Healthy Working Life Board - Thursday 29 January 2026, 9:00am - West Yorkshire Combined Authority Webcasting

Healthy Working Life Board
Thursday, 29th January 2026 at 9:00am 

Agenda

Slides

Transcript

Map

Resources

Forums

Speakers

Votes

 
Share this agenda point
Share this agenda point
  1. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  2. Rob Webster Co-Chair
Share this agenda point
Share this agenda point
Share this agenda point
  1. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  2. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  3. Jennifer Connolly, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  4. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  5. Rob Webster Co-Chair
Share this agenda point
  1. Anna Myers (Officer) West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  2. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  3. Jennifer Connolly, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  4. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  5. Anna Myers (Officer) West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  6. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  7. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council)
  8. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  9. Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion)
  10. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  11. Kim Shutler Chief Executive of The Cellar Trust
  12. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  13. Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council)
  14. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  15. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  16. Cllr Kayleigh Brooks (Leeds City Council)
  17. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  18. Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council)
  19. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  20. Anna Myers (Officer) West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  21. Anna Myers (Officer) West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  22. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  23. Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council)
  24. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  25. Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion)
  26. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  27. Cllr Kayleigh Brooks (Leeds City Council)
  28. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  29. Anna Myers (Officer) West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  30. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  31. Tom Sedgewick Digital Transformation Group
  32. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  33. Tom Sedgewick Digital Transformation Group
  34. Kim Shutler Chief Executive of The Cellar Trust
  35. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  36. Kim Shutler Chief Executive of The Cellar Trust
  37. Jennifer Connolly, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  38. Jennifer Connolly Consultant in Public Health
  39. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  40. Kim Shutler Chief Executive of The Cellar Trust
  41. Jennifer Connolly Consultant in Public Health
  42. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  43. Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council)
  44. Matt Findull Bradford Council
  45. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  46. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council)
  47. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  48. Grant Soames Calderdale Council
  49. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  50. Grant Soames Calderdale Council
  51. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  52. Cllr Jane Rylah Kirklees Council
  53. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  54. Cllr Jane Rylah Kirklees Council
  55. Gillian Wallace Leeds City Council
  56. Gillian Wallace Leeds City Council
  57. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  58. Gillian Wallace Leeds City Council
  59. Cllr Kayleigh Brooks (Leeds City Council)
  60. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  61. Sharon Marshall Wakefield Council
  62. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  63. Cllr Duncan Smith Wakefield Council
  64. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  65. Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council)
  66. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  67. Tom Sedgewick Digital Transformation Group
  68. Kim Shutler Chief Executive of The Cellar Trust
Share this agenda point
  1. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  2. Tom Sedgewick Digital Transformation Group
  3. Michelle Burton, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  4. Jennifer Connolly Consultant in Public Health
  5. Kim Shutler Chief Executive of The Cellar Trust
  6. Jennifer Connolly Consultant in Public Health
Share this agenda point
  1. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  2. Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion)
  3. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  4. Kim Shutler Chief Executive of The Cellar Trust
  5. Jennifer Connolly Consultant in Public Health
  6. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  7. Michelle Burton, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  8. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  9. Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council)
  10. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  11. Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion)
  12. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  13. Peter Glover, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  14. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  15. Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council)
  16. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  17. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council)
  18. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  19. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council)
  20. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  21. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council)
  22. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  23. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  24. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  25. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council)
  26. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  27. Cllr Kayleigh Brooks (Leeds City Council)
  28. Rob Webster Co-Chair
  29. Michelle Burton, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  30. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
Share this agenda point
  1. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  2. Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council)
  3. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  4. Cllr Duncan Smith Wakefield Council
  5. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
Share this agenda point
Share this agenda point
  1. Cllr Kayleigh Brooks (Leeds City Council)
  2. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  3. Webcast Finished

1 Apologies for Absence

Good morning everybody.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:00:17
Hello my name is Rob Webster, I'm the Chief Executive of NHS West Yorkshire and I'm privileged
to co -chair this board with the Mayor Tracey Braven.
she's slightly delayed and we'll start the meeting with Alex, she'll join us very shortly.
We'll be in live stream today so welcome to anybody who is here. Everybody in the room has
a nameplate, I'm not going to propose that we go around now and introduce everybody but if you do
contribute in the meeting please do say who you are for those who are watching, they may not be
aware and may not be able to see your nameplates on the screen. We've got quite a full agenda
today so I'm going to try and keep us on track. I do have to leave at 11 o 'clock sharp to
run an all staff briefing for my organisation so if we are slightly overrunning then I'll ask the
mayor to finish the meeting off for us but I'm hoping I can get everybody out the door by
the deadline. Thank you for all your contributions on that. Let's start with apologies. Miles,
have we got anybody, any apologies to know today?
Apologies for absence, Chair. I've been received from Lorraine Jackson, Professor Nadira Mirza,
Mandy Ridyard, Professor John Wright and then Paul Lavallee with Lindsay Ellis kindly attending
as her substitute. Thank you for those. In terms of expressions and declarations of interest,
Does anybody have any pecuniary interest that they want to disclose at this point in the
meeting?
Welcome, we're just there.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:01:48
It's okay.
Okay, so there's no additional interest that anyone wants to declare based on the agenda
for today.
I can also confirm there are items on the agenda that require the exclusion of the press
and the public, so we are meeting in public.
In terms of transparency and openness it's really important that we have a clear and
accurate set of minutes, so can I just cheque that people are content with the minutes of
the meeting held on the 22nd of September and that they're an accurate record, so people
are content to confirm that. Any amendments that anyone wants to make? Any matters arising
not on the agenda. Okay, great stuff, thank you. So we're going to now get into the

2 Declarations of Disclosable Interests

chair and co -chair updates. For those coming late, don't worry, we're just starting the meeting.

3 Exempt Information - Possible Exclusion of the Public & Press

4 Minutes of the Public Meeting of the Healthy Working Life Board held on 22 September 2026

Yes, it's good we're in the right building to give direct feedback on that.

5 Chair & Co-Chair Update

Okay, so in terms of the general update for today, I'm just going to give a bit of context
and indicate the kind of shape of the meeting this morning.
So welcome to this meeting. It is good that we've got this powerful group of people around
the table to really push on this agenda. It is critical to the health and lives of local
people. We know that, you know, good jobs and good work lead to good health. There is
a direct correlation between them. This is in the context where there are some significant
changes happening in local government with the devolution bill and in the NHS with the
ten year plan and the government's health missions. Just to confirm that you may have
seen in the media and elsewhere news of changes in the health service, so the integrated care
boards which I lead, for example in West Yorkshire, are going through a significant change with
reductions in staffing aligned to a refocusing on strategic commissioning and we're in the
middle of a public staff consultation on those changes.
Good morning, I'm so sorry.
We're in the middle of a consultation on those changes. I can confirm that this work
This work remains fundamental to the work of the Inscrate Care Board.
The posts that are required to support it are in that consultation, so they continue
subject to consultation.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:04:29
Our commitment to this work is clear.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:04:32
It also fits very squarely with the wider agenda within government around the wellbeing
and health of the population, including giving new powers and responsibilities to the Mayor
for the public's health.
So we are in the middle of that work.
That organisational change involves quite a significant change for a number of people,
but that shouldn't deflect us from the importance of this work and our commitment to it.
In terms of today, there are a number of papers which give us an update of how the programme is doing
and the context that we're in.
These reforms that we're engaged in are all part of that government's health mission around the public's health, employment and wider determinants.
And the publication of the Great Get Britain Working Reform is really at the heart of that.
We'll hear progress under item 6 around progress on healthy working lives and then all of the different arrangements that feed into that.
morning Susan, and we'll make sure that the acceleration and continued importance of this
work is something that we collectively shape in West Yorkshire. The establishment of this
group and I think the work programmes is really helpful in delivering change for local people
which is the critical thing that we want to do and also helping us to shape and inform
policy, the pilots that we've been doing directly feed back into the reinforcement of the work
and how it needs to progress. You can see that in the reforms led by Sir Charlie Mayfield,
you can see that in Alan Milburn's review into the root causes of the rise in economic
inactivity among young residents, and let's remember in Bradford we've got one of the
youngest cities in the country, if not the youngest I think. So it's critically important
for us to engage with, learn from, and share those pieces of work. And then we'll hear
a bit later on WorkWell, which is an early intervention health -led service which tries
to ensure that people don't leave work, remain in work, and we know that if we can keep people
in work, there are life chances and the life chances of their families are enhanced.
So this kind of work and this central drive with central government through different departments,
driving improvements needs to be coordinated somewhere and this is the place for us, I think.
And we can, using our really deep -rooted collaborative intent, make a much bigger difference together.
That requires us, I think, to be open, honest and challenging of each other around what the issues are.
and also challenging of the progress that we're making.
And from the agenda you see today, I think you can see that we are making some genuine progress.
And I think that progress has helped giving confidence to the government and others that we should continue down this path.
So, those bits of the jigsaw in the room, you know, local authorities sharing perspectives today around what's going on in places like Bradford and Wakefield.
We've got board members representing different organisations that have a role to play and
this kind of work I would say is the sort of work that gets people out of bed because
they can see the difference that it's making to the communities in which they live and
work. Jen's going to give us an update on WorkWell and some major national developments
there and we've really got an opportunity today to review the employment support within
the region as we try and embed this work in how we work together. We've also really got
a chance round the table to understand and shape the work we're doing on young lives
and youth unemployment. So those are all the introductory remarks I wanted to make. Tracey,
anything you wanted to add as a co -chair?
Jennifer Connolly, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:08:44
Thank you so much, Rob, and thank you for that introduction. And you're absolutely right
that this is an incredible opportunity, given that government really wants to solve the
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:08:52
problem with opportunities for funding. But I think that system -wide approach where we
can all work in partnership with these different opportunities, where we're not duplicating,
where we're not missing people out, where we can really have that inclusive growth.
and I was really excited to be at the Mayor's Innovation Day in Manchester this week with
Charlie Mayfield, Alan Milburn, Andy Haldane, all the mayors and lots of clever people.
We were being spoken about as innovators in this space and being able to also take evidence
from Alan Milburn's review, particularly around young people who are not in education, employment
or training, and to be able to invite them to come and see what's happening in Bradford,
for example, where we have a really low percentage of needs, but we also have high graduate unemployment.
So it's many and varied, the challenges, but I think the ability to work cross -region and
to demand of government that they give us the resources to do that.
And they share the risk with us because this is not risk -free.
But we can't keep doing what we've been doing because too many people are slipping through
the net.
And I think it's 100 ,000 people potentially lost to the system if we were to be level
with the national average of those in employment.
We can't fail those 100 ,000 people.
and also as the Mayor it's about growth as well and the economy so it's really
important to our to our economy that we do this work brilliantly so just wanted
to thank you but if I could just while I have the floor chair just to say this
might be your last in public event is it well it might be in public yeah I just
want to if I may just to say thank you for your leadership and I've learned so
much from you about what leadership looks like in compassionate leadership
your appetite for risk and also the way that you've
given us the resources and lent into it for us to deliver.
So I think we all have learned from you and, you know,
this is not the end of you, I know,
but I just wanted to put it on record that I am enormously
grateful for your leadership.
And we definitely would not be all sat around this table
with this approach and with this ambition
without your leadership.
So thank you for that.
So that's all my updates. Thank you so much, Chair.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:11:34
Thank you, Tracey. Let's move on to reporting.
So Anna, I think you're going to give us an update on the Healthy Working Life programme.

