that approach, embedding
vocational rehab into stroke, cardiac and pulmonary pathways as part of the
Healthy Working Life programme and of course as I say the VCSE sector testing
innovative ways to support economically inactive people within the communities
and members of the board will know we've also invested half a million pounds in
creative health system driving forward creative initiatives designed to make
people feel happier and healthier and we will have papers on more of that detail
as we go forward. But I also think it's important to understand us in relation to the national
picture and board members may be aware that the government have tasked Charlie Mayfield
to lead an independent review, Keep Britain Working, into what more employers and government
can do to address economic inequality. And I wanted to highlight that we have invited
Charlie Mayhew to come to the region to talk about the review and our work on
the same agenda. So as I say this meeting is webcast and hopefully the public will
be interested in what we're doing what we have to say but let's move on to item
five which is health and employment. This paper highlights the wider context of
factors driving economic inactivity. Basically this paper just sets the scene
and the challenge, the complexity.
And I'd be very interested in what members have to say,
and particularly new members, where we are currently
and where you would hope we would get to.
It's the only forum where we can bring everybody together,
so please do not be shy.
We need to hear our local authority voices as well.
So I wonder, Felix, do you want to make some opening remarks
or shall I just pass directly to Jem?
Yeah, Jen, thank you.
You're leading on this.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Morning, everybody.
I'm Jen Connolly, Associate Director
for Improving Population Health.
And I work jointly between the West Yorkshire Combined
Authority and the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board.
Jennifer Connolly, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:06:11
So this paper, as Tracey has said,
really synthesises the evidence of the challenge that we face
and that the board's committed to addressing.
Now, we explored the data in much more depth
at our last meeting.
So this is really trying to bring that evidence together,
the data that we looked at in depth
some of the research evidence that we
Understand and also the insight from our communities which was commissioned in developing our work and health plan. So
succinctly we know that increasing economic connectivity due to ill health is rising across the country but particularly so in
The north and west Yorkshire we have increasing numbers of people in work with a long -term chronic health condition or a disability
and we have an employment gap and significantly a disability employment gap that is greater
than the national average. We have this understanding of the scale of the challenge. We also have
understanding of that experience of that challenge from the insight of people with lived experience

4 Chair and Co-Chair Update

5 Health and Employment

that we commissioned through the work and health plan evidence base. That just really
that's out for us, the fact that the challenge is not just
help, not just work, but an interplay of many factors
that are kind of highlighted in the report.
And that evidence then leads us to really understand
that we need a whole systems response to that challenge.
It's not one thing.
It's not one thing anybody can do alone.
And in addressing that, we need a system response,
a system connexion at all different levels.
It's all different interplay of this work.
We need services coming together around people so that we're really addressing people as individuals at the centre of that response.
We need to be planning and designing together so that we don't end up with siloed, similar repetitive services not quite addressing the needs that we face.
And we need the strategic governance, as is represented in this room, coming together to really lead that agenda in that sort of way.
Now, there are some knowns we've listed, unknowns we've listed in the paper as well about the
current challenges, the context of changing NHS reforms, the changes to ICBs, the changes
to NHS England and DHSC.
We've had ministerial change, we've had different policy announcements, but that also presents
us with some key opportunities and it's that we wanted to focus the rest of the discussion
today on.
So one of the ways that we can harness that and bring it together is through the healthy working life plan
Which is our response to the get Britain working plan requirement and Neil will talk more about that in a moment
But really what we're looking for from understanding that evidence
Understanding that we need to come together is through the healthy working life plan
We see that as an opportunity to get garner that understanding and commitment to what different organisations can bring into this
gender and facing that challenge together. Thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:09:16
Thank you. It's almost like we need an organogram, isn't it, of who's actually in this space,
who's doing what, trying to understand the whole picture.
Neo, did you – are you going to come in?
Oh, right. Okay, fantastic. Okay, so as new members, is there anything that you'd like
to say at this point? You're coming with a fresh pair of eyes. I wonder if I could
come to you, John.
Yeah, thanks, Tracy. I think, you know, increasingly we recognise this whole complex systems approach.
Prof John Wright - 0:09:44
Everything is connected. One of the contribution I think we should consider, which is something
that sort of stands out very clearly from born in Bradford, is long -termism in terms
of our prevention. So we can see the signals of children who are not, who are going to
end up in neat situations at the age of five from the early years Foundation profile. We
can see the signals very early on in life.
So while it's the tyranny of the urgent,
overly important, we also need to think
about those early years.
Because while this may not happen on our watch,
those are the changes that we can make to make a difference.
So three times, if you're not a good level of development
at the age of five, you've got three times the risk
of being neat by the time you're 18.
So this is a sort of long -term approach we need to take.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:10:35
I wonder whether it might be of interest to the board to share our early years strategy,
which is supporting the workforce settings and enabling parents to access it, because
we know that attendance in early years settings is also an impact on long -term outcomes. So
In terms of the mapping that you talked about, I think it's really challenging to do the
Kim Shutler - 0:11:08
VCSE is famous for being like a herding ants I think.
But I think there's so much richness that sits very, very close to our communities and
I think it would be, we miss out on a huge opportunity if we don't find a way to really
understand what that opportunity looks like.
We of course operate in a climate where the sector is not
very sustainable at the moment.
I think I saw something in the press that there's a 74 %
increase nationally in charities that are closing.
So I think we need to look at those things in parallel.
How do we have a strong vibrant sector that can really
serve this agenda?
Because there's incredible skills in there,
specifically around employment, but actually an ability
to work with and reach communities in a way that often other services cannot.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:12:01
And I think certainly that's very helpful, thank you, and certainly regarding needs,
that is one of our biggest challenges and it's a shame as all that young people end
up in that position at 19. And that's why as mayors we are lobbying government to get
more autonomy over post -16 rather than 19. And I think our pressure has enabled government
to make the decision to put skills into DWP under Pat McFadden, and I think that's an
opportunity for us to make the case that we could intervene at 16 rather than wait until
all the damages done at 19, just to scoop up young people so they don't have then three
years of not working. Sarah.
Thank you. Sarah Courtney, Lead Member for Regeneration and Transport in Colvedale Council.
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council) - 0:12:56
I was just going to say that when you talked about maybe bringing in, looking at bringing
to this meeting the early life plan, the early years, but maybe having a look at all of the
five authorities as well, our early life plans as well, and making sure that they marry up
and just so that we can see that rather than just looking
at the CEA, the combined authorities one,
maybe looking at all of them and seeing
how they all work together.
I don't know if that would be useful
Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council) - 0:13:22
because I totally agree that you've got to get in
as early as possible.
And Felix, you wanted to say something?
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:13:29
Just to reassure the Councillor, the work we've done
has done that.
So we commissioned a brush for this consultancy.
They've looked at what all the local authorities are doing
and all the experts out there, all the settings out there,
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:13:45
and brought that together into this piece.
Ms. Salma Arshad - 0:13:48
So, if you've not seen it, we'll share that
with all members at the end of this.
Thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:13:53
And we were just scribbling thoughts
that maybe we could use some of the trailblazer money
to test some of the recommendations and initiatives
from the Born in Bradford.
Let's see if that can make some impact.
Yes, Fatima.
Kim Shutler - 0:14:12
That morning everyone Fatima Khan char West Yorkshire in
Champion, I think that's a really good idea. Actually mayor is something we should look at
I was just reflecting on the fact that within the overview
We haven't made very overt reference to structural discrimination or inequalities within the workplace
And it would be remiss of me not to do a quick plug of the fair work charter mayor and its importance of for example
Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion) - 0:14:33
addressing things like zero -hour contracts minimum wage
but also more importantly how we can create inclusive workplaces that not only support people to get in them
But to fulfil their potential and to grow and prosper within the workplace as well
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:14:49
Thank you, and poor work is one of the many reasons why people fall out of work, isn't it? Thank you Jane
Cllr Jane Rylah - 0:14:56
Yeah, Councillor Jane Rylah from Kirklees
I'm the cabinet member for education and I just wanted to come back to
the early years and the importance of those early years because clearly what
happens in those early years is going to determine what happens later on and it's
often I'm not saying it's too late but it's in some ways you know we need to be
starting at those early years and also looking at young people with SCND
additional needs because it's often those young people who are not working for various reasons.
I'm also interested in maybe what's happening government -wise in terms of changes in ministers.
how has that changed because of the reshuffle just recently?
Is the government or the ministers still on board as we would hope that they would be?
Thank you.
Thank you, that is a really good question.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:16:10
It's hard to read minds, isn't it?
But certainly moving skills to DWP.
I do think it is quite an important gesture that you can't get people well
unless they are into work unless they have the right skills. Yes, Kayleigh.
Cllr Kayleigh Brooks (Leeds City Council) - 0:16:31
Thank you, Mayor. I think the report is very good but I feel that
there's a little bit of a gap around the responsibility of employers.
So my residents, I actually represent this ward here that we're in, only just that's the boundary.
But my residents who are disabled often complain that they have applied for so many jobs
and they don't even get offered an interview despite the fact that they're supposed to be disability -friendly employees.
So when that happens, you're supposed to get a guaranteed interview if that's what you are.
So I wonder who's keeping an eye on all of that to be honest because if you look at the numbers it shows that
employees aren't disability -friendly in this area.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:17:28
That's really interesting, isn't it? That's where the Fair Work Charter does come in. But yes, you're absolutely right who's overseeing that.
