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Scrutiny Committee
Friday, 23rd October 2026 at 10:30am

 
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  1. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  2. Ms. Katie Wright, Scrutiny Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  3. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  4. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
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Share this agenda point
  1. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Cllr Dan Cohen
  3. Cllr Dan Cohen
  4. Cllr Ian Reed
  5. Cllr Colin Campbell
  6. Cllr Kate Haigh
  7. Cllr Lisa Martin
  8. Cllr Joe Ingham
  9. Kate Taylor, Director West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  10. Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  11. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  12. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  13. Alison Gillespie, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  14. Cllr Brian Moughtin
  15. Cllr Matthew Maude
  16. Cllr Steven Padgett
  17. Cllr Susan Lee-Richards
  18. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
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  1. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  3. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  4. Kate Taylor, Director West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  5. Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  6. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  7. Cllr Colin Campbell
  8. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  9. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  10. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  11. Cllr Colin Campbell
  12. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  13. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  14. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  15. Cllr Dan Cohen
  16. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  17. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  18. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  19. Alison Gillespie, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  20. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  21. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  22. Cllr Dan Cohen
  23. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  24. Cllr Dan Cohen
  25. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  26. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  27. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  28. Cllr Steven Padgett
  29. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  30. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  31. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  32. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  33. Cllr David Dews
  34. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  35. Kate Taylor, Director West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  36. Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  37. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  38. Cllr David Dews
  39. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  40. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  41. Cllr Susan Lee-Richards
  42. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  43. Cllr Susan Lee-Richards
  44. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  45. Cllr Susan Lee-Richards
  46. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  47. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  48. Kate Taylor, Director West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  49. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  50. Cllr Joe Ingham
  51. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  52. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  53. Cllr Kate Haigh
  54. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  55. Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  56. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  57. Cllr Kate Haigh
  58. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  59. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  60. Cllr Dan Cohen
  61. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  62. Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  63. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  64. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  65. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  66. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  67. Cllr Ian Reed
  68. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  69. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  70. Cllr Joe Ingham
  71. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  72. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  73. Cllr Lisa Martin
  74. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  75. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  76. Cllr Jason Rose
  77. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  78. Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  79. Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  80. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  81. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  82. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  83. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  84. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  85. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  86. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  87. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  88. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  89. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  90. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  91. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  92. Cllr Brian Moughtin
  93. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  94. Alison Gillespie, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
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  1. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  2. Cllr Brian Moughtin
  3. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  4. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  5. Cllr Brian Moughtin
  6. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  7. Alison Gillespie, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  8. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  9. Cllr Colin Campbell
  10. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  11. Cllr Colin Campbell
  12. Cllr Brian Moughtin
  13. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  14. Cllr Brian Moughtin
  15. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  16. Cllr Colin Campbell
  17. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  18. Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  19. Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  20. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  21. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  22. Cllr Joe Ingham
  23. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  24. Cllr Steven Padgett
  25. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  26. Cllr Steven Padgett
  27. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  28. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  29. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  30. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  31. Cllr Ian Reed
  32. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  33. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  34. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  35. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
  36. Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee
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Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 0:00:00
Let's move to agenda item one. Katie, apologies for absence please.
Ms. Katie Wright, Scrutiny Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:00:10
We've had apologies from Councillor Salaam, Councillor Hannon, Councillor Hunter, Councillor Stables, Councillor Paterson and Councillor Kimber.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 0:00:23
Thanks Katie. Item two, declarations of interest. Has anybody got a declaration of interest before we start the meeting?

3 Possible Exclusion of the Press and Public

Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 0:00:32
No declarations Katie. Thank you. There are no public exemptions this morning so we can

4 Minutes of the meeting held on 18 September 2026

move straight on to item 4 which is the minutes of the previous meeting. Are there any questions
on the minutes? Only to amend it to add nick.
So, I'll just point out that we need to amend the minutes just to note that Nicky Deol,
the legal and compliance officer, attended the meeting. That's the only amendment I have.
So could I have a show of hands to approve please? That's unanimous. Thank you.
Before we move over to officers, I think, and the Mayor sat down there, thanks for coming,
Could we do some introductions, go round the table from the right so that everybody knows
who we're talking to?
Thank you.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:01:24
Chair, is it possible just for the name plates to just be spun in our direction, just so
I could see colleagues' names?
Thank you so much, really appreciate it.
Cllr Dan Cohen - 0:01:49
Good morning Councillor Cairway and one of the lead city councillors and one of the vice
chairs of the screening board.
Cllr Dan Cohen - 0:01:54
Hi morning it's Councillor Sahil Chaudhary from Bradford.
Good morning, Councillor Ian Reid.
Cllr Ian Reed - 0:02:01
I represent Bradford South, Wake.
Cllr Colin Campbell - 0:02:10
I'm still Councillor Colin Campbell and I'm a Leeds City Councillor.
Cllr Kate Haigh - 0:02:15
I'm Councillor Kate Haig and I represent Farley and Wortley Ward in Leeds.
Cllr Lisa Martin - 0:02:19
Morning everyone, Councillor Lisa Martin from Leeds.
Cllr Joe Ingham - 0:02:25
Councillor Joe Ingham, subbing for Councillor Penny Stables.