6 District Reporting

Good morning, everyone. I'm Anna Myers. I'm the Inclusive Economy Manager here at the West Yorkshire Combine Authority.
Anna Myers (Officer) West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:11:48
So just introducing item 6 around district reporting.
So this paper gives an overview of the Healthy Working Life programme
and it sets the context for the delivery updates that each local authority are going to present
shortly this morning. The board is asked to acknowledge the progress achieved today on
the Healthy Working Life programme and provide comments and guidance on current progress,
particularly around the design and delivery of programmes and the implementation of support
within local areas across the region. So while accountability, as you're aware, sits at regional
level there's lots of flexibility locally and we're keen to share updates today in this
board meeting so we can tell the storey about the progress today. As the paper outlines
the Healthy Working Life programme is making a lot of good progress in supporting people
who are economically inactive or at risk of becoming inactive and helping them move towards
access or stay in good quality work. There is a dashboard and I know there's some accompanied
slides. I'm not sure if someone's going to be presenting those today, but within that information,
key achievements since April 2025 show a significant amount of consultation has happened
to get to this point, mobilisation and delivery to be able to get the programme up and running
to this position where we're at now. So that includes regional and local procurement that's
happened at PACE on such a huge scale and not something I've seen before in my time
working here at the Combined Authority so things have definitely moved quickly.
We've also got some really excellent case studies from partners and local organisations
and I think some of these will feature today in local areas updates so great to see those
good news storeys coming through as well.
In terms of headline progress today, to share some key stats, there's 7 ,895 people that
have been supported across healthy working life so far.
Just in terms of the elements of that, through Employment West Yorkshire, more than 5 ,200
people have been supported, with almost 600 of those moving into work.
and that's 53 % of the people who have completed support.
Also through our Trailblazer work
with the voluntary community sector partners,
and we've seen over 550 people being supported
and that was since October.
So that's quite a short amount of time
to be able to mobilise and bring that up to speed
to where it needs to be.
And that's included a lot of local procurement
and processes at pace to be able to get to this point.
And also in terms of the accelerator,
to receive really strong results.
So 96 % of people completing the support
are maintaining or improving their employment status.
And that's focusing on maintaining employment
and making sure that people are supported
to stay in the labour market and preventing them
becoming economically inactive.
So I think just some highlights there,
but I think those achievements kind of show the increased
capacity across the system.
I think it's been recognised within this board previously
and sometimes the short term nature of the
fundistry continues to be a challenge and it
does remain a risk to the wider work and health
landscape and I just thought that was something
to recognise after providing those stats.
As well as the stats and the numbers, the people
have been supporting, there's lots of key
milestones in terms of system leadership as well
and that was a commitment that was made as part of
the Healthy Working Life programme.
So just to celebrate some of those key
achievements and we've published the West Yorkshire Work and Health Plan and
there's the Healthy Working Life Plan that's been developed and published and
we've had two quite large -scale health and growth events of bringing the system
together and to be able to feed into the activity and to get to this point and
the governance around it has been established so you know now we've got
this established Healthy Working Life board and there's also a programme board
and and then in terms of marketing even comms this was a commitment that we
to do a lot of work in the community, we have
a marketing and commerce plan around
healthy working life, working across
the combined authority and the integrated
care board to bring that together.
And then I suppose coming soon, we have
also developed an evaluation plan
just to make sure that we can show that
economic impact of the activity that is
happening and obviously review everything
that is happening within the system.
So in terms of next steps,
that is a key milestone coming soon.
And so evaluate
activity will begin soon and that will review the economic impact of healthy working life
so far, as well as the progress against the 1300 prevention outcome that the Healthy Working
Life Programme committed to and it will also assess how the programme is helping to reduce
economic inactivity by supporting more people with health conditions and disabilities to
move or stay in work as part of the objective that was outlined within the work and health
So I'll pause there and I think we're moving on to pass over to colleagues to provide the
play space updates and I believe that's in an alphabetical order.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:17:14
So I think we're starting with...
Always good to go in alphabetical order.
So I think we're struggling to get the slides up I think at the moment.
Any questions for Anna before we get into the play space arrangements or any reflections
that you want to scope.
Thanks very much for that, Anna.
Jennifer Connolly, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:17:37
If we can get these slides up, they
would be good because we are talking about how
we evidence our delivery.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:17:44
Because when it was Alison McGovern, the minister,
when we went to the Pathfinder at Wakefield,
and the perm secretary was with her and said,
when I sit in front of the select committee,
I need to know that you've made a difference.
And unfortunately, even though we love devolution,
I don't think devolution has permeated
every particular department of government. And we will need to evidence the work that
we've done and the impact and the differential that these many millions of pounds have made.
So I did request this dashboard and this is work in progress. But if we can't get it – there's
no pressure, Miles. Sorry about this. If we can't get it on the screen, we will then
share it. It's currently, there's more detail. We need to go deeper to be able to share who,
where, when, what. But this is the beginning. We have to start somewhere because we have
to understand what we're doing across West Yorkshire. So if we can't have it now for
this item, let's return to this once we can get it up and running. But thank you very
Anna. And when you say more activity than I've ever seen in the Combined Authority,
Anna Myers (Officer) West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:19:00
how long have you been here? I've been here ten years. Blimey crikey! I mean I don't know what skincare you're using but you've
definitely done them like you've been here ten years. Thank you Anna. Thank you. Thanks, I've got a couple of people who want to come in.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:19:10
We will get the slides and the dashboard up. It's good to see what we've heard in black and white, isn't it, or whatever colours we're going to end up with,
right in front of us and it's good I think we've got some good numbers some
good indications of the problems that we've got to probe some of those but
Councillor Hinchcliffe you wanted to come in then Fatima.
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council) - 0:19:32
Yeah I think just echoing what the Mayor said about delivery I think the challenge for the
region of course has also been the speed at which this has come and having to
mobilise so quickly across the region for quite a large -scale programme obviously
you need people in place etc so I think that makes delivery you know
challenging at pace. I think obviously now we've got this year two sorted out
just the mechanics of it need sorting out if we can get ahead of the game in
terms of you know the agreements draught agreements with all the local
authorities so we can get working on those because we've got processes to go
through as well receiving money so it's just it's those boring bits I'm afraid
we need to do really really well and then things can go faster so just some
expectation about when we're gonna when we're gonna get that problem Michelle
Thank you. Thank you Councillor Hinchcliffe, Leader of Bradford Council. So just for those
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:20:26
who weren't here at the beginning, in terms of the live stream it would be good just to
Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion) - 0:20:33
introduce who you are. Fatima. Thank you Co -Chairs, Fatima Kansha, West Shorpshire Inclusivity
Champion. It was just building on the points the Mayor's just made which is we've obviously
demonstrated proof of concept which is wonderful but I think to take it to the next level there's
something about demonstrating that we're not just hitting targets but we're also achieving
the point of this which is reaching people most in need. And I suppose one of the things
I'm particularly interested in is how are we demonstrating despite subsidiarity and
making it bespoke to the different boroughs of West Yorkshire that we've got a consistent
minimum offer. So you know if people are accessing our services what is the consistent offer
that avoids the postcode lottery for the region I think is really important to articulate
particularly to support the selection committees and future decision making. And I suppose
The other bit which is really important is that we hear a lot of conversations about
integration. This is a fabulous example of integration of different partners coming together
and being able to overcome some of the challenges like the bureaucracy but also sharing of data.
So when we are sharing that information can we include those elements too because I think
it will enable us to take it to the next level as well as demonstrating that we are delivering.
Thank you. Kim, did you want to comment?
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:21:43
I'm Kim Schottler, I'm the lead for West Shortshire ICB.
Kim Shutler Chief Executive of The Cellar Trust - 0:21:50
I think my point builds on Councillor Hinchliffe's point about the boring stuff and I do think
we would have significantly exceeded the numbers we are seeing here today if we managed to
get some of that resolved at an earlier stage, particularly in terms of the funding flow
and the timing around that.
I think you know what we hear from my VCSE colleagues in places that there's there's been quite variance across our five places as well
so
There might be a really good learning exercise that we could facilitate together to just think through you know
What is in our gift because I know a lot of this wasn't in our gift in West Yorkshire at all
But there might have been some things that were in our gift that we could make sure that we capture to
maximise impact going forward and
And I guess I'd just echo the point that Anna drew out about the short -term nature of the
funding and it pains me actually to see the amazing stuff that is just getting going and
having run and established many services historically, you always know that six months in, it goes
and the data starts going up.
So it's really sad seeing some of the schemes winding down, losing actually ironically some
brilliant staff so the more that we can continue to sort of lobby for that point
Mayor the better.
Thank you.
Thank you. Councillor Courtney.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:23:13
Thank you yes.
Councillor Sarah Courtney from Caldedale Council, League Member for Regeneration and Transport.
Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council) - 0:23:20
Yeah just I suppose it's just it's that clarity around the accelerator funding
you know just waiting still waiting for that and just I think yeah just
that just sort of delays and uncertainty around funding, as you've said, Kim, is just really
difficult, especially for sort of smaller organisations. We know that those small organisations
are really good at getting into those people who are the hardest to reach, but they're
also most at risk because they're quite fragile because they are quite small. So I think that
that's a real, you know, and while we, you know, in Colerdale we've particularly got
a very good relationship with our VCSC organisations.
And we've been trying to build the capacity
in those organisations, but it's just,
it's really difficult when there isn't,
when the funding is just, you know,
just not quite there.
And I think, you know, it's like, you know,
we're still waiting on funding from the current year
and then not knowing what's gonna happen in, you know,
the next financial year as well.
So, just need to sort of, yeah, anything we can do to help government, you know, get that
moving as well would be really helpful.
Yeah, you want to respond to that?
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:24:38
I think you're absolutely right that when we've got good programmes, good people, and
then we're just waiting in a hiatus, then we could lose them, and then we have to re -recoup,
it just seems so inefficient. So, I'll take that action away and we'll write to government
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:24:50
and press them and try and get a reply as soon as possible because like you say
we've got to keep them.
Thank you for that. So, Councillor Brooks.
Cllr Kayleigh Brooks (Leeds City Council) - 0:25:08
Thank you, Chair. I think it's worth pointing out it's not just about recruitment, it's also about when those staff members have built those relationships with individuals that are very difficult to reach in the first place
and then the funding is withdrawn and then those jobs are lost, it means that those individuals,
their trust has gone in the system entirely and they might not re -engage again. Thank you.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:25:35
I think that's such a powerful point. We know that the ECSC is often created and organised,
small organisations emerge from where people feel let down or failed by the way that services are organised
and they have to do things themselves and then create an infrastructure for that around a charity
or and that degree of trust and confidence that they can bring to communities who feel left behind
or unable to access us because it is us isn't it it's us who creates the services and make it
difficult for them to access rather than us to reach them so we need to find a way of doing that
and I was thinking from that bit of the conversation there's probably three or four
things we'd want to reinforce. The first is that you know the knitting matters
get doing the doing the professional processes and the things that can get
decisions taken and then implemented in places that needs to be good. When
you've got national funding and national pilots that you know just by their
nature sometimes override that in the in the first instance doesn't mean it has
to be like that forever. So those professional processes are right. Secondly as we
getting to make this mainstreaming this and planning together and budgeting
together it needs to become part of the planning cycle and we need to commit
resources and capacity and policy towards it and in doing so we need to
just learn some lessons from what we've done so far pick up the points that
Fatima is making around you know is there a minimum of and is there a
flexibility to you know to recognise the differences in different communities so
That's really helpful, I think, bit of conversation,
but let's get into the places now.
Councillor Caulfield, you can come back.
Yeah, sorry, just another quick point really.
Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council) - 0:27:18
And I think exactly what you've said is absolutely right,
and it's about that whole picture.
So right from the small organisations,
whether they're based in communities
who can get people's trust, up to our level,
up to the combined authority level and beyond,
and about everyone working together.
so it's the health partners as well,
and how every strand of what happens