Rob
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:17:39
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:17:43
Well, not entirely but thank you mayor and thanks chair
Lorraine Jackson, I'm the director for the joint work in health directorate
Which is a government unit which sits between the department for work and pensions and the department for well
health and social care.
And my teams really are very much
on this agenda around ensuring that everyone
with health conditions and disabled people
can have the opportunity of good work.
Just to say that both departments are very, very
Lorraine Jackson - 0:18:22
on this agenda in both of my departments.
We have many conversations about this.
And just to reassure this board that the ministerial changes
which have just happened in DWP have only reaffirmed, I think, commitment to this agenda.
So we have a new Minister for Employment who I've met a couple of times now from this region,
of course, Diana Johnson, we have the new Secretary of State, we also have to represent
the skills agenda coming into DWP, a joint ministerial appointment with the Department
for Education with the Right Honourable Jackie Smith.
So I think those changes, they're very early days, but just to reaffirm the commitment
the government is showing to this agenda and their being demanding with civil servants
on it.
Thank you.
That's really good to hear, thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:19:12
And in fact, I think it was day one of her job down at Johnson reached out and the mayors
were invited to a conversation about her agenda.
So I wonder whether we could maybe have a plan of invitees to come and see some of the
work, not just the Secretary of State but other people who are actually doing a lot
of this heavy lifting. So maybe we could speak after. Thank you. Rob.
Thanks, Ma 'am. So hello, I'm Rob Webster. I'm the Chief Executive of NHS West Yorkshire
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:19:44
and the Co -Chair of the Board. Just a couple of additional points that aren't in the paper
which might help us, I think. So the first is the strategic level. We're coming into
an interesting period for the NHS and there's loads of opportunity in that.
Over the autumn we've got to develop a five -year strategy which links to the
10 -year plan for health and care which was the second of the third bits of the
government's mission around health. The others being this kind of work on the
wider health agenda and then the adult social care reforms being the third bit.
So that five -year strategy gives an opportunity to make sure that this works
hardwired into what we do. Alongside that the reforms of the integrated care board
require us to have the mayor or the mayor's representative on the board of
the integrated care board and that's really important because we spend about
seven billion billion pounds a year in West Yorkshire and that will continue to
grow over the next two or three years and that's you know fifty odd thousand
jobs which is linked to 100 ,000 jobs in the health and care economy which themselves are
good jobs or should be and should be disability friendly, should be in a context where people
are paid properly etc. So that kind of strategic agenda of we've got the strategy, we're getting
a three year allocation which is good, we've been asked to plan in the medium term, we've
got the mayor as a representative on the board, that gives us some hope I think. The other
The other element of that then is that the other end, you know, real change happens in
real work. That's what this stuff is showing us. You have to just get on the ground and
start making the difference to people's lives. I talk a lot in the paper about the neighbourhood
health service and that's a broad, the name's probably wrong I would say because people
turn up to the GP or elsewhere and they've got mental, physical and social needs. So
asked GPs to deal with it, it's not quite right. Half of them got mental health
component, not mental health experts, so we need to have a blended offer which
we've been working on for several years including the voluntary sector,
communities, general practise, social care and everybody wrapping around the
patient, the family, the community. So those know what enabled health services
have to be signed off the plan for those by health and wellbeing boards. So a
place level we've got councillors, NHS leaders, GPs working together to say well is this right?
And I think if we can make sure that this work is embedded in those neighbourhood plans
as it says in the paper, that would be good and we've got a governance vehicle again to
make sure that that's the case because they have to be signed off by the Health and Wellbeing
board. And it's good news that in a system that asked for 42 national places to be involved
in the improvement programme around this neighbourhood, we've got three. So Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield
are all involved. That's more than any, it's only one other place in the country that's
got that many going forward. So we've got some really good work on this space. So although
we can think about all the changes that are going on, there are some things that are going to stay the same.
People need input around all of their lives for us to be successful.
We're still going to have at least £7 billion a year spent together from the health service,
and we've got those governance arrangements in place so that we can manage that and make sure they're making the right decisions.
So I think there's a really good potential for us going forward here.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:23:37
That's incredibly useful, that understanding of the bigger picture.
Thank you very much for that Rob.
Like you say, it is all change but it's also opportunity to frame it how we want that's
going to help us.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council) - 0:23:56
Again, good paper and I think it's really important to be looking at everything in such
a system based way.
It is so important and to have long term working.
I think that is also really important and the loss of the NHS accelerator funding is going to leave a bit of a gap in provision I think.
In Calderdale we've got, there are quite a lot of different barriers in some places including transport and this is why the joined up approach is so important isn't it?
So we've got sort of transport issues as well, which not only maybe stops people or hampers
people getting to jobs or skills, but also to health facilities and stuff.
And so I think making sure that we've got coordinated approach on that is really important,
especially in areas with great, you know, greater deprivation.
We've got a really good VCSE sector in Calderdale.
in the UKSPF evaluation that happened recently,
we were sort of highlighted for our hyper -local approach
and how well we work as partners.
Maybe it's because we're quite a small authority
that we do work really well with partners,
both health and VCSE.
And in fact, our VCSE alliance,
which is sort of like one of this,
an alliance that helps strengthen the voluntary sector,
is made up of health partners
as well as voluntary sector and the council.
So we're all working really well together.
And our local VCSA organisers are really well
placed to be supporting residents
with multiple disadvantages, especially those
with language barriers or social isolation or caring
responsibilities.
And I just think that we really need
to make sure that while there isn't duplication
in approach, how things are delivered on the ground
has to be really individual.
Because I think if you're someone
who hasn't been economically active for a really long period of time and you're a bit
away, you've got multiple things going on, having someone coming in from outside that
you don't know is not someone that you're going to be able to connect to I think on
a human level. So I think having those trusted partners, whether it's someone you're used
to seeing in your faith setting or in your community setting, having those people to
make those connexions on a really personal level I think is really key, especially for
those hard to reach people.
So I think that making sure that we really strengthen
and support the voluntary sector,
because I think even as council,
even our neighbourhood teams who are closest to our people
and do really, really good work,
they're still not as close as the local vicar
or the people who run the food bank or whatever.
So I think it's about making sure that we have the resources
in the combined authority and in the local authorities in order to strengthen our VCSE
to build capacity within our VCSE organisations I just think is such an important thing.
So I just think we need to have a long term local delivery approach as well because I
think they're best to deliver the services.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:27:06
Thank you Sarah and certainly around transport I think that's one of the opportunities of
bringing busses back into public control,
whilst it won't be fully franchised until 28.
And we're sort of lifting and shifting the network
as it was.
Then once we've got that opportunity,
we can identify whether those cold spots where people aren't
getting opportunities to get to health and job interviews,
et cetera.
And your comments reflect Kim's around the VCSE sector.
That's the truth, isn't it, over the last decade
that they've been absolutely eroded, councils haven't
been able to fund, et cetera.
So we've got John and then Kim.
The new members trying to contribute.
So I mean, it's exciting times, isn't it?
We are white waters of change going on
at multiple levels of devolution in health service
and local government.
I guess I put in a plea that in five years time,
we hope to see change across the system.
But for us to also understand what change
has made the difference and the cost effectiveness of those changes.
So that approach to evaluation needs to be built in now as much as we can.
Prof John Wright - 0:28:16
Doing bespoke evaluations is expensive.
We don't have the capacity probably, but we can use our very, very good linked data sets
in West Yorkshire to monitor this.
And I think maybe we need to just think also how we can contribute and maybe I can help
with that to unpick what's working and what's not and get our great economists involved
in shaping that.
Thank you, that's a great offer and we'll definitely take you up on that, particularly
because we have to understand what's not working.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:28:44
Because we could end up in a situation where because government have asked us to deliver
this at speed, we just increase the spending for local delivery.
That can't be the solution because we've seen that not everything is working and the landscape
is different post -COVID.
so we've got to have those innovations as well,
particularly around young people and mental health.
So that's an incredibly valuable point.
We have to be brave enough to junk what isn't working
and then rapidly invest and power up the stuff that
is having an impact.
So thank you, we'll take you up on that.
Kim?
On powering up the things that are working really well,
I do want to recognise the Calderdale example.
I think we've got extraordinary feedback from Calderdale
colleagues in the VCSE about the real agile and innovative way
UK SPF was deployed and really, really felt truly
collaborative with the sector.
And I wonder whether there are opportunities not just
in the way that funding has been deployed
or partnership has been mobilised,
that we might create some spaces for learning
across West Shultra about where things have been trickier
versus where things have worked really, really well.
And if we do lose the accelerator, which
will be an incredible shame.
Kim Shutler - 0:30:00
How might we capture some of that learning that has worked,
just as things have got going?
Because certainly there'll be a richness,
not just in the specific evaluation and outcomes of that,
but why things have worked or why things have been trickier
to get going.
And it will be a shame for us to lose that.
Thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:30:21
And that question mark of the accelerator,
I think we need some sort of understanding, don't we?
at speed so we know what the landscape looks like.
But thank you and I think that this board gives us that opportunity for the whole region
sharing and learning.
Like I say, Colterdale are small but mighty in this space.
I think it is helpful that you are small though because everybody knows everybody and there's
probably a real benefit to that.
Thank you.
Okay, Duncan.