I represent Kirkstall in the City Council.
Kate Taylor, Director West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:02:36
Hi everyone, Kate Taylor, Director of Finance and Commercial Services and
Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:02:43
Statutory Finance Officer for the Authority. Hello everybody I'm Sarah
Eaton, I'm Director of Strategy at the Combined Authority. Morning everybody,
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:02:49
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:02:53
Tracy the mayor. Good morning, I'm Felix, Director for Inclusive Economy, Skills and Culture.
Alison Gillespie, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:02:58
Good morning, Alison Gillespie, Head of Place and Environment Policy,
and so being today for Ruth Davison, Director of Place and Environment.
Jason Rose, York Councillor. Good morning, Steve Ashton from Wakefield.
David Hughes from Wakefield standing in for Councillor David Hunter.
Cllr Brian Moughtin - 0:03:19
Councillor Brian Moulton from Kirklees.
Councillor Matthew Marr from Kirklees.
Cllr Matthew Maude - 0:03:29
Good morning. Councillor Stephen Padgett from Calderdale.
Cllr Steven Padgett - 0:03:32
Cllr Susan Lee-Richards - 0:03:35
Good morning Councillor, Soulia Richards from Kirklees and Vice Chair of this committee.
Thank you.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 0:03:43
And finally, me, I think everybody knows me, it's Bob, I'm the Chair of the committee.
So can we move on to item 5 which I believe the Mayor has very kindly offered to talk
to us about this morning.

5 Devolution and "Rewiring the State"

Over to you Tracey, thank you.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:03:58
Thank you so much and welcome to all the new members of the Scrutiny Committee.
For those who are long -standing members, Councillor Haigh and others, they've heard this before,
but just to say I'm very grateful to be here and for your time and attention that you've
paid to read the notes, the papers and have conversations about good questions.
I can only be a good Mayor if I have the correct scrutiny.
That's why we have invested time and energy in trying to ensure that everybody has all
the resources they need to be a really great
scrutiny committee member.
I have, you know, I hope that you will see that I
am transparent, and if I don't know the answer,
that's okay, and I will come to my colleagues,
or if it's more detailed, we can always have a written
submission to the committee.
You know, you're a critical friend,
and you helped me with my thinking,
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:04:55
and I'm enormously grateful.
and also just to mention that there has been changes since we last met that, as you know,
Ben Still is moving to a new role and we've just announced our interim chief executive,
Mike Palin, who starts next week and he will be joining me for the next committee.
But I really am excited about the opportunities for West Yorkshire and Greater Devolution
gives us a real chance to deliver for the people that we represent. We know too many
are living difficult lives away from opportunity, and talent is everywhere. We want to make
sure that they get all the life chances in the world to be the best they can be. We share
the same values, I have no doubt. We may get there differently in different ways, but I
have always said for this committee, it is place over politics. And I am hoping we have
the strategic conversations today. Thank you so much to the committee. Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Tracey. Would officers like to speak before we go into the question session?
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 0:06:03
Kate Taylor, Director West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:06:05
Sarah or Kate? Just in terms of the paper that's out in front
of you, I think it's basically in three parts, really. I'm not intending to go through it
in any detail. I think you'll take it as read, but essentially it's providing an update on
Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:06:21
kind of work that's taking place around rewiring the state, which is obviously the cabinet statement that was produced at the end of July.
Lots of detail in there about
kind of widening and furthering devolution across the country.
There's an update there in the integrated, about the integrated settlement and kind of new funding that's come in since we
signed off the integrated settlement earlier this year.
But again also in terms of
work that might be taking place to kind of
reduce the number of indicators that we're working through on the integrated
settlements part. The re -writing the state is a there's an element there about
simplifying the indicators so there's there's information in there about that
and the third part of the paper is giving an update around implementation
so just to give members that that kind of overview around what that paper
contains. There's quite a lot in there but obviously you've had a chance to read it
if there are any questions we're happy to take them.
So if we'd like to go straight to questions, the first question is from Councillor Campbell.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 0:07:19
Cllr Colin Campbell - 0:07:25
Thank you Chair and good morning Mayor. I think we're all quite enthusiastic, I'm assuming
all of us are enthusiastic about the possibilities of more power being devolved down to a lower
local tier of movement rather than being centralised in Westminster.
I'm sorry Chair, it's quite hard to hear just where we're sat, apologies.
Perhaps I'll have to stop whispering. But I suppose we have an obvious question and
I'll start, if I may, with one that says basically I'm asking
you what challenges have you and your team identified to ensure
that the combined authority is ready and has the capacity for
the new rewiring of the state.
Thank you for that.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:08:24
It's a really good question because the organisation we are
now is almost unrecognisable, actually, from the organisation.
and I joined in 2021, not only in numbers,
but also in staffing and the diversity of staff,
the different talents that we have brought
into the organisation.
We've got over a thousand colleagues now,
but there is no doubt that with new powers,
we are making the case we also need the resources,
the finances to deliver on those new powers.
And part of that need is also to recruit talented people
to help us.
So, for example, being asked to lead on remediation of cladding
in high -rise buildings is not something we've done before.
So we needed the resources and the capacity and the capability
to be able to do that.
The same is true of tackling homelessness.