at the combined authority is really vital,
including things like transport.
I know that obviously we're involved in the transport pilot,
confidence pilot, but actually making sure
that people can get to their training,
their employment, their health appointments and stuff,
because not being able to get somewhere
is just such an immediate barrier, isn't it?
It's like if you can't.
So I just, I think it's about really, really looking
at the joined up nature of it all is so important as well.
Thank you.
Thank you for that reminder.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:28:16
I mean, I always struck in my career
that when you have a conversation with the public
about the NHS, you usually end up talking about transport
at some point.
Okay.
We now have access.
You want to say something? We do.
Yeah.
I just want to say thank you team
squirrelling in the background, making sure that this could come up on the board.
But I think it's really important that we've started this dashboard.
And like I say, not everything is there, not all the detail. I've asked for, you know,
what year is this? Is this, you know, 24, 25? Who is delivering, you know, trying to also,
as we go forward, get to a more granular understanding across the region? But I think
I think this is a good start. We have started at least.
I don't know if you want to speak to this.
Anna, do you want to speak to the slides?
I know you talked us through it.
If there is anything you want to pull out that we need to know at
this moment.
But to say that this is just the beginning.
Anna Myers (Officer) West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:29:26
Thank you. In essence, I suppose the dashboard here shows some of the figures that I have
just gone through, but I suppose there is evidence in that capacity and the scale of
the work that has happened in such a small amount of time. The numbers that are presented
here are just from April 2025, so within the financial year of delivery, and obviously
I suppose this is only the start of it and you know the numbers will grow and
So we'll keep that updated and you know happy to take feedback again from other members
Perhaps outside the meeting on other data that they'd like to see you know
We've got a huge amount of data behind the scenes and getting ready for that evaluation
So, you know we can do deep dives into and different things within different areas
Anna Myers (Officer) West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:30:14
I'm particularly interested in those not in education employment or training so young people
So the number of people supported into work by healthy working life and the target was five one seven, but five nine eight
Who are they what type of work where from?
so we will
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:30:34
Hopefully as we develop this dashboard being able to click into that and to get more granular detail because what we want to do is
Also escalate the stuff that's really working and learn from the stuff that's working and then where it isn't across the region roll that out
there. So I think the total number of people supported across Healthy Working Life, nearly
8 ,000, is that Connect to Work? Is that just us or is that other programmes as well? So
whilst there's something on the board, I think the team are now going to use this to really
get into the data. I wonder if anybody has anything that they'd like to say or would
like to see from the dashboard?
Councillor Carley wants to come in, I can see you.
Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council) - 0:31:18
Yeah, just I suppose it's great and I think this is probably what you were saying Tracey,
it's great to see what's happened but actually then to be able to use that information positively,
so not just a snapshot of the things that have happened but then highlight the gaps
and what's working, what isn't working, then to be able to apply that to other areas. So
I think it's great to see, but actually to have it as a useful tool that can then be employed, it would be great.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Fatima.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:31:44
Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion) - 0:31:48
So I'm going to quote you, Rob, which is I'd really like to see evidence that we're not just hitting the target and missing the point,
so a breakdown of the individuals that we've supported, but also answering the so what question, which is we might have supported them into work,
but did they stay in work, and sort of, you know, what was their experience?
was it you know we keep talking about not just work but good work and sort of
a bit more of a breakdown of that because our aspiration isn't just to get
people working it's to get people working and to stay in work but also to
progress because we're a region of opportunity.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:32:19
Thank you, I've got an avalanche of people wanting to come in now so Councillor Brooks first and then Tom and then Kim.
Cllr Kayleigh Brooks (Leeds City Council) - 0:32:29
Thank you, I think just to sort of follow on from that it's I suppose like in terms of the methodology around it
if we could have like a shared approach of targeted support because there's a certain envelope that we have
so like making it as impactful as possible.
One of the ways is that we could look at the areas of multiple deprivation figures
and target towards those areas just to make sure that that funding envelope is being utilised in the best possible way.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:33:03
Thank you for that. Anna, did you want to come back on that point?
Yeah, and just to clarify, we do look at areas of index and multiple deprivation and we look
Anna Myers (Officer) West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:33:15
at the mapping and the hotspots across the region to make sure that we're targeting provision.
I see local areas nodding already, but making sure that we're in those local community centres
where the data tells us that we need to be. And yeah, we've got data around that and we
I think we've got over 40 % within IMD 1 and 2 on the accelerator and it's higher on the trailblazer
so we are seeing some differences between the different programmes as well and we can pull some
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:33:43
of that out definitely next time. Thank you. We've got Tom and Kim and then I suggest we do hear from
the places because there's probably loads of stuff in there that'll answer a lot of the questions.
Hi I'm Thomas Hedgwick, I'm the service leader for West Yorkshire, so part of the department of
work and pensions. I think it's to your point Fatiba, it's the qualitative isn't it? People
Tom Sedgewick Digital Transformation Group - 0:34:00
unique and we're starting to work with customers potentially in a new way and I
think there's a lot of learning from those case studies about where the gaps
in our services, where is more join -up needed and where is the duplication, so
how do we bring that alive and we can probably learn as service owners
together in this space, so what is underneath this because it's clear isn't
it from the quantitative data something is happening positively here so what is
learning and how do we grow from that.
Great, thank you.
And if anyone wants to look at the website
and look at the case studies that are on there
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:34:33
in terms of the repository,
you can see the kind of difference that we're seeing.
Also the areas where people are experienced
with that duplication or some of those gaps.
Kim.
Tom Sedgewick Digital Transformation Group - 0:34:46
So some of the feedback that I've had from VCSE colleagues
have been about the minimum data set,
Kim Shutler Chief Executive of The Cellar Trust - 0:34:51
particularly when working with communities
where the trust is a huge challenge and there's definitely been, I suspect, that the data
would have looked quite different if some of the minimum data set had looked different.
I think there's been definitely something about identifying specific individuals. That's
been in ethnically diverse communities but also some of the organisations working with
people with autism or learning disability. So I think that's something to reflect on
and just think about what might we have captured actually
if we'd have been able to tweak that
or perhaps still get the impact data,
Tracie, Mayor, but maybe been a bit more flexible
thinking about some of the people that we're trying to reach
and I'm interested in, well, so with my day job,
we run four different employment services
commissioned by different organisations
and they all want to measure different things.
When you work in VCSE, you have to be really good at doing that
in order to get more money.
So there's something about service effectiveness data,
so how we actually knowing if we're maximising the resource
and if it's any good to carry on.
And then there's the impact data.
And I think there's probably stuff
sat behind there, isn't there, in terms of our retention type
schemes working better than actual employment schemes?
where's the best bang for our buck in terms of investment in schemes. So I think
that would be interesting to dig into a little bit more.
Thanks. Jack?
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:36:24
Kim Shutler Chief Executive of The Cellar Trust - 0:36:26
Yeah just on the minimum data set point because it's a really, really important one and I think it
Jennifer Connolly, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:36:30
reflects the nature of what we're trying to do here. We've got multiple programmes
that are coming from different departments who have a different kind of
starting point of what they're interested in and kind of what kind of
data they want to use to kind of evidence impact in different ways. And that leads to
then collecting different information. But the tricky bit of that and the bit we're not
content with is that that has led to the amount of data being collected in an interaction
with an individual is enormous and can be overwhelming and off -putting. It hasn't been
is that need for as much information as we can
so we can evidence the impacts, really learn and evaluate
these services, and then that kind of real off -putting nature
of collecting that kind of information.
And I think it's a really fair reflection that we
haven't got that quite right.
I think it's something that is under continuous review.
And I do think this is a good, as we approach
the turn of the financial year and change into,
we'll talk about WorkWell in a minute,
but think about how can we reconcile that again.
It's a challenge because then it means new forms and new things,
and we haven't, but it's kind of recognising we might not have got that right first time.
We keep making that point back up to DWP, NHS England,
Jennifer Connolly Consultant in Public Health - 0:38:00
that the kind of different funders of these programmes, that that needs to be reconciled.
So it's not something that we're sort of uncited on,
but we can do more probably to look again at how we can, in our position, how we can reconcile that
and continue to challenge back up do we need to collect all of that information. So thank you,
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:38:19
really well made. Thanks Jane. Do you want to just remind everyone who you are?
Kim Shutler Chief Executive of The Cellar Trust - 0:38:24
Apologies, my name is Jan Connolly, I'm Associate Director for Improving Population Health and I
work jointly between Westchurch Combined Authority and Westchurch Integrated Care Board on those
Jennifer Connolly Consultant in Public Health - 0:38:32
building blocks of health particularly on these programmes. Thank you so I think
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:38:38
what we're hearing from there is this is this is really helpful so numbers
provoke conversation and give us a sense of some movement. What would be even
better would be if it allows us to decide where we're on or off track in
terms of progress, where the risks are and what actions we might want to take
here to accelerate further or manage some risks. We've heard a bit about the
data issues and data quality. We know that we've got some emerging data on impact which
is incredibly positive. We want to poke that to make sure that it's right because it looks
incredibly positive and we need to make sure that we're not getting any duplication here.
So some of those data quality issues are reflected in the paper. I also remind everybody that
the paper talks about the evaluation work that's going to go on alongside this to demonstrate
the impact that's been had through the programme.
Right, we've got about five minutes each, I think,
from each of the places now in terms of update.
That's our chair steer, if you didn't hear it.
So we're going to hand over to Bradford first.
Thank you, chairs.
Matt Findle, Lead Officer Education and Skills Bradford
Council.
Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council) - 0:39:50
I've noted the challenge.
I do have a few slides, so I might talk quickly.
Really pleased to be able to share some of the great work
that's going on in Bradford through the programmes
with you this morning.
Just a reflection, I was having yesterday thinking about what we've been trying to do
through Skills House in Bradford for the past three years with support from combined authority
partners around integration of employment and skills budgets. It was interesting that
you both mentioned integration when you were talking at the start. Healthy working life
has really helped us. One of the things we're keen to do is integrate further with wider
Matt Findull Bradford Council - 0:40:24
public services and wider public budgets. Healthy working life has been really positive
in terms of bringing us together with health in a way that we've never worked together before and
as reflecting that as I thought about the presentation and it's really difficult to
quantify when you're talking to a minister isn't it but actually sort of long term those sort of
we've got a strategic place board in place looking at accelerator and trailblazer those sort of side
conversations you have off the board making really interesting places but again hard to express in
the sort of data and the slides but sort of make that observation before I got into it. I'm so glad
I didn't have to try and talk to this and we got the slides up.
I think it's a really helpful side that colleagues in the health care partnership have produced
around this, the offer for accelerator.
It just shows the breadth of the set of programmes that we've got.
So we've got on the left -hand side of the main box, you've got the focuses of the programmes,
the conditions that we're focusing on, and then the set of suite of programmes that we've
alongside that, delivered through pillars one and two,
so it's colour -coded.
So the red are the pillar ones for the health and care
workforce, pillar two for the wider workforce.
And then there's the digital therapeutics strand as well.
I'm not going to attempt to talk to any of that in detail.
And I noted the time constraint.
I think it's just really helpful to capture
the breadth of what we are talking about.
In terms of the numbers, so this is the latest data
that we shared with me from the programme.
So the chart on the left just shows the progression
over time in terms of the number of people being referred
in blue, the number that have started in orange,
and the number that have completed in green.
As the slide notes, there is quite a significant delay
between start and completion and then
data load in terms of getting the completions on.
So at the moment, we're showing 61 completions
for Accelerator.
but that's from we've now hit almost 1100 referrals and over 650 people have
started on the programmes now. So obviously with this we're focusing on
place -based elements of Trailblazer rather than the regionally coordinated
elements. So Employment West Yorkshire we've been running through the council
through Skills House we were fortunate in that Employment West Yorkshire was a
a previous iteration of that programme,
that we've been able to pivot and start delivery
from day one because of the infrastructure in place
through council staff to do that.
And the sort of impact of that has been
that we've been able to, as I'll show on the next slide,
exceed all of our annual targets,
apart from one at this stage in the year already.
The VCS collaboration, we mentioned the boring stuff earlier
and some of the, it has been quite complex