You
Know
Councillor Duncan Smith Wakefield District Council deputy portfolio holder for adults and health
I just wanted to say that Wakefield supports the development of the
healthy working lives plan and will work to ensure that there remains a commitment to
Place based delivery which can support that overall ambition of 80 % employment rates
It's our belief that to achieve this it's necessary to engage with
Those who are at risk of economic inactivity as well as those who are already
economically inactive
Wakefield welcomes the idea of the holistic approach which is in line with our current step up programme
as the issues of health and wider determinants are all intertwined. Wakefield's got a plethora
of data to support the aim and is happy to contribute fully to the identification of
priority areas.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:32:09
Thank you and certainly Wakefield has got a lot going on at the minute with the Pathfinder
We have also had Wakefield Futures launched last week, which was a new strategy of how
we are going to support the residents of Wakefield to get up to level 3, level 4, because you
are a region, weirdly, and we understand why you don't have enough qualified citizens at
high level and that's holding you back and I think we have the name Professor
Chris Husband led it for us and there was a lot of excitement in the room at
the launch because this could be quite a game changer. So we've got the Pathfinder
at the Jobcentre Plus, got the Trailblazer and Wakefield Futures so if we
can't make a difference in Wakefield we might as well all go home because we've
definitely got the focus on Wakefield. Okie doke, yes Jane finally thank you.
Cllr Jane Rylah - 0:33:14
Yes, thank you. I just wanted to flag up in Kirklees, there are over 52 ,000 economically
inactive residents and obviously very high rates of deprivation there as well. But there's
also a huge amount of expertise within Kirklees and there is some really great work that is
already being carried out and I think it's important that we build on that,
that we're not trying to put in new things when we've got existing things
that can be then expanded. Something like Calderdale and Kirkley's careers that do
a brilliant job in a number of different areas. So whether you're talking about
business sectors, we need to make sure that we include the expertise and the people that
are already doing a lot of this work for us. Thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:34:21
Thank you very much. I think that collaborative approach that you've just outlined is how
we're going to do this by working more closely together across the region.
and your 52 ,000 economically inactive, is that due to ill health or just economically
inactive caring responsibilities and so on?
Sorry.
Cllr Jane Rylah - 0:34:40
Don't worry, it's not a quiz.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:34:44
Yes, it's definitely the full number.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:34:54
Felix is putting us both right to say it's economically inactive, not just due to ill health,
because there are 100 ,000 across West Yorkshire economically inactive due to poor health.
Half of them would not live in Kirklees.
Yeah, so I was like, that's weird, don't go and live in Kirklees, because you'd be very unwell.
But that's the whole picture. So thank you very much for that Jane. Okay, we're happy to move on to the next item
Thank you so much. Okie doke. So this is the healthy working life plan. You'll know that
Government gave us a hundred thousand to look at our challenges and possible solutions
But let me go over to is it near you're going to deliver this paper. Thank you so much over to you love
Nia Jackson-Owens - 0:35:41
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. I'm there Jackson Owens leave policy officer in the exclusive economy skills
Directorate. So this paper provides an update about the development of the Healthy Working
Life Plan. A key requirement from the Government's Get Britain Working guidance has been for
areas to develop a local Get Britain Working Plan which will be jointly owned by the Combine
Authority, JobcentrePlus and the Integrated Care Board. We've been working to develop
the Healthy Working Life Plan which will be the plan for West Yorkshire, our Get West
We are in a really strong position as we already know we have the work and health plan and
we are making progress against the priorities outlined within it. However this provides
us with a really good opportunity to broaden our ambitions in line with the aims of the
board. The plan will focus on how the system will respond to regional labour market challenges
in support of achieving the shared ambition to have the healthiest residents and workforce
by 2040. The paper itself provides an update on the current progress in our
process thinking and representatives from the combined authority, JobSense Plus
and ICB have been working closely together to draught the plan and we've
also had a working group established which has overseen and kind of
provided feedback and insight. The working group recently considered the
development of a cohort approach and the paper highlights the questions that
we've considered throughout this process and that we also ask the board to consider as
well.
Detail about the cohort approach and the suggested cohorts that we've given as a starting point
are provided in the paper.
However, as a bit of a brief overview, essentially we're wanting to develop approach that enables
system partners to target more personalised support depending on the needs of people of
the region. Actions in the plan will be themed into three priority action areas
so again building on what's in the work and health plan, these will be system
leadership, person -centred support and employer collaboration. We know that
employer collaboration will be particularly important because we need
to make sure that employment opportunities are available for the
people in the region. The final draught of the Healthy Working Life Plan will be
to the 4th of December Combined Authority meeting for sign off. So that does mean that
we'll have to seek endorsement from this board outside of the meeting schedule. We'll be
working with Government Services about the appropriate way to do this and we'll keep
you informed. I'll now pass that to the Chair.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:38:16
Thank you Nia. And I don't think any of us around this table is underestimating the scale
of this challenge, particularly when it comes to employers. We had the economic forecast
at our business board and it's very depressing. Businesses aren't taking
people on, they're not training, they're hunkering down, they're waiting for the
budget, they don't want to take people who because of the changes in
legislation who might go off sick because of day one sick pay. There's
a lot of challenges in this space and we have to find the right people, the right
businesses who are going to be part of this revolutionary journey to get people into work
and to be bold. But it's not going to be an easy task and that's where the Fair Work Charter,
that cohort of friendly businesses have got to be our go -to because identifying businesses
that are going to be bold at speed is going to be challenging. And also around careers,
we as mayors are saying to government, you have got to devolve career service because
we know our businesses, we know our challenges, we can be really agile rather than having
the National Career Service come in and give us a generalised careers offer. So I think
it's going to be really difficult, so we are going to have to put our shoulders to the
wheel here and have as much innovation as we can find and find those friendly businesses
and force people to be brave.
OK, thank you, Nia.
Who would like to comment on this paper?
Yes, Sarah.
Nia Jackson-Owens - 0:39:58
I'm grateful for your enthusiasm.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:40:00
Yeah, thank you.
Nia Jackson-Owens - 0:40:02
I just want to say, Coldwell isn't part of the development
Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council) - 0:40:05
group just because of resource initiatives.
We just don't have enough staff, unfortunately.
But yeah, so I think it's an interesting approach.
I do want to comment that in paragraph 3 .1 when you're sort of talking about partners
and it doesn't mention local authorities as being partners and I'm sure that that's an
oversight but I do think that's an integral part really so I just want to point that out.
I think the cohort based approach is, it's interesting you can see different problems
from different sides I suppose and different ways of looking at them.
I'm just worried that it might reduce local flexibility and weaken that sort of community -based
employment support, which is something, as I've already said, I think is really important,
and therefore risks disconnecting services from the people that they're meant to serve.
So, for example, the employment hub is the employment support infrastructure and that
Maybe could be empowered, you know, should be empowered to provide the support required
at a local level.
I think we'd really like to see in Colvedale, and I'm sure other regions would share in
this, a commitment to sustained investment in local interventions.
And as I've said before, you know, supporting a whole person, whole system approach is really
important and in again, I'm obviously I'm going to work
hold it up because that's where I know I know best and that but
again, I'm sure that other authorities especially where
you know on the fringes of the authority of the Combined
Authority region, you know, we have there are specific
challenges which do include transport and deprivation long
term long term as well as long term conditions and I think
that you know again the the the VCSE and local capacity is
really important across the whole combined authority region
in order to be able to connect with communities,
in order to be able to address complex barriers.
And it's that complexity thing that I
think the individual local level really sort of works out.
So I think the cohort has lots of strengths and lots
of positives, but I just think we mustn't throw the baby out
with the bathwater.
I think that's the balance, isn't it?
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:42:25
Whilst we're saying we don't continue projects
that aren't working at speed, we also
need to be aware that where things are working with very complex lives that
take inordinate amounts of time, a year, two years to get people back to a point
where they can get into work. But we also have targets I'm afraid. You know 1300 is
when the last time we met as a board the organisation had a job centre
offer and they were celebrating they'd had the best month ever do you remember
and it was they've got ten people into work.
I mean, we have a mountain to climb at 1300 as our target.
So, yes, I hear exactly what you're saying, Fatima.
Thank you, Chair. Thanks, Nia.
Kim Shutler - 0:43:16
A couple of questions regarding clarity and a bit of assurance, I guess.
I suppose my first one is how do we define good work?
Because that means different things to different people.
It would be helpful if we all spoke the same language.
and I suppose it's kind of in reference to some of the culture change that we will need to make to ensure that
we have inclusive workplaces so people living with a disability who have complicated working lives are supported to remain in work
but also to progress.
My other question is you're really harnessing some of the good practise work that we've already got through the Fair Work Charter and also
the West Yorkshire Scientific Advisory Group, so they at my request
and the
other thing that we have been doing is
working with the local partners to
commission some good practise in regard to flexible working and
it's just important that we harness that and use that as
well as the working care as passport which is one of the
things we created in the West Yorkshire health and care
partnership. My other question is about the
ethnic groups that we're focusing on.
Obviously we have a very diverse community in West Yorkshire,
they're not one homogenous group, and using, as you say,
Rob, the plans from the health and well -being boards,
how are we making sure that we're
targeting the right people in our very diverse places?
There was some reference to system leadership.
And I suppose, again, that's very varying,
isn't it, in regards to which part of the system
and what skills are needed.
So just a bit more clarity on that
would be really helpful for me.
And then my other point is more of a call to action
to my colleagues working in health, really,
which is that we are very much anchors within society.
We're also really big employers.
We are going through change, but we still
will need to develop our workforce.
It's just making sure that we're doing our bit.