As a coordinating role, we've asked for more resources,
and we've received that.
We'll be recruiting to that role and working with local
authorities who will be delivering for the outcomes
to tackle homelessness, the challenges everybody in by Christmas.
Goodness me, that's very tough with people with very complex lives,
so it's very challenging.
Also, we are a pilot to tackle illegal dumping.
That's a new power and a new expectation, again,
where identifying where we can get the resources.
And also, you know, the bigger projects such as bus franchising,
Of course, we didn't have the team that would run a boss network.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:10:06
So we have been recruiting at pace to do that.
In fact, only last week we announced a new appointment.
Carol, who's coming on stream to actually run the day -to -day
of the boss franchise network.
So yes, that's a challenge, but it's a challenge that is also
other mayoral strategic authorities are facing.
But just to reassure the committee that we are a
mature combined authority, we have been a transport
authority for many decades, and there are a number of
mayoral combined authorities across the
country that aren't in that position, and there are
some, such as the East Midlands, that when Claire
Ward became the mayor, they were taking the laptops out
the boxers to set up their organisation.
So we are in a really strong place.
We're very mature.
We have the systems in place.
We've already been dealing with really large budgets.
That's the gain share.
You'll know 38 million for 30 years.
We are very capable of dealing with large amounts of money and
being agile and pivoting to need.
But yes, we are competing also in recruitment terms with
number 10 north now in Manchester,
and organisations such as the wealth fund,
the Bank of England in Leeds,
the Financial Conduct Authority.
We are in an exciting and competitive market.
But what I have experienced is that the people
that are joining us over the last couple of years
are really bought into the excitement of devolution.
And I don't think there is another
mayoral strategic authority in the country
that is as exciting as ours currently.
Franchising the busses, bringing tram online,
Leeds South Bank, you know, 20 ,000 homes, that opportunity.
Bradford Southern Gateway, the mayoral development zone there,
the new station in Bradford.
The list keeps coming and I think it makes us very
attractive, so we have a high quality of recruitment.
And I'm also pleased to see that within our organisation,
not only are we taking on new people,
but we're elevating people who work within the organisation.
Particularly, you'll know my interest in female leadership
and also diverse leadership.
We don't want the same people around the table
because you get the same answers.
So we want a diversity of leadership at the very top.
So be reassured, yeah, it's an exciting time
and I have full confidence that we have the experience
and we have the capability and we have the strong leadership
at the very top.
Thank you.
Follow -up question, that's all.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 0:12:58
Bound to be a follow -up question, Chair.
Cllr Colin Campbell - 0:12:59
I think we're all excited about West Yorkshire.
We always have been.
Can I do a two -pronged supplementary question?
You did touch on the issue and it was ironic that our last meeting we discussed employment
and in fact unemployment in West Georgia. You touched on the fact that there are a number
of mayoral authorities in effect competing for the pool of talented people who can come
and do this. Do you see or has your team seen any issues in relation to the quality of the
and the number of applicants we're receiving for specific jobs.
And the second point, if you'll allow me to add it on, is I understand that a week or
so ago the fire authority met and expressed some concerns about the ability of the organisation
to, or your organisation to take over the functions of the fire authority in the time
scale proposed. And I understood that they contacted you and said is it possible to delay
that transfer over. Perhaps you would like to comment on that.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:14:28
I'm grateful you raised that, Councillor Campbell. Firstly, yes, there's always some teeming
and ladling between local authorities,
mayoral strategic authorities.
We have colleagues who are recruited here
who were in South Yorkshire.
Where were you from?
East Midlands.
Derbyshire.
And of course, there will be a natural ebb and flow.
But hopefully, people use that as an opportunity
to go up to the next level.
But also, I'm very pleased that in West Yorkshire,
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:15:00
we've the largest FE and HE cluster outside of London,
seven universities, seven FE colleges.
We do have a really talented cohort of young people
who want to stay in the region.
And I would suggest that Leeds is the most dynamic city,
particularly outside of Sheffield and York.
So if you're going to live anywhere
and you're a young person, you might want to work for us
because then you can have a really rich life
outside of work.
But to your point about the fire authority,
This is, for those members that might not know,
this is a new responsibility.
I am currently the Police and Crime Commissioner.
My job is to hold the Chief Constable to account.
The new responsibility would be that the fire
responsibilities would come to us as an organisation.
But it would be that we would be chuping over all
of the firefighters and all of the assets.
We have been working with government to say there's
another way to do this because the way I hold the Chief Constable to account is there's
an arm's length, there's clear water between me and them as an organisation bringing in
fire into the organisation sort of blurs that because they would be colleagues. How would
I hold the Chief Fire Officer to account when they are a colleague in the organisation?
And also they are a large organisation and could potentially unbalance the structure.
So we have said there is a structure called
Corporation Soul that is how it's done in London,
where there is an arms length distance between us and fire.
That's what we've been asking government for.
It's a new structure.
The FBU and government are in conversation.
What we don't want to do is rush it and then end up in
a position where it's suboptimal.
So we are saying to government, and we're in alignment with other
mayoral strategic authorities as well who are also being asked to
take on this responsibility, we are saying to them,
just give us a moment, let's get this right,
let's not just jump in.