to mobilise a number of these strands.
And the VCS element, we didn't get up
running until just before Christmas in Bradford. We've got 32 partners working across this,
so we've got two focuses, one through our community and connect works, so the 12 partnerships
there are developing hyper -local plans that we're hoping will inform Year 2 delivery,
and then the other set of partners are delivering interventions focused on different inclusion
groups, so young people, LGBTQ etc. 11 of those managed to mobilise before Christmas
and the rest of Mobilise this month. We desperately trying to get some of the data into the system
so the combined authorities data for that strand won't look too promising at the moment.
We've got a target of 267 participants through that strand and we're just over 100 now
so it's comfortable that we will hit that by the end of the year on the BCS strand.
Personal incentives, really pleased that that's launched recently around the M -card offer
and quite strong uptake from Bradford already, so that's really positive.
And there's the travel training provision,
a train -the -trainer type programme that's been commissioned for Bradford as well,
that's just about to launch and we're really excited about.
And we're ready to go with the employer stand
as soon as we have everything sort of in place for that.
Next slide was just quickly looking at the sort of performance against informal structure.
I did just mention that on the annual targets,
We're actually ahead of all of those except for the one in terms of increased employability
But for that one we are ahead of where we'd expect to be for this time of the programme
So we we haven't hit the annual target yet, but we were ahead of where we profiled to be
We're at 92 % of that and that was midpoint in January
Just on Trailblazer specifically. We've hit 150 % now of profile for that in terms of starts
Next slide was just quickly about the preparation for launch of connect to work
which we're keen to get going with and hopefully in the middle of next month seems where we're
going to land. We've got staff in place already, which helps with our employment with Yorkshire
numbers, but we're really keen to get going with the training on the supported employment
programme. We're delivering the SEQF elements and the two elements of connector work which
we've been doing previously, particularly focusing on young people who are care experienced,
young people who have been known to the justice system and young people who had an education
and health and care plan, but also we had a local support employment programme in Bradford,
so we're building on the learning and some of the networks we created through that.
I think the more interesting case studies in there, so particularly talking about individual,
I'd just echo the point Kim was making before actually, consistently across accelerating
Trailblazer, the point about the minimum data set has been raised and it has particularly
in my experience around Trailblazer it's been autism and some people neurodiversity that
have raised that. This is an example of someone we did work with who had an autism diagnosis,
had been unemployed since 2023 when they've been made redundant. They had been through
a lot of bits of different types of support before. I think one of the things, I was talking
to the advisor that worked with Jay, one of the things that they'd experienced was lots
of different people trying to help and I think one of the benefits of our
approach that essentially had a key worker type approach they've had
consistent positive input to support them back to work and so we supported
J2access a couple of courses and sort of through different application
processes and it says there culminating in November when applied for and successfully
got a role at HMRC and has been sustained into the year so really
positive. We had a keep in touch meeting sort of last week apparently and they were really loving the
roles of fantastic on a personal level. I did on the next slide just give an example of some of the work we've been doing with an employer, although it's more through our community partnership rather than our employer engagement
partnership, around some work that Graphables were doing within their area of the city in terms of volunteers. Volunteering I think most people appreciate a really critical part of
of the offering in terms of supporting people who've not been working back into work.
And so we sort of really see the link between this activity and getting back into work.
And this was just an exercise we went through supporting them to increase the number of volunteers
from the local community and sort of the benefits that are felt by the organisation.
Just got a couple of other quick slides.
Just reflecting on some challenges and highlights, I think a couple of these have been touched on
So I think the last point is around the boring stuff again.
Accelerator obviously is beyond that control
in terms of knowing what's happening with that.
But obviously, that programme is starting to wind up.
Numbers are dropping off in terms of referrals.
And then, yeah, there's a complexity
we've had in trying to launch some of that.
Highlights.
As I said, that great collaboration
that I opened with is really, really critical, I think.
Again, the point was made before that was
with the importance of community -based settings.
We're in, I think, 49 community -based settings
across the city now.
And actually, in terms of engaging the client group
that we need to work with, that's
absolutely critical, being in a place
that they would ordinarily be and that they trust.
It just doesn't work trying to get them into a central location.
And yeah, I think probably covered those other points
in the rest of my slides.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:48:51
Thank you very much for taking this dear and thank you for the significant amount of work
that went into the presentation prep and that's going on in Bradford.
Councillor Hinchliffe, anything you wanted to add before we move on to Calderdale?
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council) - 0:49:05
No, I think it just shows scaling up a programme quickly when you need to do that embedded work
across the region, not just across local authorities but within areas of local authorities does take
time therefore that sustained funding and agreements over time will help get
more people benefiting from this programme. Thank you so if people don't mind I'm
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:49:26
going to suggest that we take all five places and then get into it any
conversation if that's okay so thanks Matt. Going on to Calderdale then.
Thank you chair and Grant Soames, Strategically for Business Employment
Grant Soames Calderdale Council - 0:49:38
and Skills at Calderdale Council. Although throughout the presentation I
do touch upon the data. In Calderdale we're taking this opportunity to tell a storey about
Healthy Work and Life programme, the importance and difference it's made and the work that
we want to continue in the future. So on the first slide we talk about the reality and
strengths of Calderdale, combining the strong community identity with deep inequalities
and rising economic inactivity. Even though we are the smallest of the five local authorities
we have got the highest inactivity in West Yorkshire with 32 ,100 residents, 12 ,000 of
which are on long -term sick. Only 16 .9 % of inactive residents want a job at present,
so that shows traditional support models do not reach or always resonate. I think the
key thing here is with the whole place approach, how the Healthy Working Life builds on Colerdale's
hyper -local VCSE strengths. They're really well developed and embedded across Colerdale
with some really strong VCSE partners and that has really helped us to create and coordinate
that place -based system with additional capacity. So we've got one pathway, we've got multiple
entry points and we've got some shared outcomes across the borough.
Think some of the challenges, on the next slide some of the challenges and what holds
residents and employers back, it was really important for us to recognise that. So residents
face multiple barriers, all of which have sort of been alluded to today, but the mental
health needs, domestic abuse, neurodiversity and MSK pain as well. We've also currently
got a FitNote coach that reinforces withdrawal from work. So early conversations on adjustments
rarely occurred prior to this programme. Some of our SMEs like HR and occupational
capacity have struggled to support complex needs. I think it's worth pointing out that
9 % of our business landscape in Calderdale is micro or SME businesses.
Many residents in the IMD areas and isolated communities do not engage with
the statutory services so we've really worked hard on on that element as well.
And the current benefits system, the income and financial status prevent engagement. There is a reluctance to engage from people and came to it early I think from Kim around building that trust and then relationships.
So that's been really key.
So some of the, on the next slide, some of the impacts and early evidence of change through
the employment at West Yorkshire and the VCSE Trailblazer. I think it's really key to note
and I know Matt touched on it from Bradford is these are the numbers that we're working
with but there is a huge, a much bigger number of interactions that take place and support
and triage across the programme that we really do need to recognise. So with our employment
West Yorkshire, our local employment hub, we have got a target number of working with
336 residents. That's broken down into the three areas of who are in work, unemployed
and economically inactive and at the moment we've achieved today 301 who have gone through
programmes and that's 90 % of our total. I think it's key with Employment West Yorkshire
this time that it's through three funding streams so it's a combination of the accelerator,
to Trailblazer and the UKSPF which we are losing shortly. We've got 11 outputs and outcome
measures. Currently across them we're achieving 93 .5 % achievement across the measures. The
VCSE Trailblazer, this is one of our real strengths. We've got nine VCSE partners working
on this programme with us and we had an initial target of 89 residents but given our challenge
we've worked really close with our partners and we've stretched the funding as much as possible to ensure we can engage as many of these people.
There's a real need for that.
And today, since September, because of the mobilisation and getting it ready, even though when it starts until September,
we've already achieved 130 on programme that are across the priority wards and priority groups of residents.
In regards to the VCSE Trailblazer with the outputs and outcomes that are sort of pre -defined or pre -determined measures for each local authority, at the moment we're achieving on average 86 % achievements across all learning measures.
I think, again, Matt touched upon it and I'm sure it will be soon, we call you soon, across other authorities, the case studies really do have that impact.
And we've got some fantastic case studies that show how people have improved confidence, how they've returned to work, they've had job placements, and there's some of the other small steps of support which are so, so important.
and we continue to share them storeys over social media and across organisations to really engage with people as much as possible.
As we move on to the accelerator, this has been a really exciting programme for us.
We've really started to see some systemic change with working with the GP alliances and getting the Healthy Working Life advisors on board as well
to do that triage work. At the moment we have got all programmes live.
As it says at the bottom of the slide, we are unfortunately starting that demobilisation process
but we have showed people what is available and opportunity and we don't want to lose that momentum and relationship.
But at the moment we have had 299 referrals, 157 of them were eligible and 91 are running interventions
as we talk now. Some of the feedback and elements of change employers report value of structured
impartial support and that is really critical for our SME and micro -heavy economy. Participants
accessing therapeutic and employment support are doing that through fast track provision,
they've shown better engagement and outcomes in work retention and health. I think there
Sustainable benefits across the system for closer working with other work and health providers, building on relationships between accelerator, trailblazer and the employment hub, that one system.
And then early evidence shows reduced absence, stronger retention and prevention of avoidable inactivity for those in work.
I think that's sort of a really strong start for Accelerator given that we had, we didn't have a strong starting point for that but the way we've mobilised, looked at some programmes that we could enhance but new programmes that have been brought on board as well and with two of the VCSE partners.
And then just to finish with, just wanted to touch upon the Healthy Working Life supported employment. As a council we are not doing the direct delivery, it is going to be through the regional delivery model, but we have ensured that that's aligned to a number of our key strategies, some of which are noted on the slide.
We've really started to drill down into our priority groups and our priority areas and that integration with some council services and wider partners is really important, especially that frontline employment services.
And then as a council, we really want to lead on that place based integration, that collaboration, that contract management and funding coordination as well.
So we've now got a really strong base to grow from, the importance of that continued funding, how it works as that single system will really ensure that we can continue to show the importance of this funding and the difference it's making. Thank you.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:57:43
Thank you Grant. Councillor Courtney, anything you wanted to add?
Grant Soames Calderdale Council - 0:57:46
No thanks, that's well covered, thank you. Thanks Grant.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 0:57:51
Thank you. Let's go on to Kirklees.
Cllr Jane Rylah Kirklees Council - 0:57:57
I'm Councillor Jane Rylah and I'm the cabinet member for education and I'm pleased to be presenting here today.
Unfortunately I haven't got a Kirklees officer by my side.
I'll be brilliant.
So if we could just move down to slide three.
That's fine.
Yeah, yeah, that's fine.
So good morning.
This is a brief update on the healthy working life programme in Kirklees, covering both accelerator
and Trailblazer activity as a combined offer in the district. The accelerator
and Trailblazer programmes continue to make strong progress across the local
work and health agenda even though their metrics are not fully aligned and
therefore some reporting appears different between the two. Delivery
across all HWL programmes remain robust with consistent engagement from priority cohorts
and a steady rise in referrals into work and health pathways. Early indicators suggest
that participants are already experiencing improvements in both wellbeing and employability.
The VCSE sector is playing a crucial role in this progress with community -based support,
confidence building activities and volunteering pathways all showing positive outcomes and
reliable throughout.
The high level of interest is reflected in the more than 90 applications received for
the VCS grants.
participant profiles differ across two major programmes.
Accelerator is currently supported
supporting a balanced mix of residents,
28 % in work, 26 % unemployed,
24 % in work but on sick leave,
and 21 % unemployed and not seeking work.
while Trailblazer is engaging those furthest from the labour market with 60 % inactive and 40 % unemployed.
Data is now beginning to flow through more consistently, although the presentation reflects information only up to November 25 due to the usual reporting lag.
Importantly, trailblazer activity is strongly aligned with areas of highest deprivation, as shown in the IMD decile analysis, confirming that support is reaching the communities most in need.
Taken together, these developments show that cross -programme alignment is strengthening,
the system is becoming more coherent and the combined efforts of statutory and VCSE partners are driving meaningful improvements for residents.
Early EQ5D results show a mixed picture with around a third of participants reporting improved