And then the final bit is, and I'm not young myself,
but I hear from the young people that we
need to think really differently about the workplaces
of the future.
So many of them are doing side hustles.
Many of them are looking for different things
from the workplace, such as different hours,
different ways of working, agile working.
are we factoring that in?
And then a final point really builds on your point, Sarah,
which is, yes, we've got a year.
Yes, we've got to get 1 ,300.
But how do I, as the inclusivity champion,
get the assurance that the outcomes we are making
are making meaningful interventions in people's
lives, particularly those communities who,
for a variety of cultural as well as generational
socioeconomic reasons, are choosing not to work?
So it's as well as hitting the target, but not missing the point.
Thank you, Chair.
A great contribution.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:45:38
Thank you Fatima. And I think the opportunity of the CA more widely as well as obviously
health, being able to for example run the bus driver programme, training programme in
a community where there are generationally unemployed citizens, we can, there are interventions
that work more sort of 360 look as well. So I think it's not just health and it's not
Justice Board, it's also about transport, housing, job skill training and so on. So
I think your contribution is right. And young people, I'm hearing from business the irritation
that young people want a work -life balance. Like what is wrong with them? Why are they
not dedicated to their job? So I think that is also something that we need to move with
the times as well. Okay, so Duncan.
Thank you chair. I just wanted to point say that Wakefield -Oriada already has this whole system approach to employment support which is
Predicated on a twin principles of no wrong door and no resident left behind
And as a universal services supported large groups of people who are in the cohorts that are
defined in the paper
Cllr Duncan Smith - 0:47:05
However, many of these residents didn't identify as disabled initially and would therefore potentially be excluded from support were the proposed approach be implemented.
The success has been due to the ability to target areas of resident groups with specific needs whilst enabling the service to support residents seeking support, whatever background they were sort of from.
It's resulted in sustained job outcome rate of 48 % which is significantly higher than the current programmes such as restart and is highly respected by residents.
You know I've got examples of things if that were needed to support that.
So there are concerns about the support the North, wrong door approach, but the cohort approach could undermine the programme and be counter productive in that we wouldn't reach some of the people that we currently are now.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:48:03
Mmm, that's troubling. So the cohort could be the problem?
Could be that's how
Cllr Duncan Smith - 0:48:07
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:48:12
Locally, it's been seen in May those are concerts that the people that we see now
Who don't define themselves as disabled initially, but because they don't recognise that could be excluded
Right, that's something we absolutely need to avoid isn't it?
Yeah, I wonder Jen if we could take that away and just have a look at that challenge there
We want to make sure that all the good work you're doing 48 % is pretty impressive. Yeah
25 % of this total step of caseload
Have ups inside and fight as disabled and that group makes up 28 % of the total positive outcomes
jobs and training
Further 31 % who define themselves. There'll be no basic skills have achieved 35 % of the programmes positive outcomes
so
the concern is that we are going to lose some of those people.
Also the concern is people not saying they have a disability,
why people shy, not recognising that.
Yeah, okay, thank you. Kim do you want to come in on that point?
Yeah, please jump in then I'll go to John.
Cllr Duncan Smith - 0:49:16
So if I just where my mental health at in my experience a lot of people who struggle with mental health
won't say that they classify themselves as having a disability.
Kim Shutler - 0:49:24
I saw the report a week or so ago from CIPD showing that mental health remains like the
biggest cause.
Sickness absence, sickness absence is higher than ever.
So I did welcome in this, in 3 .9 about the point of focus on people, employment with
limiting health conditions, because I do wonder how we might weight some of our investment
around retention because the research is really clear about
once people have been off sick, I think after six months,
the chances of them getting back into work again.
So there's a bit of an inclination, I think,
to put most of the resource into getting people into work.
But actually, I think there's a big hidden cost in the people
who are falling out of work.
And in my organisation, almost all of my team
will be classified as having a disability,
of mental health conditions and actually employers are scared,
I think.
However, relatively small reasonable adjustments
in investment can make a huge difference.
So how might we work with employers
so they don't think, I'm really scared.
I'm going to take on these people.
Actually, people already have.
We know, don't we, that there's so many people struggling
with the mental health.
It's a bit of a switch in narrative about mental health in the workplace to allow people
to stay well in work, I think.
That's really helpful, thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:50:53
And that's part of our job as a board, is to stop people falling out of work due to
ill health.
So we've got to capture those people that are on the cusp of falling out of work, but
then also, once they've been off sick, getting them back into that routine of getting back
into work and having the confidence.
That's a really good point, thank you.
So John.
Yeah, thanks Jo.
So I think I'd echo some of the concerns about, well,
the approach of taking a life course approach,
people drop in and out of different states here,
and also the intersectional aspects of what
we're talking about here, and hopefully
a universal approach proportionately
to what we're doing.
Prof John Wright - 0:51:32
One of the USPs that we've got in West Yorkshire
is our cohort, born in Bradford.
So we're going through, I don't want
to be too parochial about this, but we've
30 ,000 teenagers in our age of wonder study at the moment.
They are transitioning.
And one of the things we're thinking about
is transitioning to an age of opportunity cohort.
So as they move through school into skills, education, jobs.
And I just wonder, we're talking to the Institute
for Fiscal Studies on this.
We're going to work with what are the challenges, what
are the questions we want answering.
30 ,000 teenagers, no one else in the country has got this cohort and it is universal and
it is a life course cohort. And it's pretty representative of West Yorkshire and it covers
that diversity and these are teenagers who are going to be moving across the region very
much. So I just wonder, maybe Felix, is there something I'd talk to you about afterwards
getting you involved in planning of that so that we can get the right questions to answer
over the next few years?
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:52:40
I'm quite interested John, this cohort, have they benefited in their mental health and
outcomes from being part of the cohort? That identity?
Mental health is a key focus for the teenagers and we're doing trials on social media restriction,
we're doing multiple interventions to see what works. Unfortunately not very much works
in terms of prevention so we've got to get better at testing new approaches to that.
Lots of people have opinions about what to do,
but actually the evidence base is pretty flaky.
So we're trying to use it as a crucible
to test new approaches to it and working
with international collaborators on that.
What we're finding is mental health varies by, as we know,
by socioeconomic position, by ethnicity.
About half our teenagers are of South Asian heritage,
half of white European heritage.
And what's interesting is the gap between,
in terms of mental health, between those two groups
generally, whether that's cultural, social capital,
faith -based protective mechanisms.
But it's very interesting.
Kim Shutler - 0:53:45
And I think there's lessons that we can learn
about what we can do there.
The other contributors, they are complex.
They are school attainment, cost of living crisis.
Loneliness is a big thing in our teenagers, sadly.
So I think it's giving us insight.
And maybe, so we have about 20 ,000 recruiters so far.
There'll be messages from that which
may help this group in terms of the planning.
And it is probably the state of adolescence internationally
from because no one else is doing this.
I wonder maybe we could be clever at feeding some
of that evidence into this.
Great offer.
And we'll take you up on that.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:54:21
Thank you.
Ben.
Thank you, there.
I'm Ben Stewart, Chief Executive of West Yorkshire Coburn
Authority.
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:54:31
And I want to offer a comment, but I'm not sure how clear I'm gonna be
in doing so and so
so a couple of
contributions have kind of noted how complex this system is to completely understand that and
Sat where I am. I always think there's a risk that
we
We we kind of specify a kind of top -down approach
That says these are the this this plays to
Councillor Smith's point about definitions and Councillor Courtney's point about where
are kind of local players in this because there is a risk I think in the
in the way that the paper set out that we assume that we at the top of the
system in the West Yorkshire level can join things up without really being
absolutely explicit about what joining up means and I guess I offer two
reflections. One is we have to be fluid about the definition point because
otherwise the impact of making a seemingly arbitrary choice at the top of the system
means that at the working edge there is someone who you might call a kind of an owner of an
individual who's trying to benefit from our joining up misses out because of some definition
made several tears in a different organisation. And so I'd like to see a bit more focus on
two things. Identification of who those people are that are, and it's back to Councillor
Gordon's point about this is people in the VSE sector, employers who are working with
the individuals who are the subject of these programmes, they need a mechanism to feed
up to say this is where the join up isn't working. And the top of the system has to
flexible enough to say we see that and we can change it.
Because unless we're kind of aiming at the same, at the groups of people through the
truth, supporting people through transport or supporting through skills and employment
programmes, unless we can make those join -ups work, the benefit won't be felt.
And in fact, it'll be worse because we're promising to join things up, but there won't
be the flexibility to actually make it matter for those people on the ground.
If we don't focus on those individuals, we risk not being successful.
I think you're absolutely right and I think that knowledge that we're really hyper -local
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:56:55
now aren't we?
That understanding of empowering people who are delivering at the edge as you say from
the top and not doing what government tend to do is from on high tell you how to do it.
I think that's a really good message, thank you.
and then Rob.
My apologies.
I think that's a really important point, that we need to enable people to be nimble enough to repivert as and when needed to support people individually.
Kim Shutler - 0:57:26
My point was about the fact that not every disability is visible.
So I have disabilities, you can't always see them, but there are small interventions that enable me, hopefully, to be quite productive.
Some people might disagree, but I think I'm fairly productive.