And luckily we have Judith Blake as the lead on fire in the House
of Lords, and as you'll know, she was the ex -leader of Lead
City Council, so she knows us very well.
So we do have access to Judith and we are speaking with other MSAs, but I could update
Chair I could update the committee once we have greater clarity on next steps if that's useful
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 0:17:37
That'd be fantastic. Thank you
Councillor Cohen
Thank you chair and
morning
Cllr Dan Cohen - 0:17:49
So we know rewiring the state
activates the mayoral intervention powers in the
planning process, planning provisions, which is quite
new for WICA.
What assessment has been made by WICA of readiness
for exercising these new planning duties?
How many qualified planning officers does WICA
currently employ?
How many is it going to need, does it envisage, to exercise the powers properly?
Is there going to be a transfer of funding or staff to cover the gap, or is it going
to fall on existing budgets or indeed on the five councils that make up WICA and their
already stretched applying teams?
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:18:43
I'm grateful you've raised this, Councillor Cohen, because I know a number of councillors
are very concerned about this from the outside, what looks like we will be now the planning
authority, which is not the case.
So we are early in the negotiations with government regarding this new power.
It is to put MSAs in alignment with London to some degree.
I am not in a position where I'm yearning for these powers necessarily, because I do
see our local authorities, our five local authorities,
are eminently capable of making decisions about planning.
And it's a particularly useful tool where there might be two
local authorities where there is a planning decision that
crosses boundaries, where people can't agree.
And I think there is something incredibly positive about the
fact that this has been now brought down from the Secretary
of State to the mayor.
So that's bringing power more locally, the decision to be taken more locally by the people
for whom it would impact, which is a good thing.
But I haven't seen in the last five years since I've been mayor a situation where I
would have potentially intervened.
So this is a new power, you're right, but we are in a position where it's very early
doors, and we are currently developing our strategic
development strategy, which is a strategic view of the whole of
West Yorkshire.
So that would also inform our thinking.
But your point is well made that we don't have a planning team.
We don't have numbers of planning officers sat in a room
because these powers are currently in discussion.
So it is early to have the numbers to give to you, Councillor Cohen, but also
just to reassure members that it will be unusual, I would imagine, for me to
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:20:51
intervene in a planning situation where I would be calling anything in. However,
you know, that doesn't reassure everybody, but I wonder whether Sarah if you could
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:21:02
speak to Alison about planning particularly this new power. Thanks Tracy.
Yeah, so everything Tracy said is correct.
Alison Gillespie, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:21:09
That this is a
new function for us as a combined authority, but as Tracy mentioned we are working on the spatial development strategy.
So we brought a paper actually, I think it was June 2025
to let members know and to take a decision on commencing the spatial development strategy.
So in my service we have a team of policy planners who are working on the spatial development
strategy in partnership with all of our local planning authorities.
The challenge that we've got is that the work to be ready for planning powers is currently
falling on the offices that are in place to develop that spatial development strategy.
So we're very keen and government are very keen that we don't stall our progress on the
So that's something that we're currently trying to balance in the team.
We are in conversation with government on it.
We were in conversation this week with MHCLG.
Joanna Averly was in conversation with us across all authorities because they are trying
to get an understanding themselves about what our baseline position is as strategic authorities
and what support we might need to be provided with to be ready.
So all of that work is ongoing.
But as Tracey says, it's probably a little bit early for us to give you numbers in terms
of what we think a service would need in order to function.
I guess in governments, the consultation that they released quite recently, it set out a
set of things that authorities would need to do to be ready, which I think is quite
helpful. So it says that we would as an authority need to think about how decision making would
practically operate in the organisation, so that's something that we're starting to work
on with our legal officers. We need to look at whether we've got sufficient development
management expertise, which we don't, and so how would we then recruit that. And then
we would need to establish a casework management system which is not a small undertaking, and
that's something that we're in conversation with with other mayoral
strategic authorities because everybody needing to put a casework system in
across the country at the same time feels like something that in our view we
should be collaborating on to make sure that there's cost efficiencies and
resource efficiencies in the way that we do that and then obviously preparing
standing orders and procedural guidance there's a huge amount of work required
there as well so those are the four things that we're broadly focusing on
but as I say, we are a matter of weeks into this work
because this is as new to us as it is to you.
The consultation was the first point
at which we had any access to information on this
and in particular on the pace
that government are looking to implement.
So happy to come back at a future point with further detail
but that's where we are at the moment.
May I just add as well, Chair,
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:24:11
that government understand that they are asking more of us
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:24:15
but also that they want to rewire the civil service.
So they are also offering civil servants from government
to come and work with us to give us extra capacity.
And that is incredibly welcome.
And I think we are in conversations after the success
of the India Trade Mission as the three Yorkshire mayors
and the wider Great North, we had some really good outcomes,
but government saw that we could do so much more.
So they're also talking to us about further capacity
in our trade and investment team.
So I think it's a good news storey that there's going to be
an expectation that if you want to work in central government,
you've got to have experience in MSAs.
And isn't that the case that what we've seen across local
authorities and our regions is that we are losing capacity and
central government was increasing capacity of
civil servants.
And I think Antonia, who is the new permanent secretary,
wants to tilt that balance to more talent and capacity coming into a mayor or strategic
authorities.