well -being and two -thirds showing slight deterioration, which reflects the complexity of the people
we are supporting and highlights the need for sustained intervention.
The demographic profile shows that Accelerator participants are predominantly white British
with strong engagement from younger adults, while Trailblazer is reaching a high proportion
of Pakistani origin and white British residents and has particularly strong engagement from
women.
Health related barriers are also becoming clearer, although we do not yet have this
information for Accelerator.
Trailblazer data shows that mental health conditions, musculoskeletal issues and learning
difficulties are the most common challenges, demonstrating that the programme is successfully
engaging residents with significant barriers to work.
I will finish again with a case study which exemplifies the work that we are doing.
So we have a mum here, discovered the Wellness Works poster at her GP surgery while feeling
isolated and low after a back injury, kept her off work.
After a self -referral was made, engagement began with her designated key worker at Ravensthorpe
Community Centre through a series of gentle supportive sessions and was able to open up
and have conversations about her health and wellbeing.
With kindness and patience, she was supported to take small manageable steps at her own
pace, helping her slowly rebuild confidence and reconnect with others.
Hearing about a Level 3 Education and Learning course sparked a sense of hope and she felt
ready to enrol, a major milestone after months of poor health and low moods.
The experience was so positive that she shared it with her daughter, opening the door for
her to seek support too.
Her progress inspired her daughter who had also been struggling with her mental health and feeling disconnected and had previously attempted suicide on two separate occasions.
Seeing her mother renewed hope encouraged her to join Wellness Works too.
She now plans to start the same course on her 19th birthday and has already begun volunteering at community events.
So this case shows the real human impact from the work that we are doing across Kirklees. Thank you.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:04:50
Thank you, Councillor Ireland. Let's move on to the event.
Cllr Jane Rylah Kirklees Council - 1:04:54
I'm Gillian Wallace, I'm the head of employment and skills at Leeds.
Gillian Wallace Leeds City Council - 1:05:00
Just going to give you a very brief overview of what's happening in Leeds which will include
some of the data, some of the highlights, some of the challenges and also some case
studies about what impact the work is having.
Leeds is a huge place and we've got a huge programme here and we haven't quite mastered
a way of getting it all on one slide.
We've tried.
Gillian Wallace Leeds City Council - 1:05:24
Some of the best brains at the ICB and at the local authority
have tried, but it always looks incredibly messy.
And the same with the data.
We're absolutely rich with data, and we've not found a way
of getting it all on one slide.
So we have accelerated data on one slide and then trailblazed
the data on another, but we will continue to work at that.
And overall, across all strands of the programme, we've had
360, 3651 people that have engaged with support from the place -based allocation and this is
still growing. We're still seeing a really strong demand. The funding is being used to
support 30 projects overall and that's a really large breadth of projects, all of which are
collecting the data that's required by our funders but also data that they need in order
to tailor their support. Sometimes there's questions and information that they need,
particularly in the health world, that allows us to support, ensure that the support is relevant.
And we've identified and worked with over 94 peer networks, so they're organisations in Leeds that are delivering support to people,
to employers, and also to practitioners to make sure that we're continually improving and continually bringing all the organisations along with us.
So that very much speaks to the importance of integration of this approach.
and something that's not on these slides but I think is worth flagging because it
is incredibly important is that we've had conversations and interactions with
over 300 employers about this agenda and how can they work with us on this and
that's not just about creating employment but that's also about how can
we support them in being better employers and helping them retain the
talent that they've got at the moment. So as a result of that we are in 30
community -based venues, we're in job centres and we're also in people's workplaces
across Leeds so we're really stretching across the city. We are data rich, it's
not easy to summarise it, there is a lot of data available that sits underneath
these slides and we'd really welcome the opportunity to work with you as to draw
out what data is going to be most impactful in this space. I do want to
flag that sometimes the impact data in a 12 -month programme can be incredibly
difficult. So I think it's really important that we draw out what does
good look like and what does progress look like in this space and how can we
build in the measures that allow us to demonstrate that. One thing the data is
presenting for us is that we are seeing a lot of people with a lot of complex
issues and the forms don't always recognise that. So we have people with
multiple issues so people may present with one health problem but that can
lead to something else and we've very much seen that across all the strands of
the programme. I would like to highlight however that poor mental health is absolutely huge
and on the trailblazer, the employment rest Yorkshire Strands alone, over 83 % of the people
that are on that programme identify their mental health as being the main reason why
they are out of work and the challenge that they have getting back into work. A couple
of things that we've learned, not everybody that we engage with at the beginning of the
really important and there can be a lot of reasons why that happens. Sometimes people
want to access support but things happen that mean that they can't continue on that journey
and I think there's going to be a lot of value in year two understanding what that might
be because that might speak to future interventions that we need to look at as well outside the
scope of this programme. We have found that the majority of the people on our accelerator
strand of the programme are in work and already engaged in a health pathway and therefore
they're very keen to engage, they absolutely see the benefit of staying in work and because
they're already engaged in health they see this as part of their journey. Whereas we
are finding that people that are out of work, particularly those that are classed as economically
inactive, are more difficult to engage and do require a community approach and that's
very much where our community partners can add value to what we're trying to do.
On to the next slide. What we wanted to show here was just a broad approach to how we've
this in Leeds and we are combining this funding with other activity that already
existed in the city so that we can have a bigger impact and a bigger reach and
that involves some council funding as well and leaning on other council
services so that might not be within the scope of this funding in this activity
but it's so important in order to ensure that we get the reach that we need.
Whereas this current delivery is very much about people that are out of work
the health and there is other reasons why people are out of work and we think
it's really important that we don't take our eye off that and what we are
finding particularly when we're working in deprived communities we need to have
that opened up approach and that's very much where we focused our support.
Next slide is just to highlight some of the highlights and it's very similar to
other local authorities. As a result of this funding we've very much been able
to work in partnership with our VCSE organisations, but also as an employability and employment
skills lead, really understand the health world and really start to speak the same language,
really ask what do you mean by that, what does that mean, how does that work and have
those open and honest conversations that allows us to bring these worlds closer together.
We've also used this as an opportunity to link up close with the skills agenda as well
and actually how can we use skills funding, particularly adult skills funding, to help
support people's journey into work and how can we use that to help influence provision
so that it's not just about giving people the technical skills that they need but are
we addressing some of the health issues that people may see and that's where particularly
well we're tailored learning in Leeds where we're developing real pathways with progression
and speaks to career development and not just getting people into any job. If we can build
the skills early we can build on that when people are in work. And we've also used this
as an opportunity to link very closely with our probation services but also the youth
charities in Leeds. A lot of the challenges we're seeing in this space is engaging people
and sometimes waving the flag of employment isn't the best way to engage. So can we use
some of our more informal approaches, some fun activities, particularly with our young
people to engage young people to support them and then introduce employment and progression
as a result of the fact they're already engaging and we're seeing some early successes with
that approach as well.
On the next slide I just wanted to highlight one of our VCSE provisions because we were
absolutely overwhelmed by the innovative nature of some of the ideas that our VCS came up
with to engage people and do things a little bit differently.
and we're funding 17 programmes they're all very very different but this was
one that really stood out to us because and working with an organisation called
Trust Leads that are very much embedded in communities within Leeds we trialled a
programme which was not about employment but about self -employment and
recognising that some people with health conditions work may be a step too far
with where they're at at the moment but actually we can still make them
economically inactive by supporting them to become self -employed.
And so we funded Trustee, we ran a 12 -week programme which made up of some mentoring,
additional tracking sessions, very much looking at people's business plans, very much looking
at what they would need to make their idea a business.
And we're very pleased to say that all 12 of these participants stayed with the programme,
have developed a business plan.
They had a fantastic array of ideas from developing gaming, so some of the skills that people
hardware's gaming so how can we commercialise that, how can we make that
into a product and right through to selling hair extensions to people in
their local community. So all 12 participants have graduated, they've all
very recently delivered a pitch to stakeholders including the programme
funders and including some investors and they're now all moving ahead to take
that business plan and develop that into reality so we're hoping we'll have some
businesses within the next couple of months that we'd be delighted to kind of
share with you. And onto the next slide, we also wanted to capture what people thought
about the programme. It's all very well me sitting here and telling you about what's
happening but we're garnering a lot of user feedback so these are the words of both our
partners that are delivering on this programme but also individuals that are benefiting from
the programme about how it is changing their lives and how they are finding a real benefit
in what we are doing. And I'll let you read that at your own leisure rather than reading
it all out. And on the next slide I just wanted to talk briefly about some of the challenges
which are not different from what's already been mentioned but I think are worth highlighting.
One of the things that's really apparent for us in Leeds is that even though these programmes
are focused on economically inactive and very much that is the policy intent, I think we
do need to flag that we have a strong demand from people that aren't technically economically
inactive, they would be unemployed. And they still have significant barriers to work as
well and still benefit from some of the approaches that we are doing at the moment. So I think
there's something in how do we not let people's economic status be a barrier to the support
that they want to receive. And often people don't know. We're finding a lot of the time
we are engaging with people, we are offering support and it's only as you get further into
that journey that technically they're not economically inactive but the issues
that they are facing is exactly the same. People have mentioned the
paperwork and how they need to collect data can sometimes prove a barrier and
that's something I think we all collectively are aware of and Jen thank
you for the feedback that you've given on what we can do about it that would be
greatly appreciated. Short -term funding leads to uncertainty and uncertainty
leads to mistrust. A lot of our providers have said from a user voice perspective
that people will say, oh well that sounds great but is it going to be around?
Over the last few years they've seen a raft of provision come and go and it is
a barrier to people actually engaging because they don't know that the journey
that they start on is going to be something that's available to them more
long term. And finally the next slide is just to highlight some of those
challenges around the paperwork and some of the comments that are coming from our
young people and one thing I wanted to highlight on this which was something I
hadn't considered until we did our review is when we are working with some
of the most vulnerable people and we present them with this paperwork and we
ask these questions it builds up mistrust straightaway and actually what
that means is some of the data we're getting back might not be strictly true
and one of our partners pointed out that particularly for some of our young
people when they come in it's a good day so they're rating their health as being
really good and their mental health has been really good but that's not the true
picture. What we see is a much much bigger picture that we can't always
capture in paperwork and in questions. And I just wanted to end it on a
positive and a case study which I believe highlights not just the big
impact of this programme but also some of the smaller wins that we can
have. So when Sam started on the programme he was lost and unengaged and
He was referred by the job centre who were struggling to get him to engage and attend appointments.
He was very anxious and he was very shy and he wouldn't actually attend in -person meetings first of all.
But after a while he admitted that he was concerned because he felt he was addicted to gaming.
I just didn't feel that he could do anything.
We identified very quickly that he would benefit from some counselling, but he didn't want to do that.
He felt that was a step too far, so we had to take real baby steps with Sam.
We had to introduce very small goals, and some of that involved him leaving the house for the first time.
So we took him to Tropical World, and we tried to build his confidence.
We tried to build his confidence with using public transport, so that was a major step because we got him on the bus,
something that he would not have done straight away.
We helped him plan his route and we had such a lift when he actually achieved that Visits
to Tropical World, which has got nothing to do with employability, it gave him such a
boost that allowed him to engage in a different way.
He then agreed that he would start with counselling and he started his sessions now in the new
year and we're really starting to see the impact of that and we've gone from baby steps
to big leaps because he's getting the support that he needs but most importantly he recognises
he will benefit from that support. So Sam has come off his device, he's come out of
his bedroom, he's bought himself a drone, he's going outside, he's using skills and
we're starting to introduce employability support for him and we're confident in the
next few months we'll get some really good results with Sam.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:18:23
Thank you. Councillor Brooks, anything you want to add?
Gillian Wallace Leeds City Council - 1:18:26