And I think there's something about how we address the perception within workplace culture because we've not really talked about
The aspirations of how we get role models to show people the art of what is possible. So, you know, we live in a
Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion) - 0:57:55
prosperous region where social mobility is alive and well
We have seen people address and rise through generations of inequalities and poverty to be successful
But if you're in the grassroots of those communities and you don't see that potential
how do we sell it? And sometimes it isn't just the message, it's the messenger, so how
do we get those interventions where people have that fire in their belly of I
do want to get out, I do want to do something differently and not be just
someone who goes through a process to achieve a specific outcome. We need to
put some fire into it I think. I think our learning ambassadors are really good
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:58:28
at that aren't they? They're such an amazing cohort full of inspiration and
and desire to tell others that things are possible.
So maybe we can look at them as our champions
when it comes to work and health, rather than just work.
Okay, thank you.
Rob.
Yeah, thanks everyone for the contribution.
I think it's been a really good conversation.
Just a couple of reflections on the conversation
and the paper.
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:58:54
So I think everyone's recognising
that this is a complex, adaptive system, not a hierarchy.
and as the mayor suggested sometimes policy can feel like it's a hierarchy.
We pull a lever here and something happens over there and that's not the way it works often.
And having people from around the system around the table helps us to understand and influence how the systems could operate.
I think the point about, that was made by Ben around working with the people who connect,
I think he said own but I don't think that's quite right to, connect people to the system
so that they can access employment, I think that's right. I think a step further would
be to make sure we work with those people themselves because surely they're the ones
who know best about what it feels like to try, and we've heard some of this from Councillor
Councillor Brooks to try and access employment at the moment and be unsuccessful continuously
because perhaps they've got a disability and there's prejudice around people with a disability.
In that context then I think one of the things I read this paper and thought yeah it feels
to me like it covers a lot of the right territory but it's very challenge based. How do we overcome
all these problems and it doesn't really talk about opportunities. What are the opportunities
which we must seize if we're going to be successful going into a future where the nature of work
is changing because of artificial intelligence, genuinely that's not a shimmer and that's
true, and the nature of work is such that we need to have more of our local citizens
in work and able to work because they've got a complex adaptive system that supports them.
And we've heard some of those opportunities already,
haven't we?
We've heard about, born in Bradford,
and the biggest cohort study.
Is it globally, John?
I don't know if it's globally or certainly nationally,
around people's lives.
And it's right here, so we can be tracking and evaluating
what's going on.
We've got this very strong partnership
with the right culture, which is rare, actually.
If you go to some of the meetings I do,
and hear how some other people talk about each other,
I think, well, actually, we've got something
we might be in danger of taking for granted here, so let's not.
And if we looked at things like the industrial strategy
and how we're looking at medtech innovation
and the investments in those things,
making those accessible to the people who really
need to get into work and that good work
is a real opportunity.
So I think I'd quite like us to be talking
to opportunity and challenge and making sure
that we're as ruthless about seizing those opportunities
as we are about overcoming the challenges that we face.
But I say this about everything that we do
in our organisation too, so it's not a criticism at all
of the paper or anything else.
I think the other point I'd just like to pick up
is this point about targeting and cohorting.
And we see it quite often, don't we,
that what we do is we say, well, there's a bit
of the population we really need to focus on.
So only one in twenty people, it varies a little bit but that's good enough, only one in twenty people with a learning disability is in work, but the majority of people with a learning disability want to work.
So we would, wouldn't we, try and focus on people with a learning disability.
What we often do with cohorting is we make that a barrier for other people to enter and we say well you can't be in the work because you're not in one of these cohorts.
No, what we're saying is this should be available and for some bits of the population there's
a bit of additional targeted work. That's a different way of thinking but often we make
it like a hurdle for people rather than an accelerant for some of the others. So let's
try again in the paper we could make that clear, couldn't we, that that's what we're
talking about. So I hope that's helpful.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:02:55
That's really helpful. In fact I did write down the age of opportunity as a lens to which
we could look at this work.
And I think I always keep stealing your titles,
because they always sound like great bands or something.
They'd be good on a t -shirt.
But the age of opportunity, I think,
should be something that we look at.
And to your point about the collaboration,
we call it the West Yorkshire Way,
that our local authorities work in collaboration
and cooperation.
And it is our superpower in comparison to elsewhere.
So Mandy Rijard calls it the West Yorkshire Way,
West Yorkshire Win, West Yorkshire We.
and I think that, oh no, it's the other way around,
we and then win, but I think there's something about this
that we should be very proud of
and be able to make the most of.
Thank you, I know we've run over time for this item.
Do you want to just make a final comment, Sarah?
Yes, I thank you.
Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council) - 1:03:47
Just something that someone said about,
I think it was you that said about having,
is it the champions?
And I just think it's that thing
of having really good examples locally,
So people coming out, so I know for example,
one of our recovery programme in Calderdale
that deals with people with drug and alcohol problems
specifically aims to employ people
who have drug and alcohol problems
to be really, really good examples of
this is where your life can be, this is how you can go.
And I think having people in communities, in working,
at all sorts of levels who are really clearly demonstrating
that there is a pathway, that there is a chance
to move through and do something different
is such a powerful thing and I think it's really good to have that in there.
Thank you, and also to identify businesses where some of your mistakes potentially in your past
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:04:39
don't then impact entry into that business.
I didn't know that telecoms will take people like Timsons who've got experience of the criminal justice system.
That's a great opportunity for us, as we have done, trained hundreds in telecoms that are furthest away from work.
So that's great. So let's move on to the substantive item, which is the programmes themselves. So I wonder
Let's move on to item
7 which is the healthy working life supported employment and
Just I've obviously run this meeting terribly because I haven't asked for recommendations
So just before we move on to item 7
will the board
Is the board happy that the Healthy Working Life board notes progress on the development
of the Healthy Working Life plan, including the identified labour market challenges, the
proposed cohort approach and the importance of a coordinated whole person, whole system
response and that we, in the discussion, we've updated and provided a steer to support the
development of the Healthy Working Life plan, focusing on the questions in this paper. Are
we happy to recommend?
Yes, thank you so much. Moving on to item 7. So this is going to update us on the development
of the Health and Working Life supported employment programme. This is the Connect to Work, the
government scheme. I'm going to ask Anna Myers to present an overview of the paper. Thank
you, Anna. Thank you. Morning, everyone. So I'm Anna
Anna Myers - 1:06:11
Myers. I'm an inclusive economy manager here at the Combined RSA. So this paper sets out
the development of the region's healthy working life support employment initiatives and as
the mayor mentioned asked members to note the emerging scope and progress. The paper
also includes an appendix, so this is the business case summary that was presented to
the combined authority board in July ahead of the first healthy working life board. So
the decision from the July board was to enable the healthy working life board to consider
the proposals within this business case summary.
So just to give a bit of an overview of the office,
Healthy Work and Life Support and Employment
is funded by the National Connect to Work programme.
And it will integrate employment support services
with health and care services, and to offer person -centred
support to disabled people, individuals with health
conditions, and those facing complex barriers to employment
who are currently outside of the labour market.
And it will help individuals to find suitable jobs
and sustain long -term employment.
The other end, it will also help people who are in employment
and looking at that prevention angle that we've talked about today.
So helping people at risk of leaving the workforce to maintain their employment.
Again, a huge part of this is employer engagement,
so we've touched on that in our conversations as well.
So just to mention the Combine Authority is the accountable body for Connect2Work,
which is the national programme.
So we're the accountable body within the region.
However, this initiative has been designed nationally and there is limited scope for
local innovation and I have linked the guidance within the paper so you can see kind of what
the aims and ambitions are nationally there.
So the supported employment programme is a voluntary offer.
It follows an evidence -based place, train and maintain model which will be delivered
in line with the principles of the supported employment models and those models are called
the individual placement and support which we refer to as IPS and the supported employment
quality framework which is SEQF. So this work is really important to be sure we can support
residents to move towards and into good quality work and is a central part of our earlier
discussions when we were talking about the healthy working life plan. Thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:08:32
Thank you, it's a huge amount of money 50 million 14 ,000 people but it is
Isolated it's not integrated into all of our other offers
So Lorraine I am making the case to government on a regular basis that we have to get out of this siloed approach
Because imagine what we could do for the team and ladle all the money together
to be
and to deliver for 14 ,000 plus people rather than this top -down approach that we are seeing
with this particular programme which is very restrictive in comparison to the others. If
there is one message to take away from this board today, please help us draw these together.
Any thoughts on this in the first instance? Fatima.
Kim Shutler - 1:09:22
I suppose my question is there is reference to section 6 and section 7 about EDI and inclusive
growth implications. There's reference to it being embedded in the assurance process.
I suppose my question is from this board's perspective, how do we get the assurance that
we're engaging and reaching the aspirations that we've discussed already but more importantly
that we have the ability to repivot in a timely fashion if and when we need to.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:09:52
Any thoughts on that? Thank you, Fatima. So I think it probably
Anna Myers - 1:09:58
goes back to one of our earlier comments in terms of going back to definitions of programmes.
So this programme does have a really clear definition of terms of who it can support
and work with in terms of eligible groups, but within that it feeds into working, you
know, it usually has that ADI focus of supporting people where it's most needed, but also supporting
people with complex groups, which I know the ICB refers to as the health inclusion groups.
So I'd say, yeah, I suppose we can feed back some of that business case and make sure that
clear in our papers in the future and but the whole emphasis of this programme is on those EDI cohorts and making sure that it is inclusive.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:10:52
Thank you but as we've just discussed it's governments targets and definitions so we could do with that further flexibility couldn't we.
So this goes in at the end of the month is that right Anna?