Cllr Dan Cohen - 0:25:26
Of course. Thank you, Chair. Thanks for the answer. I think every elected member around
this table is going to be reassured that you don't envisage having to use this new power
particularly often.
I can't say for sure, just for the record, but what I've experienced up to now...
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:25:41
I was simply quoting what you said. I was simply saying what you said.
I'm sure you meant what you said and I'm sure you said what you meant.
Cllr Dan Cohen - 0:25:53
So that is reassuring.
I suppose less reassuring is the huge amount of work to do in a
very, very short timeframe because the world stands still
for nobody.
Certainly those of us involved in planning know that.
Perhaps you could just give us some early thoughts,
mindful of what you've said, on who is likely to scrutinise your
use of these intervention powers?
And if perhaps I may, has any thought
been given as to whether locally elected members might
have any formal role before a final decision is made?
My assumption, given what I know,
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:26:41
is no, because it will fall to the mayor.
And the mayor has the mandate of the election.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:26:50
So I will have the final decision.
But to your point about scrutiny, we are, as mayors across the country, being given
increasing powers and resources to deliver for our population.
And there does need to be a structure that is developed where we are held to account
on the monies that we spend.
There are discussions ongoing.
What does that look like?
Is that the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament?
Is that a regional body?
I don't think that, I think there's potential conflict
of interest if it's local elected members
because they may have their own particular issue
that they would like to pursue.
So I'm not sure how that would roll out
but just to reassure you,
I too want scrutiny at the highest level
because these are large amounts of money,
is public money, we cannot have poor governance,
we cannot have cronyism, we cannot have wastefulness,
and every mayor across the country,
irrespective of the party,
also needs to be held to the highest standards.
Now, as mayors, we have a process called best value,
where a mayorality is not delivering for the public,
the government can step in
and put the mayoral strategic authority into best value,
where you have commissioners come in to ensure that changes are made rapidly.
But I do agree with you, Councillor Cohen,
that we need the system in place,
when it's large amounts of money, as we're seeing, to be held to account,
and I am more than ready for that transparency.
Thank you. Councillor Paterson.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 0:28:43
Cllr Steven Padgett - 0:28:46
Thank you. Councillor Padgett from Caulderdale. Still on the subject of planning, which is
why I'm coming to the follow -up question, there is a lot of nervousness at the local
authority level below, certainly in Caulderdale and other local authorities also, about the
loss as it's perceived of some of the authority to act in the approval or not of planning
applications and the fear that decisions will be imposed which would make it difficult for
the very local level for interests to be protected or to be under the real local control.
as opposed to imposed from higher levels.
Can you assure us that your authority will support and enable and take full account of
the concerns at the individual council levels?
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:29:56
That goes without saying, Councillor Padgett, because we as a combined authority are the
local authorities.
You are represented on the combined authority.
we collectively make decisions for the betterment of West Yorkshire and then of course the local
authorities.
But I would suggest that in a way this is a good news storey because the ultimate decision -maker
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:30:18
used to be the Secretary of State and now we are bringing that decision closer to the
people who are impacted by it.
So as a combined authority we could have those clear conversations about priorities, et cetera.
So I think it, I mean from my point of view,
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:30:34
it feels like a good step in the right direction
rather than somebody who doesn't know us in Whitehall
being steered by, I don't know, interest groups
or their own personal priorities.
I just want to reassure you that we are,
you know, Team West Yorkshire,
we will always support each other.
But I do have a different role
to the local authority leader
in that I have a strategic view across our region.
So it is really important that we do get affordable housing,
we do get better connectivity, that we do get a skilled
workforce, that we do support our businesses.
So I'm not being disparaging, but where communities are,
you know, say not in my backyard,
I have a mandate and a role to grow the economy.
And I'm impatient to do that.
There is an urgency because too many of our young people are not in employment, education
or training.
And we have got to change the dial for Worsh Yorkshire in a matter of years.
So we've got to get on with it.
So I do understand the concern.
But I would say you can look at it as a positive.
And that's how I would like to see it.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 0:31:58
Thank you, chair. Good morning.
There's a report from the select committee on rewiring the states.
and it contains concerns about the lack of experienced staff, IT staff,
throughout the public sector and the civil service.
It even talks about senior people running the IT department
who don't have relevant experience.
Cllr David Dews - 0:32:29
Now, your report talks about a programme of secondments
from central government?
And are you confident that this programme will be able to provide
the qualified staff that are needed when they're already
short down in Whitehall?
Thank you for that.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:32:51
And I agree with you.
The world is moving incredibly fast, isn't it?
We are luckily in West Yorkshire,
and particularly in Leeds, the home of digital and tech.
So we do have, luckily, a really large pool of talented young
people, entrepreneurs, experienced colleagues that can
bring their talents to our organisation.
But, yes, it's a vulnerability for all, I would suggest,
all organisations.
And one of my things that keeps me awake at night is cyber
attack, and we've seen it, haven't we, with Marks and
with JLR, that can really destabilise an organisation.
So we are all working at speed to get the qualified staff in.
Now as you would imagine, we've already got a dedicated IT and research department in
the organisation.
We are recruiting to that.
But could I come to yourself, Sarah, on that, on IT?