I think Sam really reflects some of the constraints that the funding package has because obviously
Cllr Kayleigh Brooks (Leeds City Council) - 1:18:38
Sam isn't in employment yet but there's going to be multiple Sams out there, like hundreds
possibly of Sams that need more than a year, more than that 12 months to see any impact.
So I suppose from a political ask, I just ask that you make that really clear to government
Tracy to make sure that the people that we work with have such complex and varied needs
and it's a long time to unpick a lot of that and to build at people's capacity and confidence
and everything to make it so that you can enter the world of work.
Thank you.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:19:19
Thank you. Last but by no means least Wakefield.
Hi, I'm Sharon Marshall, I'm Employment Strategy Manager for Wakefield Council.
Sharon Marshall Wakefield Council - 1:19:30
So, are our slides up there? Oh sorry, there they go.
Yeah, so in Wakefield we've embedded Healthy Working Life within our Step Up programme
because it was a brand that the local residents understood and we could then expand and try
and keep a cohesive ecosystem but with multiple entry points so that people could start wherever
they needed to start. Just like all the other local authorities, we're very much community
based, we're in libraries, community centres, job centres, coffee shops if that's what the
the resident feels more comfortable with.
But we are out there with local residents in the areas of greatest need.
So just like everybody else, we also looked at the indices of deprivation and where the greatest need was.
So Trailblazer and Accelerator are obviously key funding streams for us.
So what we try to do, as I believe, I think we've gone forward a little bit, that's it,
what we're trying to do is hide the wiring.
So I've seen a lot in different papers about the employment system being difficult to navigate,
it would be impossible for a resident to navigate it.
So we have a main entry point and we will then, on the basis of what that resident tells
us their needs and their statuses, direct them to the right programme for them but they
won't really know that they're being separated out if you like. They just get the support
that they need and that's important. I think the biggest new part for us of Trailblazer
is that it's allowed us to engage better with our VCSE. We knew that we were trying our
hardest to engage with economically inactive residents but that our progress was limited
and we recognised that probably most of those residents would rather engage with VCSE partners.
So we've engaged two partners who work on a social prescribing approach. They have health
and wellbeing conversations with residents and introduce the benefit of work to their
recovery into their wellbeing and then will obviously take the social prescribing approach
of finding the right support for them. We've also added into that two counselling organisations,
one who does individual counselling and one which is group based so that the social prescribers
have direct access to some support which might, they might normally have to put people on
waiting list for. And that counselling is specifically around helping people
understand what they can do and turning the cans into cans and that's been
incredibly successful. So we also work in partnership on Accelerator with
public health colleagues, looking at the Healthy Workplace Charter and also the
workplace health cheques that have been introduced. So that's the overall
approach. When it comes to the learning from Trailblazer, what we'd started to
learn on employment West Yorkshire is that needs of our customers, not just the
economically inactive but as Gillian said, the unemployed as well, are far more
complex than they have been in the past. And the voluntary sector partners have also reported
that actually the people they are engaging with have got much more complex needs than
they anticipated. And bearing in mind they work with these residents on a daily basis,
I think that's quite important for us to recognise. So the counselling services are very much in
demand. But the data sharing agreement for us is forming a huge barrier and we are, our
partners are reporting quite a lot of people who are coming forward for help but then refusing
the help because they won't sign the agreement. So we're actually now asking partners to record
the reasons that people don't sign up for support so we can give you that rich data
and we can get a real sort of feel for how big a barrier that particular issue is.
But what we are finding is where people do engage, there is some speedy progression to
employment support available and it is quite often the funding barriers that cause the
to progression because demand far outstrips the capacity that we've got. So that's there.
And on the other side of it, we are getting reports that around about 60 % of people who
are engaging with the social prescribers are quite quickly saying, actually I do think
work might be for me. So I'm delighted with that because these are people who have been
told for a long time that they're incapable of work and probably have hidden away because
they think they're shirking, they don't want to be scroungers, all that sort of thing.
So we've had a lot of positive learning. The big challenge apart from the data sharing
agreement is really maintaining our ability to keep that no resident left behind approach
and that's because of the focus on inactivity and as Gillian quite rightly pointed out those
people who are unemployed and need support have got exactly the same needs as the economically
inactive and for me the big risk is that they become economically inactive and it just seems
criminal that somebody should have to become economically
inactive to get support.
So I think that's something that we can, we're all agreeing on,
basically.
So on the accelerator programme, our accelerator programme
is focusing wholly on people who are either in employment
but off sick, or in employment and worried
that they may have to go off sick because their health is
deteriorating. So we are working alongside public health colleagues who are promoting
our Healthy Workplace charter and we're also sort of doing some cross referrals with the
workplace health cheques, so sometimes they call us in, sometimes we call them in. But
what we're finding is quite interesting in that a lot of employees will not come forward
to us when we're within their employer's premises but they will self -refer afterwards.
And that unfortunately tends to lead to those employees not necessarily going unemployed
but leaving that employer for another job because they're too scared for us to talk
to their employer, but where we manage to persuade people to allow us to advocate with
the employer, the employers have responded positively. And so I think what we've learnt
is there's definitely a need for the programme and there's definitely a will with some employers
to keep their loyal employees, but we definitely need to do some work with employers and the
employees to try and promote that thing that this is a it's a joint relationship
So and I think we could do with that programme being a little bit bigger as well
At the moment. We've only got one employment advisor on it and there's plenty of capacity there
For many many more people to get support through that
So on the numbers which is the next slide
We are confident that we are going to hit our targets.
That is very much a contractual slide.
We are happy that even on Employment West Yorkshire where we thought we would struggle with the inactivity numbers,
that we are going to hit that target.
In terms of the overall impact, as you can see the job start target there, these figures were as of 31st December.
number, we have now overachieved on the job outcome target and we are sort of looking
quite intensively at the increase in employability. That number is very much more an evidence
collection number rather than it's not happening, it's just taking time for the evidence to
input into the system basically. In terms of the quality of the job outcomes, we did
do some external research a year or so ago that was then backed up last year and that
showed that 47 % of the customers that we had added on the programme, obviously a previous
programme but we don't see any reason why that will have changed, were still in employment
between one and two years after they'd left the programme.
So we're seeing very little, very few people coming back
to us for further help.
My worry was, is that because they didn't like the help
that they got?
It's actually that they didn't need it.
We've got it right first time.
So I'm delighted with that.
On the VCSE programme, we only actually
mobilised that in September.
so people have only been recruiting for a few months.
So we were at 97 at the end of December.
We don't see a problem in hitting the target for engagement.
What we are having a slight challenge with is identifying true progressions
because what we are finding is that on that programme in particular,
residents are having four or five different points of progression, so they are following
a process and they may go and get a referral into mental health services, they may go to
adult education and then they'll go into voluntary work. So there are lots of things happening
and what we're trying to do is unpick that so we know how many unique residents are getting
the benefit and then what those benefits are. But as of 31st December there were round about
a dozen who had already accessed the Step Up Employment support part of the programme.
So I'm happy that there is progress. It's going to be interesting when we get the stats
together and that is something that we're actively working on at the moment to make
sure that we've got those stats. So finally on Connect to Work, we're ready
to start effectively. The staff are in place, they have been since October. We've
worked on basically copying what we did on the IPS drug and alcohol programme
because that's been seen as a huge success. So we are now based within our
clinical partners which are the MSK teams within Wakefield. We've picked that group
because next to mental health it's the biggest group so we want to make the biggest impact.
So basically we will be starting next week as though Connect to Work is in place and
then we will take whatever action is needed paperwork wise according to when the Connect
contract actually comes on stream but we have people who need help so they will
get that help and that's my ultimate priority for Wakefield. So there are a
few things that we need to get up and running. The IT system is very much under
development and the marketing is undeveloped at the moment but it's a
minor risk in terms of getting people onto programme. MSK services have got
2 ,000 referrals a month. We've only got 20 places a month. So I think we should be able to find the numbers from that
Thank you
Thanks, Councillor Smith anything you want to add?
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:32:40
Cllr Duncan Smith Wakefield Council - 1:32:45
Yeah, Councillor Duncan Smith Wakefield Council, yes, I just thank Sharon for her presentation
I just want to emphasise the strength -based approach. I think it's a really positive thing
I'd be interested to hear what college has got to say about the data sharing agreement.
I understand it's about six pages long and needs signing in several places and if we're
losing people because of that, is there something that we can do about that together?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:33:11
So I've let that drift a bit in terms of timing because I think it's important to hear from
everybody and there's a lot of rich material in there, lots of similarities, some differences.
We will get through the rest of the meeting by 11 o 'clock. The last 15
minutes was for information, those papers, so those will be for information.
We don't really have much time for a conversation now. I was going to suggest
that we ask the programme board to pick up some things that we've heard and what
I think I've heard that they might want to help with is that the strength of
partnership in local places is essential for this to be successful and the trust between
the different partners needs to be maintained during this period of change so making sure
that we do that. Secondly, there's been barriers to increasing the pace on this work which
we've identified so how do we overcome those and how do we make sure that that pace and
volume continues to be at the right level during this period of change. Third, we need
clarity on the money, any flexibility around the use of the resources and continuity of
the resources over a period and how do we make sure we can do that in the current financial
context. Fourth, these are quite complex arrangements in different places. We can't fit them on
slide, when we do it's 12 point or whatever it is, you know, so it's tiny. How do we simplify
that complex landscape for people and people have given good examples of that. How do we
compare the different places to pick up good practise and also whether people are moving
as fast as they could if they can get rid of some of the barriers that others have helped
with and then finally I think recognising the gearing here and what
should the gearing be if there's people who are in a pool that we're trying to
work with if they then access we have referred into services or access those
services how many are eligible how many that make it onto the programme how many
drop out how we got that gearing right are each of those ratios right or
we've seen too many people drop off, not enough people access, but we've seen some really
good assurance I think around the focus on areas of deprivation, the focus on mental
wellbeing, the focus on MSK services, the two biggest things that prevent people from
work, their mental wellbeing and their physical ability to do work. So some really good stuff
there, good to hear from everybody and if you ask the programme board to pick up those
specific areas and then some of the knitting again on things like data sharing. That would
be helpful. We might also ask our colleagues in the AI academy if there's any benefit in
this space for things like ambient voice technology and artificial intelligence looking at some
of the information that we're getting through from these complex arenas.
Okay, Councillor Courtney, last word.
Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council) - 1:36:35
Just a very, very quick point. We talked a little bit about how we target, you know, targeting different groups and some of the major barriers
and I just wanted to do a little shout out, I know that if Moses Crook was here from Kirklees he'd be championing this as well
but just in terms of really thinking about care experience people, you know, we're all corporate parents
And actually that's a group of people who really, you know, often come up in stats as
being at risk of sort of economic inactivity.
So I just think if there's a way of just making sure that we sort of really think about how
we can make sure that care experienced people are really thought about in this context as
well, I think that would be really good.
Thank you.
Good.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:37:12
So I can see lots of nods around the room for that.
So thank you for that.
Okay, so the next item on board members, there's a recommendation to ensure that we have the
richest possible picture and the ability to act collectively that we have three additional
board members. So from Sport and Physical Activity, the Yorkshire Sport Foundation,
from one of our major employers, Abraham Moon and Sons Limited, and from Further Education,
representative from Colesdale College and I just wanted to make sure people
are content with that and their own objections. Excellent and one of the things we wanted to do
from diverse colleagues around the room from their different perspectives was
just to get a perspective on opportunities, challenges and work and
Kim you've been invited to give some reflections. Given the timing if you can
be as powerful and succinct as possible.
That would be really helpful.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I've got a few slides, if that's OK.
Tom Sedgewick Digital Transformation Group - 1:38:25
So I'll whiz through some of these, actually,
because the best thing is that I've heard so much
Kim Shutler Chief Executive of The Cellar Trust - 1:38:29
around the table today showing the love for the VCSC.
And I suppose what I'll focus on is,
how do we take some of that love forward
in a meaningful way that delivers maximum impact?