Anna Myers - 1:11:03
We're currently working with them, currently working with DWP to work through their approval process
and so we've had a few, I suppose we've had a few submissions of our delivery plan to do that forward
so time scales in terms of mobilising this and moving forward into delivery are not currently firm
and just because of the process that we've got to go through to be able to get there but you know
we're doing everything that we can working really closely with local authorities, ICB colleagues
to make sure we can move forward. Thank you. Sarah?
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:11:30
Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council) - 1:11:33
Sorry, thank you. Is there any risk in losing year one funding if this doesn't all happen
sort of quickly? That's my first question. Thank you, Sarah. So I think one thing that
Anna Myers - 1:11:47
was introduced throughout the process of this programme was, you know, initially we felt
it was flexible in terms of funding and what that would look like. We did get a notification
that there was financial boundaries per financial year to this funding. So there is elements
of risk, you know, if there's some delays in the process that we won't be able to utilise
the maximum funding that's been.
I think we've just, I think we just lost your mic there, but can I just bring Lorraine in
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:12:20
on that to just reassure us?
Lorraine Jackson - 1:12:27
I'll try and I'll certainly take this away because this is a real -life example
it's really helpful when we're talking at national level to have a
really bounded example to be able to sort of
Definitely walk my colleagues through so
Sort of the other side of your question I think which is I know with these programmes are often quite back -end loaded
In terms of you know, we'll achieve the volumes towards 2930
And in order to maximise the availability of the funding to the population here, I think
the significant amount of partnership work has to go in now so that once the starting
gun is fired, we can actually get the maximum availability of this intervention.
So it was just really, is this board or is the governance sort of being assured of the
pre -work that's going on so that once we we get the go we can absolutely maximise
this but yes mayor I will take that be the bigger point about the yeah the
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:13:35
Lorraine Jackson - 1:13:36
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:13:37
funding thank you we can't miss out just because through no fault of our own it
seems as well I'm sorry it's your second part of your question yeah thank you so
Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council) - 1:13:45
I just thought we strongly support the supported employment provision again I
I just want to highlight Calderdale's need for tailored support for residents who are furthest away from the labour market.
I also want to advocate for Calderdale's, for our, for Calderdale based delivery capacity and especially the VCSE involvement.
And also the importance, I want to stress the importance of employer engagement, particularly around the SMEs.
now we've got you know there's so many amazing businesses across the combined authority region
ranging from massive to micro and I think it's really important that we that all of
those like including the SMEs are given those opportunities to know how can they be good
employers for people who are struggling to return to the market not just the really big
you know it might be easy for the Lloyd's and the you know all the millions of employers
locally but yeah but how do those smaller organisations the micro and the
SMEs also able to do that because actually that those there's a really
massive lot of those businesses that are SMEs. Sorry that wasn't very coherent but
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:15:00
you know what I'm saying. Thank you and certainly SMEs are the majority of our
businesses in West Yorkshire so we can't absolutely would be an error to miss
that. Just to say Kay and Lindsay if you wouldn't mind just taking away that
challenge as well around to help our colleague just get this in the right place if you're
happy to do that outside the meeting.
Yeah, I can take that away, definitely. I'm going to come with Anne.
Superb, thank you. Yes, Kayleigh.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:15:24
Yeah, sorry.
Apologies Kayleigh, Rob, you wanted to come in on that point.
Oh, Kayleigh, go ahead.
Cllr Kayleigh Brooks (Leeds City Council) - 1:15:30
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:15:32
Cllr Kayleigh Brooks (Leeds City Council) - 1:15:33
Yeah, no, it's just about the access to work scheme. So the access to work scheme gives
monetary support to especially small and medium employers, but larger ones as well.
And I'm hearing sort of on the grapevine that quite a few are not being granted, so that's another barrier to employment for people with disabilities.
I just wanted to flag it really. There's nothing we can do about it here, but it can maybe be taken back.
It's especially for people who are, who's got ADHD.
What are your information?
It's, I've mostly picked it up on social media,
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:16:12
to be honest, but it's like ADHD world.
Lots and lots of people are having issues with that.
Cllr Kayleigh Brooks (Leeds City Council) - 1:16:19
So you can get lots and lots of money to help you
get into employment again after a long illness.
And I know that that's a barrier,
so it's going to be impacting people in West Yorkshire for definite. Thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:16:35
Are you alright to feed some of that back what you've gleaned? Thank you and
we can share that intel. Okay Rob and then we'll move on. Yeah thank you.
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:16:48
Just two things, so our individual placement support services are pretty
good in West Yorkshire and the Cauldale and Kirklees services particularly I
and get national recognition for their fidelity to the model
and the impact that they have on people.
So we should be in quite a strong place here,
I think, to be successful.
But the second point I wanted to make really was,
are we making the right connexions for this work
to the neighbourhood health service developments?
Because as they develop and as we look at those
into the health and wellbeing boards,
and as we're going through substantial organisational churn
at the moment there's a risk that we missed that opportunity so I don't know Ian if you want to
comment on that or Jane I just want to take it away something we're on to make
sure that those connexions there to get the delivery right. Thanks Ian do you want to
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:17:36
comment? Yeah I mean I think we are so James really well plugged into the work
around integrating Health as is Kim who's the joint chair of the board. I think it's
kind of making sure it's kind of embedded in specific and practical terms
in terms of the local plans that are developed.
And the timelines for doing that are pretty quick
in terms of the plans that need to be signed up
this side of Christmas.
We can take the Ways and Action and pick up
with the five place leads doing that
and the place accountable officers.
I think we've got the structures and mechanisms to do that
just making sure that it's kind of hardwired
into those delivery plans, I would say.
And just to add to that.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:18:15
We have as well connected, Anna,
Jennifer Connolly, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:18:18
with the colleagues who are leading the IPS services
from the mental health perspective as well.
So we are trying to make that reality happen
as well as the plans to support that reality as well.
Superb, okey -doke.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:18:37
So is the board happy to, where are we, on the plan?
Here we go.
Are we happy to note the emerging scope and progress
of Healthy Working Life supported employment delivery plan
and thank you for your steer.
We're happy to note great and that is going in at the end of the month. So anything you want to feedback, please
Get it to Anna and the team and thank you to colleagues from DWP. We can't afford to miss this opportunity
Just because of process. Thank you moving on item eight. We're only a few minutes

8 Economic Inactivity Trailblazer (Year Two)

For ten minutes ish over apologies for running over
So item 8 economic inactivity trailblazer year two
This is the update on the healthy working life programme and sets out next steps for the economic inactivity
Trailblazer and I'm really pleased that we got the second year of funding the 10 million pounds shows
government's confidence in us as a region
And I will just hand over to Michelle to present an overview of the paper. Thank you, Michelle
the board.
I will now turn it over to the
Thank you very much.
As the mayor said it is great news that the government has
indicated that up to 10 million pounds will be available in West
Yorkshire to continue with this work.
However, in order to get it we need to get a delivery plan
submitted by the end of this month.
which is to provide an overview of what we want to do, what our priorities are
for a region, for the region in that next year of delivery. Now that's challenging
because as we've heard we're only we're fairly early in the first year of
Trailblazer and so in terms of activity so far in in the first year of the
Trailblazer we've covered quite a lot already of what's being supported
and tested.
I wanted to highlight four areas in particular.
So through employment West Yorkshire,
it's been mentioned a number of times,
West Yorkshire is able to provide
person -centred support for individuals
in order to get the advice and support that they need.
Alongside that, the significant emphasis
on the role of voluntary community in social enterprise
sector in reaching individuals in a unique way
that only they can.
And also there's a focus on addressing barriers
to employment for individuals.
And a number of these have been mentioned already today.
It was interesting to hear childcare mentioned right
at the beginning of the meeting.
Not something we've focused on so far through the Trailblazer.
But we are focusing on travel and cost and confidence
in the pilot that was mentioned earlier on and on digital inclusion as a barrier to economic
activity.
So those are things that are happening in year one, but really early, but we'd expect
to see a feature of those to be a feature of the programme going forward.
And it was interesting to hear the focus really early on in this meeting around the robustness
of testing.
Actually, we need to see the robust testing of those strands as we go through.
And then the fourth area that's being prioritised
in the trailblazer at the moment is
around working with employers.
And again, we've heard the Fair Work Charter mentioned
multiple times.
And that's really key as a route to encouraging employers
to do more to be inclusive employers
and also to help employers to address
both those real and perceived barriers to employment.
Kim talked about some of these earlier about the barriers
that employers perceive and those real barriers as well.
So that focus on employers is really crucial in order
to ensure that those job opportunities are actually
there to support people into and to stay in employment.
So that's where the trailblazer is focused at present.
The submission by the end of this month,
which is very, very soon will be upon us, needs to be in that.
we need to indicate the areas of focus for the second year of the trailblazer.
I think it's important to note that while it's really welcome, it's not going to enable,
it's about testing and scaling up things that have worked.
It's not going to address all of the problems because actually £10 million isn't sufficient
to absolutely address the root cause of all of these issues.
So what we're looking for from this board today
is to comment on the approach that we're intending to take
and the time scales.
I do want to flag with you that a couple of the dates
have slipped a little bit since the publication of this paper
because this has been very live process.
And we're seeking your views on the challenges
and opportunities that West Yorkshire should
be seeking to address through the second year of Trailblazer funding.