Kate Taylor, Director West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:33:56
So I think we have just recently appointed a new kind of person within the organisation
looking at digital so I think whilst you know respect the kind of concern about not being
able to recruit we did have quite a lot of people apply for that particular role and
managed to successfully recruit somebody with quite a lot of experience from different sectors
outside of the region and bringing that expertise into the region. I think on the secondment
the IT team, we did ask for specific expertise, really thinking about potentially some of
Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:34:26
the rewiring of the state activity materialisers, how do we get ahead of the curve and I am
pleased to say that we have had one, I think from one government department who is working,
is actually already in the IT team, kind of a data, a digital architect, so we have got,
we have been able to kind of take advantage of the skills that are available within kind
the central government, but we're also able to access those skills locally as well.
So we aren't having a problem recruiting to the roles that we've actually got at the moment,
and that has allowed us to kind of bring in some perhaps different skill sets that we've
not had before as the work within the organisation kind of accelerates in that space.
Thank you for that.
That's reassuring.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 0:35:10
I was just concerned about the idea of seconding from an organisation that is short.
Cllr David Dews - 0:35:16
I was a bit dubious as to whether they would be happy to second their brightest and best
when they're short themselves.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:35:26
Let me reassure you, that was my absolute demand.
Do not send us people you want to move to the window and get rid of.
Send us your best, your brightest and your best, because government won't achieve if
we don't achieve.
The Prime Minister, who obviously used to be a
mayor, is really relying on the mayors to deliver his
agenda on rewiring the state.
And we are more than up for it, and we are more than ready.
And we are ambitious, we're agile, we're innovative,
we're bringing in new ideas and new people.
And innovation, part of innovation is also getting
rid of things that don't work.
So we're also, you know, really looking to the future
for new ideas as well.
Thank you, mayor.
Councillor Lee Richards.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 0:36:16
Cllr Susan Lee-Richards - 0:36:19
It's mentioned in rewiring the state about the opportunity to have some control over
local tax revenue instead of central government grant funding.
What are the benefits and opportunities for West Yorkshire in receiving a share of local
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:36:39
income tax? Thank you for that question. This was an announcement by Rachel Reeves, you'll
remember in her May's lecture that she was going to start the process of fiscal devolution
because for many years we've been saying we've got to be growing up about this. We can't
be running back to Whitehall, please sir can we have some more, and having funding streams
that have different deadlines, different departments,
all in conflict.
If you gave us the integrated settlement,
all the monies in one pot, we could team and ladle
and have better outcomes.
However, that also means we are still beholden
to central government.
And if we grow our economy and if we are really successful,
we get no benefit.
So just for clarity, fiscal devolution does not mean
more money for us.
it means that we take it locally so we do not have to account for how we spend it to
government.
That does free us up for making decisions locally that are going to impact on big infrastructure
projects and so on.
We can spend to our priorities to grow the economy.
So we are in live conversations with the Treasury and also with Number 10 North about how fiscal
devolution should work and how it should not impact, for example, on business rates that
are taken by local authorities or where we have already 100 percent business rate retention
scheme like in Leeds. I'm reassured it won't impact on that. But I do think this is a very
good news storey in that you see in Europe where mayors have the ability to raise taxes.
Now, this is not raising taxes, but it's taking a slice of the
growth and the success of your region.
So if I can get more people into work,
if I can build more homes here, get more people to come and
live in our region, that means I can grow the base at which I can
take a percentage of the income tax.
The income tax percentage goes up and I can invest
more in our economy.
So that means more investment in housing, more investment in transport, more investment in supporting business and skills
and supporting our young people. It is a, I don't think people really
understand how revolutionary this is for
mayoral strategic authorities and up and down the country where they don't have mayors, it must be frustrating because
they are still having to go back to different departments in Whitehall and ask for funding.
So I think it's a really good news storey.
It's currently very live, those negotiations with Treasury,
because we believe there's going to be some announcements in the budget,
and then it will be part of the White Paper going forward into October, November.
And what threats does this present to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority,
Cllr Susan Lee-Richards - 0:39:44
and how will this extra income from growth in the economy be fairly shared across the region?
Thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:39:52
Thank you. Well, the risk is, there are risks, of course there are. COVID, for example,
businesses closed, the economy flatlined if not went in the wrong direction. So that would mean
that we would get less resources, which is why government have put in or are discussing
a threshold where if you fall below the threshold or you look like you're going to, there will
be government intervention. That was really important for regions like ours. London can
almost weather the storm because of its large investments and so on and different industries.
we would be very vulnerable as potentially the Northeast and
other regions.
So I'm really pleased they've put in that threshold.
How it would be shared equally, I think that is not my role to
just slice up the pie.
My role is to grow the pie so that we have that
strategic overview.
We become more investable.
We bring in more businesses.
We empower our businesses to export, to have greater
productivity, to use tech in their business, to boost their
economy, to boost their profits, and to grow, grow, grow so
people have more access to better paid jobs, more money
in people's pockets.
Cllr Susan Lee-Richards - 0:41:22
Thank you.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 0:41:29
Councillor Ashton, can we ask question 7 because I think question 6 has just been addressed,
OK?