7 Joint Work & Health Unit & VCSE Partner Update

So it was just a reminder.
and this slide does include Craven,
but we have got a lot of brilliant VCSE organisations
in West Shortshire.
I will go as far as saying we've got one of the most rich
and diverse sectors in the country,
and we don't always create the right conditions
where we're absolutely maximising the sector
and what it can deliver.
So next please.
Sometimes I think it's because the sector is so diverse
and broad, we forget the different types of organisations that we've got.
So out of those 14 ,000 -ish, 95 % of those will be small or micro.
Those are the organisations that I think that we're talking about, about the deep trust,
working with communities, either communities of interest or in specific localities.
They're the small micro organisations that are amazing doing the health inequalities
work.
They're the organisations that have been mostly targeted by the trailblazer work
But you do still have in West Yorkshire locally based very specialist organisations that are delivering
specialist employment support and have done forever and
and I think sometimes that's forgotten in the space of when it's looking at commissioning the sector and what it can what it can deliver and
I suppose what you have in those providers is
organisations with deep experience but a level of flexibility and agility that
that isn't afforded perhaps to statutory services.
And then the last one I think is an important one
to get onto opportunities.
I co -chair the Integrating Neighbourhood Health Board.
There's massive opportunities around that.
And of course what you have is locality -based
community organisations.
One was mentioned there in Kirk Lees,
who are addressing that holistic need for people
at the same time through different funding streams.
So really by investing in your community anchors and and boosting up their capacity around employment support
Where there are clear pathways to addressing other things doing a lot about pre -employment holistic well -being stuff
But actually really probably shouldn't be funded through employment monies, but it's making the jigsaw make sense
And you've got a lot of long -standing commissions that are coming from lots of different places already like the NHS
like local authorities money coming from the DWP and
Some of our biggest challenge in the VCSE is knitting all that together so that you're not getting the the duplication or indeed
sometimes competing for referrals
next please
So when we're talking about like impact data, I think I just what I want you to draw our attention to is
like the impact of the day of the stuff that's delivered in the VCSE is pretty clear and
Has been clear for a long time and some of these schemes are
will be lost if the accelerator money goes,
but also it's important to say that this delivery
isn't covered in the trailblazer.
So it's service capacity and impact that will be lost
if the accelerator goes.
And there's other services that are high impact
and delivering good return on investment
that are funded from sort of vulnerable
sort of streams elsewhere,
whether that's NHS or local government.
But really powerful example here,
It's the leads based organisation about some of the work they're doing around retention
So I suppose what I'd say is it's been brilliant to hear everybody talk about how how important the VCSE has been in their local delivery
and I
Mean that's been like no it's been talked about across everyone
I don't think that's necessarily reflected in the investment, you know proportionate investment
And that is because how sort of funding gets allocated but sometimes it's interesting to think about
What are the what the outcomes were trying to achieve and what would give us the the best return on investment to deliver those outcomes?
And that's not to say that isn't statutory services. It's just taking a little closer look at and what our most effective work looks like
next
This is another one and this is another kind of scheme that sort of fun tends to be funded year on year
It's a DWP scheme and it embedded in NHS talking therapies
it really talks to the power of embedding VCSE sometimes within statutory services.
So you saw previously it was an 87 % sort of success rate, this one's 68%.
So actually I think they're pretty clear in terms of the impact that they can achieve.
And I suppose this one speaks again to like the different types of funding streams that
are out there and how do we look at the ones that make the biggest impact and scale and
spread those.
interested in this, and I think it's a really good thing to have
a lot of people in the community who are interested in this.
Next, please.
Bradford talked about this one, and I think it really just shows
how really, you know, these organisers, this is trailblazer
money, so Matt talked about this already, but I think it's good
to see the different communities that are being reached
with very, very small pots of money.
And I think the thing that they did in Bradford,
which I think I absolutely love,
and really requires people to let go of a little bit
of traditional sort of mechanisms for distributing money
is participatory grant making.
So going to a community and saying,
right, we want to achieve this outcome.
And it's a bit of a dragon's den type situation
with that community saying, this is how to do it.
and it's the community themselves that essentially vote for what will happen.
So I think the results of not just in this space of participatory grant making in Bradford
are really impressive.
Next, I think we'll skip on that one.
That was a Kirklees example and this one as well.
So sorry I didn't know that other people were sort of sharing these slides, but I guess
I'm going to end on this one, which I think is lovely.
I'm going to ask you to click on the YouTube clip, which just really shows the creativity.
Oh, it's like one minute.
It's one minute.
And then we're ready.
All right.
Okay.
And it will, and maybe we'd like to invite people when they come to meet the Healthy Minds apprentices who are giving co -design tips from young people on how to stay well in work.
Thank you, Kim, for racing through that.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:44:58
I think it's really helpful grounding for the next two
items, which we do need to get to.
So apologies for racing through that,
because we've got the Work Well programme,
and then we've got redesign employment support.
And it seems to me that the evidence
around the contribution to effectiveness
of the third section of those spaces is pretty strong.
So thank you for that, and apologies for rushing you.
Jen, do you want to?
Tom Sedgewick Digital Transformation Group - 1:45:31
Thank you. So I'll take the paper as read and particularly for time here. WorkWell
is being rolled out nationally. It's been running in about 15 places so far for
just over a year now and we need to learn from those places as we look at
Michelle Burton, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:45:45
the rollout. The funding will be allocated to ICBs and it's really trying
Jennifer Connolly Consultant in Public Health - 1:45:58
and the role of the health service in this space.
So it's kind of saying, we know there's a real need
to get health partners around the table.
We know we have to do some more stuff differently
in this space.
And it's also giving us a programme
by which it thinks we can best deliver that.
So it's kind of just bear in mind those two things
when we talk about the programme,
it's also just that commitment for getting us in that space.
We're fortunate in West Yorkshire
that we've got this space, and we're already
committed to that.
That's not necessarily the case nationally,
which is why this is a national roll out.
So whilst we might think, well, we're already doing that.
Well, we are.
So we've got to learn from what we're already doing
in both of those things, in both of that partnership space
and in that programme delivery space.
So our recommendations say we should bring work well
into this family, into the Healthy Working Life board remit
and at local level as well.
You should bring work well into that space.
And it's also given us a little bit of time
to get the programme design right.
So it's not expecting us to be delivering from April,
which this time last year we were kind of in the space
of trying to get accelerator ready to deliver.
It's saying you need to be delivering this from November.
That presents a bit of a challenge to us because there's a gap from what we're already delivering
and what WorkWell needs to deliver from November and a funding gap in that space that we keep
highlighting. But it does also then give us time to pause and reflect because I've heard
this continual challenge between what we're trying to do at a strategic level, what people
Kim Shutler Chief Executive of The Cellar Trust - 1:47:40
are experiencing in terms of the delivery and there's a gap in getting that quite right
in how we commission, what we measure and monitor,
Jennifer Connolly Consultant in Public Health - 1:47:47
how we design those services to be the best they
can be in that space.
So I think we should take that opportunity
and give ourselves time to pause and reflect.
Technically, WorkWell is looking at a model
that brings health and work coaching to the centre
and might run for around eight weeks or so with somebody,
where they get health and work coach support