Great thanks Michelle. So the Mayor's left to get the train as she said at the
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:24:05
beginning of the meeting so I'm taking over the chair from here thank you.
Can I just cheque one thing before moving to the conversation? So in the paper it
talks about procuring an evaluation partner, has that happened yet?
No that's planned.
John, do you need to declare an interest at all from potentially?
Potentially, yeah.
I don't know if it's not useful.
Something about using what we're doing rather than the declaration of interest, I think
there's alignments of what we're doing as well.
Thank you.
Okay, Nadra.
Hello everyone, Nadra Mirza, Acting Chair of West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board.
Kim Shutler - 1:24:44
Thanks for this, Michelle.
I was just keen to understand what you meant by seeks to test new approaches to identifying
How would you find those new approaches?
Who are the new?
people
Partners should be working with to identify those
So what what we're doing in in the next two weeks is
focusing less on who delivers and more on the barriers
and the opportunities that in West Yorkshire we
want to address.
And so for example, if one of those barriers
is around child care, I think we should
be taking an evidence -based approach to identifying
who's best to address that, rather than starting
with the who.
So what we're looking for, and naturally,
in terms of the delivery plan, we're
and we're not being asked to define who does what.
Actually, it's harder in a way to focus on why
and what we're trying to deliver.
I think it's really important that that's where
we remain focused at the moment.
So we're following the evidence really
in terms of what those challenges are.
The challenges that make people become at risk
of becoming economically inactive
and make them remain becoming economically inactive.
So we want to follow the evidence in terms of where the focus is.
You alright, Nigel? Do you want to come back on that?
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:26:15
Yeah, for a sec. So I'm wondering where does this evidence lie?
Kim Shutler - 1:26:21
Sorry, I'm pushing you a little bit, but I'm just really keen that we do something that's different,
so that we get different results rather than doing the same things with the same agencies getting the same results.
So one of the main evidence, one of the main evidence base is from the work that was already
done for the Work and Health Plan, which as you know included a huge amount of consultation
both with organisations but with individuals as well, because it is really important that
we listen to individuals and you know while some of us are not the right people to do
that it was important that it was part of the work that individuals experience fed in.
So there is a strong evidence base, both health -related,
economic, and a lot of that was pulled into the health working
plans.
We think we have done a lot of that in terms of the evidence.
And we want to use that plan to drive where the trailblazer's
focused, rather than not looking to start from scratch
by the 30th of September.
I hope you're reassured with that.
So I think I've got Fatma, and then Kim.
Thank you, Chair.
Thanks, Michelle, for the paper.
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:27:29
So I've got a couple of questions and a couple
Kim Shutler - 1:27:30
I'm really glad that childcare is on the radar because obviously I convene the women of West
Yorkshire network which you can still join Google right now and join it.
But one of the things that we hear quite a lot is that childcare can sometimes be a barrier
to not only getting employment but working longer hours because they just can't get the
support.
The other bit is obviously as the chair of the Digital Inclusion Group we have done some
incredible work here in West Yorkshire already about accessing and supporting people from
diverse communities. I suppose my question is what more can we do and what
more can I do as chair to support you and I'd be keen to understand. My
question is in regards to the fact that we are where we are with the timescales
how can we harness the evaluation to ensure that we are ensuring not only the
access but the experience of people on the programme to make sure that again
you know it's meaningful for them and is there an opportunity to do some
involvement with the actual individuals as well as a consequence of that. I know
I think that is a really important part of the
time scale probably don't allow it in the timeline you
articulated but I think there is something about involving the
people in a meaningful way where we can through this process.
≫ Do you want to respond to that, Michelle?
≫ Yeah, well, note the brilliant plug up for women of
West Yorkshire.
On childcare, yes, we have committed to circulate the work we have done on the workforce plan.
It's a really interesting steer that we have had from this board today to look at the relationship between economic inactivity and childcare and we shall take that away.
In terms of evaluation, yes, thank you very much for your steer.
We will make sure that the voices of individuals feed into that evaluation.
So thank you very much for that.
But John is it worth bringing you in at this point for it? Sorry Kim. Do you mind just is there anything you want to offer?
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:29:29
So quick question how much learning is being done across the trailblazer sites and how you working together with them
Which relates to the evaluation
Do you mean across travel sites within my structure or across the country
I think others are closer to this than I am.
So combined authorities work together very closely.
Some are, and some are.
I think there are fairly different stages with these.
I think there is an opportunity for learning and collaboration.
But I'll take that away.
Thank you.
I mean, it's just, are we reinventing wheels?
I know it's context specific, but it's probably worth
just thinking about that network.
Yeah.
Sonya might have some more detail.
I'm happy to come in on that point.
So there is quite a lot of collaboration with MSAs.
We meet fortnightly, I think, both on our own and with WLP.
But also, I've certainly been part of NHSC learning days
as well, where we've brought some of the accelerator
nationally and the trailblazer thinking together.
It's really important.
Everyone's at a very different stage.
A lot of us are at an early stage.
So we're seeing quite a big appetite
to do more of that shared learning at the moment and in fact West Yorkshire are hosting
the next day on the 15th of October in this very building. Is it worth getting
you or one of your colleagues along to that John or making at least a
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:31:06
connexion? Yeah let's do that. Great stuff. Jen you want to come on on this point?
Jennifer Connolly, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:31:12
Yeah just to add to that because there's a couple of other forums as well where some of that learning is coming together and being shared because I think in addition to the trailblazer learning we have to put all this together
as we have been with the accelerator learning and wider
kind of activity that's happening across the country,
whether that be WorkWell or where areas are advancing
this agenda even without the additionality of funding
this year.
So there's a NHS confederation work and health network
that's kicking off today, actually.
So that will be a useful place for us
to get with learning from across the country.
And as Sonia's mentioned, the accelerators
meet on a quarterly basis, the three accelerators nationally,
and meet on a quarterly basis.
And we're really welcoming other systems coming
into that conversation as well.
Because as the point's being made,
we're yet unclear about the future funding
around accelerators.
But what we know is this commitment
is within the 10 -year plan.
We have to work out ways of doing this,
whatever the future holds.
Other areas are doing that in the absence of accelerator
funding at the moment.
So we're trying to learn from lots of different places
about how we can take all of this activity
forward with different levels of different amounts of certainty
around funding going forward.
So we need to think about, we don't
want to lose the momentum, the learning, and the commitment
just because of resource challenges, which appreciate
our significant challenges.
But yeah, there's different ways that we've
got some of that learning going on as well.
Can I just cheque if I'll bring others in?
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:32:48
Is there a place where all of that comes together?
I was just gonna say that
It isn't
Lorraine Jackson - 1:32:59
Completely neat and tidy chair and everyone just to be just to be really frank
however, it's a
Surprisingly small number of teams in the centre and I can probably name -cheque the head of every one of them that are
overseeing all of these programmes.
So there is a lot that's coming together at the central government level.
And we cooperate really every single day with our teams to try and make sure
that what we're doing in health is not fighting against the wider
trailblazer activity that the accelerators, etc.
Very sensibly, actually what you're doing here in West Yorkshire on that,
I think, is coming together.
So yes, do use the fact that I'm on this board,
that if there are wider connexions into both DWP
and DHSC that aren't visible to you, I can make them.
But just behind the scenes, we are working really incredibly
closely together with all of the teams involved.
Jen, go on.
I'll allow you to keep going.
Sorry.
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:34:04
Final plea then to Lorraine.
There's been a few today.
Nationally, there's been an evaluation commissioned
of the Trailblazer and nationally there's been an accelerator evaluation
Commission we've been pushing and we'd like to seek your support and continuing
to push that these should be seen together because at the moment they are
separate evaluations.
Jennifer Connolly, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:34:36
So would it be helpful to the board next time to receive a paper that says look
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:34:38
these are these is where all the evaluations happening and this is how
it's all being brought together so we can get a collective view about what
works. I do think there's one of our jobs is to connect the system to more of
itself and if there's really good work going on, which sounds like there's a lot
of good work going on, how are we bringing that together, getting a real
sense of where things work and where we can have the biggest impact possible
with the resources that we've got. So some dots around there, so that's a
specific action then for next time. I'm gonna go back to the Order. Kim, you've been
waiting for a while.
So I was involved quite early on in the in the trailblazer development
Kim Shutler - 1:35:19
It was really positive had some fantastic conversations with some of the offices about it really welcomed
As Nadja said the the opportunity for the sector to feed in
ideas for innovation how to get really close to communities
however
So I suppose just to pick up on Ben's point from earlier on there is a practical reality in that
When I met with the power of communities board, which is made up of
VCS e leaders from across West Shortsure and a number of them are saying that they cut the hat the funding hasn't been released for
the first phase yet
Now I
Don't fully understand the diff the different mechanisms
But the reality is is either they haven't received the funding or they're under operating at risk
which I'm quite surprised they're doing actually given the financial positions or
they're in
conversations with their relevant local authority about the terms and conditions of the risk
that's built into those contracts.
Thanks, Chair. Hopefully we can reassure colleagues we understand that. We've said earlier on
how complex and how quickly we've had to move and, you know, it's been really challenging
mobilising and getting everything up to speed. So we understand, we hear what colleagues
are saying, as at the end of last Friday, we've got everything signed now and all the
paperwork is done, so payments should be released pretty imminently. So hopefully that worry
should go away. And now that we've got into a bit of a groove with this, this shouldn't
be a recurring problem anymore. It's just getting our act together for the first time
running this, but that has now been sorted.