Right, thank you, Chair. Morning. How much additional revenue is expected through new
revenue streams, for example the enhanced business rate retention and the proposed overnight
visitor levy?
Thank you for that question, Councillor. I'm sorry to disappoint, but as I said, these
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:41:57
are ongoing discussions and currently there are no numbers attached, but we do know that
the fundamental readjustment of us keeping a percentage of income tax and business rates
is a good news storey for our region. But we don't necessarily have figures unless Kate
has a ballpark for us.
Kate Taylor, Director West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 0:42:22
Thank you, not at the moment.
I think there's just kind of two points in there.
Some of those streams will be new in terms of overnight business.
For example, would be a new stream of income and we would devise spending plans and that
would allow us to do more, I guess, in terms of where we are.
Just business rates would replace our existing income streams in terms of that.
So if you look at kind of our finances,
we've got a finance report today on the agenda,
very complex in terms of multiple income streams,
multiple grants, those will go in terms of there,
and we will have one income stream.
So some of them will be new, some of them won't be,
and I think that's important just to hold in mind.
As the mayor has said, we don't know,
we haven't seen those numbers yet.
We are hoping that when we get past next Wednesday,
We can get into more of the detail of those
For that and start to do that detail modelling work
Follow up
Question eight councillor Ingham
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 0:43:31
Good morning there
Cllr Joe Ingham - 0:43:36
When will the overnight visitor lever be
be affected from? Will revenue be retained by the combined authority or go to councils
and is it ring fenced for particular projects or put in a central pot?
Thank you. Unfortunately it's going to be a very frustrating meeting I'm afraid because
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:43:55
the OVL is still under discussion. There has been a bit of a position that has been adopted
in order to reassure hospitality.
For me, I believe I have my own opinion about the overnight
visitor levy.
You already pay it in Manchester.
You pay it when you go to Liverpool.
And they have been able to invest that monies.
As you saw the announcement from Steve Rotheram,
very excited about the Beatles' experience.
I'm not sure if we could have anything,
maybe the Kaiser Chiefs' experience.
I don't know.
But he has been able to use that additionality,
and it's a tiny amount to invest in his tourism offer,
which will boost the economy and boost all the businesses
and growth for Liverpool.
And we see it in Europe where hotels charge you
a small amount.
And here in Leeds and across our region,
you often see big stag and hen parties, which is great fun
and they're very welcome, but then they don't pay council tax
in our region, we want to make sure that we are in,
They pay a small amount for the resources that they're using,
and also that we can support local authorities with cleaner
streets and greater opportunities for cultural
events, one -off events, to attract more tourists.
I chair the local visitor, the LVEP,
and actually our tourism is up in comparison to most places
in outside of London and Edinburgh across the country.
We are very attractive to tourists and I just think this is an opportunity that we would definitely miss
When other regions would take it
so I have a I have an opinion about that and there is a
reassuring sort of
Holding position that it wouldn't be more than 5 %
It would be per room and so that it wouldn't impact on families
specifically, so we want to make it progressive,
so if you're an individual business traveller
and your business is paying your hotel,
an extra 5%, I'm sure, for coming to our great region
is acceptable.
However, I don't necessarily have the support
across local authorities in West Yorkshire,
so I'm not sure I'd be able to get it through,
but I have my own view on it as an opportunity
for our region.
And of course, as soon as it was announced, the Scouts Association lobbied all of us,
and you know, there are, there will be exemptions for Scouts and for, you know, for women's
refuges, et cetera, et cetera.
But we're at the foothills of this discussion and this debate, but I hope that gives you
some reassurance that we're taking it very seriously.
and obviously I want West Yorkshire to be the place people stop off to visit
when they go from London to Edinburgh. I want them to come here we have some of
the most beautiful countryside, the best cultural offer, some of the finest people
you could ever meet so I wanted to be as attractive as possible.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 0:47:07
Cllr Kate Haigh - 0:47:11
Councillor Haynes then. Thank you. Morning Tracey. I think this might be a bit of a nerdy
technical question but I do think it has great implications for supporting the growth programme
that you set out. Prior to devolution we were able to say there was some consideration of
and it seems that those powers are going to come to this committee.
So how do you see that this committee can play a role in ensuring that the public pound
across the whole of West Yorkshire is actually meeting the objectives of this authority and
that we are leveraging the most power out of that expenditure.
So whether it be in the NHS or whether it be Yorkshire Water,
how do you see that we could use the powers of scrutiny
here to really bring that money together and use it
in the most effective fashion?
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:48:11
As always, a very interesting and well -thought -out academic
question.
So currently, the position is that I
and the other mayors in Yorkshire, for example,
invite Yorkshire Water to come and talk to us
about the money that they're spending,
wasting, bonuses, et cetera,
but we can't get any change
because we don't have the powers.
I believe that the public should be more involved in,
when we're paying our bills, in poor performance.
So that's how we currently hold, for example,
Yorkshire Water to account,
But I've said to government, I want greater powers to be able to be more dynamic in that scrutiny.
When it comes to the NHS, there is now a position where mayors will be actually on the ICB,
in a deputy mayor role potentially, as I have with the deputy mayor for policing and crime.