8 WorkWell

to find out what the right interventions for them are. It is akin to a social prescribing
model in that it is trying to fund that prescriber, not necessarily the prescription, the kind
of thing they need to go and access, which our accelerator has been funding. There is
a bit of a difference in what this funding is trying to be directed towards. I suppose
the recommendations highlight what I have tried to highlight here, which is we should
bring it into our existing partnership.
They want to see a work well partnership.
We think this should be it.
And that we should take the time that we're inherently
given through when the funding comes to play
to get the design right based on what we've heard
from the experience to date.
And the fact that we've had to do a lot at pace.
And while we don't want to lose the momentum for our services
and population, we do need to do a bit of pause
and reflect on the design of this
to get it right for a longer period.
And that's the other thing to note,
is it's a three -year programme which gives us
that little bit more headroom.
I think that's probably all I want to say.
Really helpful and really clear, thank you for that.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:49:19
So we are being asked that we note the roll out,
that the Healthy Working Life board agrees
that oversight of WorkWell should be added
to the remit of this board,
that the existing governance arrangements
in each place include WorkWell,
and that we do that bit of work
on what the operating model might be in the future to get this right. So firstly any questions
or comments around the proposition and then can we agree those recommendations? Fatima.
Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion) - 1:49:50
Supportive of the recommendations, just two potential suggestions. One is that we take
the learning and use the opportunity to make sure that we address some of the sort of risks
and challenges that we've heard this morning. The second one, and I won't be in a room without
asking this question is, is there an opportunity to use this as leverage regarding prioritisation
of certain groups or communities most in need? So while we're doing that reflection process,
is there an opportunity to do it in the West Yorkshire way rather than the nationally mandated
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:50:20
way? Any other questions or comments? Do you want
Kim Shutler Chief Executive of The Cellar Trust - 1:50:25
to reflect on that at all? I think we're still awaiting some further
guidance on exactly what's expected. We've got a prospectus which sets out an overall
Jennifer Connolly Consultant in Public Health - 1:50:32
approach and we'll take those certainly take those suggestions in. Thank you.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:50:40
We will continue to recognise the agency we have in taking the work forward.
So can I just cheque the people happy with the recommendations including that
it'll do it a place yet? Councillor Hinchliffe? Yes, we're approving. Thank you very much for that.
Now I know Michelle wants to make sure we have a conversation about redesigning
employment support so we'll hand over to Michelle.
Thanks very much, Chair.
Michelle Burton, head of Employment and Skills.
Michelle Burton, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:51:07
This paper sets out a proposal that review of employment
support has carried out in West Yorkshire,
the intention being to reflect on the successes that
have been built in West Yorkshire over many years,
but taking the opportunity presented by,
particularly by the review and reform of national systems
in the employment support landscape,
but also taking on board what all local areas have said
really powerfully about the fragmentation in employment
support and the huge effort that goes on among all stakeholders
around this table to bring together
a myriad of funding streams.
So an opportunity to reflect on the strengths that we have,
attempt to quantify the impact that we collectively
are having, again, that's been raised as a challenge
by the mayor and by other people around the table and also consider other approaches in
other parts of the country and what we can learn here in West Yorkshire.
So there are three recommendations in the paper.
One is to seek your views on carrying out that review, which would go forward to the
Combined Authority Board, to get your steer on its scope and to get your thoughts on governance
and and chairing arrangements as well
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:52:36
thank you so let's those things are set out in the paper the scope is in section
3 .10 for example and so can we just take questions and comments then so
councillor Courtney first yeah thank you I think that it's really important that
Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council) - 1:52:50
we get local representation is so important in terms of sort of the
the steering group to make sure that the review is grounded in the lived experience of places
and is informed by the depth of local authority experience in delivering the employability
support.
I just think that that's really crucial, just making sure that we've really got some sort
of local voice in there.
I think we've heard a lot from Kim as well about the BCSE, the importance of the BCSE
in this.
Yeah, okay. Thank you. I think that pretty sums it up.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:53:24
Thank you. So in terms of the steering group under 3 .11, real desire to have local representation,
just the temperature in the room would suggest that that's definitely supported. Fatima.
Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion) - 1:53:39
Firstly, Councillor Courtney stole my thunder, because I was literally going to say the same
thing. But in addition to that, just reflecting on the themes you've heard from the places,
there was a clear reflection about the role of employers in supporting people that have
got into work to stay in work and to understand how to support and line manage people with
complex needs. I just wonder whether there's an opportunity to incorporate that into the
scope and then obviously as the chair of the WICA digital inclusion group I'd really appreciate
some thought being given to digital exclusion and also some of the learning from that incredible
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:54:15
group of leaders in that forum. Thank you and in terms of, I might look at Peter here,
in terms of evaluation and evidence do we want to engage with the universities individually
or collectively to help with this? Sorry, Peter Glover, Economic Evidence Manager at
Peter Glover, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:54:36
the
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:54:41
yes it is
Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council) - 1:54:46
just uh... as well i think around
met with the fragments it's just a big it's not
you know it's really important local stuff and regional stuff
so
trace if you can lobby
and in terms of national welfare
you know reform changes as well as i think
you know that's that
reform is needed in order to reduce structural barriers and to align incentives for residents
and employers and local services and stuff.
So I think the local is really important but actually what we can also ask for on a national
level will be great so we can roll you out as our local superpower.
Thank you.
Councillor Hinchliffe.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:55:22
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council) - 1:55:27
Yeah, I think my understanding of this review is it's about the plumbing of how we all work
together to deliver for people locally and therefore I wouldn't want it to be too broad
and therefore achieve nothing. So I think this is about how it works, isn't it? And
a lot of people we've been talking about, businesses for example, might not be that
interested in how we all work together through data sharing agreements, blah blah blah blah.
So I just wonder if this is the right place for some of those people. I think this is
about us getting it right so that people don't see the wiring and actually can provide their
input when we've managed to make it sure it all works well behind the scenes. So just
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:56:06
a plea to stay on the mission really what we're trying to achieve here and
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council) - 1:56:10
then just a question about who is going to be the impartial national expert.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:56:14
Impartiality is such a hard thing to achieve I find. But I just wondered because
obviously there are some people in this space who we all know we've worked on
the Future of Ready Skills Commission and stuff who know this back to front really.
I suppose it's those kind of people, is it, rather than somebody who needs to learn?
Because this is a complex area, and therefore I think it needs to be somebody who understands
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council) - 1:56:36
the complexity of it and doesn't have to learn.
So I don't know how you're going to recruit that person.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:56:42
Okay, I know Tracey wants to come in at that point.
I think that's a really fair point, but I think we haven't, whilst we are doing amazing
stuff and we've evidenced it today. We are still behind the national average. We have
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:56:59
the opportunity to take a system -wide approach and we shouldn't miss that chance. I think
businesses are part of that storey because at the moment, talking to businesses on the
business board, their fear of taking anybody potentially with a health condition is so
profound, we do have to find out and they have to enable us to
understand what would help them.
But also I think this board could be an opportunity for us
to see best practise elsewhere where we haven't done that.
Where are the innovations elsewhere that are going to give
us those great opportunities?
And just these numbers are just, we've got to do
something different.
We've got to get that gap to close.
And at the moment, what we're doing,
that gap will never close.
and those hundred and thirteen thousand people just need a new approach that is an
Deepening of what we're doing and like you say making us more efficient as a system
But also there is no
You know, we can only learn from people who are outside who are going to be the employers potentially
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:58:12
Yeah, I think
I'm keen to make sure we're focused on this.
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council) - 1:58:16
We've heard a lot of expertise in the room from local authorities today, and I want
their voices to be heard when we're actually designing how the system works.
Because we've heard a lot about, you know, where the agreements are, it's going to take
us time to get through this process on that, is it data sharing agreement too long?
All that is engineer, it's the basics.
We need to make sure that together we get the basics right so we can actually achieve
those numbers quickly.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 1:58:42
Because if we don't get the basics right, then that's not going to happen.
So I just want to make sure that review answers this question.
Thank you. And while you've got the microphone before I bring Councillor Brooks in,
there's a question in here about political leadership and whether there should be political involvement in the Steering Group.
What's your view on that?
Councillor Brooks?
Cllr Kayleigh Brooks (Leeds City Council) - 1:59:16
Yeah, it seems it's a governance question to me really. I suppose like in an effort
to gain a bit more clarity for the combined authority, it might be worth seeing how other
areas are doing it and what's working for them. And I suppose like maybe a place for
the disability confident government area, I don't know exactly how that side of things
works. But yeah, I agree, there needs to be some space for local flexibility built into
it as well, because each area is so very different and so very similar, but we need to be able
to flex around what our residents need as well.
So it can't be, what we come up with
can't be too prescriptive as well.
Thank you.
Rob Webster Co-Chair - 2:00:18
Michelle, any reflections on that
as I go and chair my all staff briefing
and leave the rest of the meeting to Tracy to close down?
No, we'll take all that back and reflect it.
That's really helpful, thank you.
Michelle Burton, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 2:00:30
And I would suggest that,
so a similar paper will go forward
the next steps. Thank you for your comments.
Super. Thank you so much. It feels like we have got to a position there. Brilliant. So
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 2:00:57
we have moved on to item 10 and 11, youth employment policy and economic evidence and
insights. We were hoping to take this as read, if that's okay, and any questions from the

9 Re-Designing Employment Support In West Yorkshire

– this is really helping us with insights and data. Any questions on this item? No?
Thank you. Peter, you've sat through the whole thing, and nobody has asked you one
question. But thank you for the hard work that you've done on that to basically reaffirm
the labour market challenges impacting all those young people and the economic evidence
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 2:01:33
and insights. Just to put us in context in West Yorkshire and obviously we can then compare
ourselves to the rest of the country. Councillor Brooks.
Yeah, thank you, Mayor. I suppose there's often a gap between what the funding aims
to achieve and what young people actually need, so I'm wondering how we can square that
I think that's an essay question isn't it? We'll have to take that away I think for maybe
an item on another agenda where we can look at that in a little bit more depth because
that's quite a complex issue with many opportunities for change there I think. So okey doke item
twelve any other business? Sorry, so sorry Councillor Courtney.
Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council) - 2:02:19
Just just just a couple of very quick points so great to see your inclusion on the Alan
I think that's really good and good for us locally as well.
But just again, the same with everything really, it's just about that whole system approach,
integrating all of the different elements, the health, mental health skills, community support,
local authorities, transport, everything just to get the best out of that for our young people,
is just making sure that everything is as coherent and joined up as possible.
It would be really good, thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 2:02:50
Thank you. And a couple of the high -level takeaways that young people on EHCPs then
graduate to become, to go on benefits as an adult and then they don't feel like they'll
ever work because they feel there's been no intervention. And also Fit Notes being given
to patients, but there's no plan then to get people back into work. So there's a couple
of items I think that came out of the last couple of meetings that we've had, but it's
very rich and very varied. Councillor Smith we're slightly over so I keep
talking I'm so sorry I shouldn't be talking. Councillor Smith. Thank you.
Cllr Duncan Smith Wakefield Council - 2:03:27
Concern about the growing number of 16 to 18 year old needs it's a bigger
concern for local authorities in Wakefield alone this has increased by 25
percent in a single year. It appears to be driven by a lack of suitable provision.
We're aware that young people who are neat at 16 it's far more difficult to
engage with them when they get to 80 so it's that gap.
Here here to that.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 2:04:01
Because it currently is 19 and so they fall through the gap and then it's very
very hard to engage. But again another question for the agenda needs. Okay thank

10 Youth Employment Policy

you all so much. So the next meeting is scheduled 1 till 3 the 30th of March and

11 Economic Evidence & Insights

and the venue to be confirmed, so please do offer
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Will be scheduled three times a year between public meetings to be used to obviously it's our discretion and we'll confirm
If the board will accept the next private meeting, but we will share the information on that
But that's where so much of the work gets done and the programme board as well. Yes council brook
Cllr Kayleigh Brooks (Leeds City Council) - 2:04:56
Thank you. Can I just request that the
Wherever the meeting is that enough?
Notice is given as to the location because last time I wasn't able to attend you to other diary commitments
I don't drive, so it would have taken me over an hour to get there.
I had scheduled it in as though I was here.
I had something just up the road, 10 minutes away, and it was not going to work.
That's very good to alert us to that.
So thank you.
OK, thank you all so much.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 2:05:30
I think we are seen by government as really mature in this relationship.
so I'm hoping that we can really turn the tide on those people who really should and
want to be in work and to be well.
So thank you all so much for your presentations.
Thanks, Dan.