Thanks, that's great to hear. I wonder what that means in terms of, I suppose, the schemes
that were planned for the first year and then having to sort of put in a plan for a second
year that might look different, but actually first year hasn't got going yet and how do
we make sure that we don't lose the stuff that was planned for the first year that hasn't
got started yet? So interventions that we are funding for the
year will receive their funding to the end of that year.
The question...
Till the end of March?
Yes.
It will be a four years allocation.
We're not giving, we're not truncating the funding just because they are receiving it
a bit later.
And delivery can continue into year two?
We are checking on the funding and whether with DWP at the end of the year there will
Ms. Salma Arshad - 1:37:52
be an issue and if there is we will come back much earlier than that.
But at the moment, we expect that colleagues
have started delivery.
And so it is our funding that will catch up
more than the delivery.
If you get what I mean, delivery has started in other areas.
We will fund whatever has been delivered at risk,
and then whatever has to come between now
and the end of March.
And if there is an issue beyond that,
we will look at that to make sure we
provide the reassurances that are needed.
Hopefully that is just a year one thing and for year two we will be in a better place because we already started
But obviously the conversation we have in today is about the delivery plan for year two by the end of this month
We put in that submission on the back of all the comments we've had today
If that is accepted and we get in then we are ready and in place much earlier than we were
mobilising for year one. If you think for year one our delivery plans went in even though we were ahead of the country,
it still went in probably within weeks of their financial year starting. This is going in a few months before them
so it will be in a much better place for year two.
I think all the schemes are so keen and excited to be able to demonstrate really good quality outcomes
and so just giving people the period of time they need to do that to get that going and to show the results
before starting, you know, perhaps saying oh no, actually that hasn't worked.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:39:20
It's really really important to do and speaks to some of the early conversations about a longer term funding position.
So I think at this point we're grateful for colleagues in the BCSE for continuing in advance of the funding being released.
I think we've heard that the funding is going to be released imminently and there's a plea I think which we would all support
that the decision -making around the funding happen sooner this financial year is going to be released in time for next year.
And we'd see it here in positive noises from Felix there.
That's really helpful.
Thank you for that.
Ian.
Yeah, thanks, Rob.
It was on a similar theme.
Ian Holmes, director of strategic partnerships,
deputy chief executive for the West Yorkshire ICB.
To state the obvious, this isn't ideal
in terms of the time scales of the funding, the timelines that
we're producing the plans by.
We had a good conversation about this in the programme board
the other week.
You'd hope that we had a better sense of how things were
working in year one before we committed to the year two plan and I think that's
just the nature of this funding we're gonna have the similar conversation
probably on the accelerator from when we receive funding for that we're just
gonna have to be as agile and flexible and clear that communications as we can be I
think as a programme if stuff you know I completely agree with Kim's point about
giving partners the certainty as soon as we can but we also need to call it
quickly if things are working brilliantly that we need to spreading things are
working so managing that through the programme board I think was what we'll try and do.
Sarah, you wanted to come in.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:40:44
Thank you very much.
Yeah, it all feels very much like UKSPF funding, doesn't it?
Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council) - 1:40:49
You know, they're sort of like not getting the money until the programmes have already
started.
But anyway, I would just really like to advocate for co -designed and place -based models that
that really sustains employment West Yorkshire as core infrastructure and
that will really help to ensure that delivery is locally responsive,
community driven and aligned with both local and regional and national
priorities. So it's just please do continue with the code or
you know really work at the co -design as much. I know that it's all got
constraints and you know it's a national programme and everything but as much
co -design and place -based as possible please.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:41:37
Thanks, I think we all support that
and we've talked about complex adaptive systems
and people driven through neighbourhoods
and places where people live.
Do you want to say anything, Michelle,
about the time scales?
Because obviously the paper describes a set of time scales
that started on the first,
week commencing 1st of September,
and you said there's been a bit of delay.
Where are we in that table on Paris 3 .1, 3 .10?
Sorry, I pressed my button a bit earlier then.
Apologies.
So the 30th of September can't move.
So it's just the detail of, just in case anyone eagle
eyes spotted, the detail of when the times of when
particular meetings have happened
have changed very slightly.
But we have to hit the 30th of September.
So we remain as per that.
If they're looking back bit some of the meetings happen on different dates to those that are published there
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:42:33
Nothing more substantial to a lady. Thank you
Felix you want to come in?
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:42:39
Thanks chair
Just thank you very much for this as you can tell we moving really at a pace here
It's not ideal as Ian has said but we need to you know, it's just life. So we're moving with that
So thank you for your comments.
The team noted that and we'll take that into consideration.
I suppose just a couple of really quick things to note
on the back of Professor Samuels' point
and Michelle's response.
At this stage, we are looking at what should we be doing
and why, not who should be doing it.
That will come later.
So using the evidence from the work we've done
all through the year, we don't have a lot of evidence
on what is already working because that's only just starting, but the evidence that
we started with hopefully, well, we don't think that would have changed that much based
on lived experience and all of that.
Ms. Salma Arshad - 1:43:39
So based on that evidence and given the time scales, year two I am sure will not be too
different from year one because otherwise we are saying year one has been an incredible
failure and we have to shift so much. So there will be some things that will
change depending on what evidence comes through but we expect that year two will
not be that different from year one to give us the chance to bedding some of
the things we're doing as much as possible. There will always be a balance
between things that need to be commissioned and activated at the very
local level, that is to the nature of what we are doing, but there are always some things
that need to be organised at a regional level for the sake of efficiencies, etc.
There are testing, learning, innovative approaches that we want to bed in, evaluation, there
are things that need to be done at a regional level, things that need to be done at a local
level, so always a balance.
sometimes being local authorities and sometimes it just means VCS partners.
It's a balance we need to strike.
It's not really a science.
Somebody makes a judgement at some point, but we are being,
I hope you can tell, as cooperative as possible.
Final points to what Councillor Courtney raised.
We are live to the Employment West Yorkshire Challenge.
I won't go into the detail, we don't have time, but we are live to the challenge there.
The Combined Authority did agree last year that we continue that pivot for employment
with West Yorkshire towards economic inactivity and work with our colleagues and partners
at DWP who focus more on unemployment support. That pivot will continue and probably the
pace will accelerate because that is the funding we have and it's important that our local
actors, understand that our local partners, understand that we are not making decisions
out with some arrangements we've got.
The funding we have is very heavily tilted towards economic inactivity and so for us
to be able to support employment towards Yorkshire in the way that we've done, that is the pivot
that has to happen.
Otherwise, there isn't any other funding for us to put in there.
I hope we've made that point as clear as we possibly can to our local partners, but that
should not be a surprise to anybody.
that's what we funded to do so that is the pivot that is already under way.
I hope that's helpful, thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:46:16
Okay that's very helpful. So thank you for the conversation on that.
So I think if we look at the recommendations, we've noted the progress to date
and we're all really grateful and I think delighted on the second year confirmation
Rob Webster - 1:46:27
of the funding of up to £10 million.
I think we've discussed and provided a steer on Year 2 and noted the heroic time scales
to which we're working and I think we've commented on the proposed approach. In addition, I think
we've asked the programme board to look at evaluation in the round and bring a paper
back here next time. I think we've noted the imminent release of the resources to third
sector partners and the desire to plan for next year in a way which allows the release
of that funding in advance of the financial year next year. And I think what we talked
about is what's happening over the next year or so to pivot into the new world
and away from the sorts of arrangements if required and as part of that I think
we should be planning early for that because if we know that we're going
to have to demonstrate what's our approach going to be this sort of time
next year let's plan for that as well. Thank you for that. We've got a couple of items
of any other business from Felix. Can I just go around the table and cheque, does anybody

9 Date of Next Meeting

else have any other items of any other business? Felix.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:47:45
Thank you chair. Two very quick items. One, the really prompts from the mayor, we'll make
sure next meetings that follow we cover this and support you. We completely understand
that this is really complex.
Lots of national strategies and plans,
and then regional plans and delivery plans and strategies
and all sorts that we're putting in.
The team will put their mind to a way of illustrating this
and explaining this, which will be a standing item
so we all understand what we're talking about,
what is the relationship between these different things,
what is this plan doing relative to that one, et cetera.
We haven't cracked it yet, but we'll find a way to do that
so it's easier for all of us.
Sonya has done a lot of work on some system mapping of this
We'll find a way to make sure we can share this and speak to it in a way that will make it easier for us all
To understand this really complex space that we are in
and
Ms. Salma Arshad - 1:48:38
secondly
With this, you know, the programme is only six six months or so underway
We will bring a standing item on delivery updates
So, we know what is being delivered already and if we have any way of telling you how
well it's doing, any early indications, then we will do that to make sure again you have
your finger on the pulse on how the programme is doing.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:49:07
Any comments on either of those points?
Okay, as part of that would be really helpful I think to have escalated any significant
risks either on the programme update or the delivery plan and I think we've got the people
around the table who can take actions and make decisions to ameliorate some of those
risks. Can I just thank everybody for attending today and everyone who's put the papers together.
I think we keep talking about complexity and we're the architects of that complexity aren't
we if we're honest and what's pretty simple is the 100 ,000 people who are economically
Rob Webster - 1:49:47
inactive due to their health and there are things that we can do about that. So if we
keep that simple fact at the forefront of what we're doing and improving that position
I think we'll get further. So thank you everybody and we'll see you all soon. I think we can
end the live stream now. Thank you.
.