My question is, are we commissioners on that board, or are we holding them to account?
with a scrutiny element of that role. Your question is very well made in that my role
touches a number, whether it's police, whether it's Yorkshire Water Utilities, anchor institutions
and how do we draw together my scrutiny of them to this scrutiny board. So it's something
for further thought I would suggest, Chair, unless colleagues have an idea. Sarah.
Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:49:52
I'm sure colleagues are aware that obviously the English Devolution and Community Empowerment
Act in 2026 is actually already proposing changes to the way in which scrutiny works
and that will give us, give you additional powers to kind of add to the powers that you've
already got and particularly things around allowing
petitions, penalties.
And I think all of those kind of suite of things will allow you
to kind of exercise those powers in greater strength, really.
So I think I know as an organisation,
we're looking at what those powers will mean,
and we're planning for those because those powers will
take effect next year.
And I think that will be something that obviously
as a scrutiny committee you'll want to look at and understand
and what that means in terms of your role moving forward.
But I think that considerably enhances the existing powers
that you've already got.
And I think, obviously, we'll need
to understand how that works.
But yeah, definitely something there
that I think already takes us that next step further.
I think the other element of the rewind the state proposals
that we're looking at, the governments looking
at in terms of taking things forward,
is around the accountability, having a local accountability
officer as well, which would potentially be the chief executive, how they're then accountable,
as well as the mayor to parliament. So all of this will kind of greatly
improve, I think, or strengthen accountability across the stream.
But scrutiny, I think, has got an incredibly important role in that space and, you know,
we'll have to watch that space in terms of how those developments build on what we already know for next year.
But Sarah, I think the challenge, the fundamental challenge is the pound that is spent in West Yorkshire across all of our
organisations who has oversight of all of that.
And that is also something to take away.
But also talking to ministers, for example, in DWP,
we are saying we want employment West Yorkshire,
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:51:47
we know our businesses, we know our people,
just give us the money, let us get on with it.
But then the perm secretary would say,
but it's me in front of the select committee.
So you're not the ones held accountable in front
of parliament.
So, actually, there is a fair bit of unravelling to redefine the roles and responsibilities.
So that's why the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament seems like a good place for
us to be because, you know, it would have been the Permanent Secretary of DWP or the
Treasury or whatever. So it's all in discussion and it's a really exciting time and, like
and like I say, pretty revolutionary
for the structures of government.
We have been sort of bumbling along in a way,
trying to put right what has been decades in the making
and not serving us.
But this is a really exciting way to just say,
right, if we were gonna redesign it today,
what would it actually look like?
So yeah, those discussions are ongoing.
Cllr Kate Haigh - 0:52:54
Thank you, I agree it is a really exciting and interesting time for scrutiny and for
that accountability locally whilst Public Accounts Committee is often a very effective
committee, the range that they have to cover, whereas we can get into the real details here
of what is and isn't supporting what we all want for West Yorkshire, which is the programme
you're outlined with growth, housing, attracting people and that's not always, I think, you
may agree, not always giving the same to everyone. Bradford's getting a new railway station,
not everyone will get a new railway station, at least not straight away, but actually that
new railway station there helps the whole region, just as if in Leeds we have the new
That will support the whole region as well in meeting its housing needs.
So it is an exciting time.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:53:49
Hear, hear to that.
Councillor Chaudry.
Thank you, Chair. Hi, Mayor.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 0:53:56
Cllr Dan Cohen - 0:54:00
So with the Combined Authority taking on additional powers and responsibilities,
how will you ensure that the organisation remains focused on delivering existing commitments while pursuing new opportunities through devolution?
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:54:11
That's my challenge every day of the week, Councillor Chardrew, because, and for the
politicians in the room, you also understand, 18 months to my next election, I have in my
previous term delivered on my 10 manifesto pledges, and now I am laser focused on ensuring
that we make sure we deliver as much as possible in the short term for the next
18 months as we possibly can to ensure government see and the public are
reassured that they can trust politicians because you will know better
than me that the public are cynical and dismayed by politicians often but the
we can build back trust is by delivering what we've promised. So in 27 we will be
partly franchised in our bus network with brand new electric busses 200 and by
28 fully franchised. I am laser focused on delivering what I've promised but
you're absolutely right there are also new opportunities. So my brain capacity
has definitely doubled since I've been mayor. It's like doing a PhD in local
government for sure.
But also, it is surrounding myself with the best and the
brightest talents to take us through.
So we have people in the organisation who are working,
for example, in business and trade who are really capturing
those opportunities for inward investment but also support for
SMEs, et cetera.
So it is a twin track for sure.
I am making sure that everything I've promised,
I will deliver in the next 18 months.
We've already, so much of what we've promised
has been delivered.
And then we are also taking opportunities
because as you know, I'm intending to stand again in 28.
So I also have sight of the next four years as well.
So I'm not just focused in the here and now.
I also have a strategy and a plan
for the next four years beyond that.
But a really great question,
but maybe from an officer point of view,
How are you doing it?
That's a million dollar question.
Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:56:32
Yeah, I mean we do, we do, and the paper that you've got in your pack later alludes to the fact that Manasta,
I actually started three years today, so I've been here three years.
Oh, congrats. Happy birthday.
Happy birthday, happy anniversary.
So, one of the things that when I joined, we had, we had an annual planning cycle,
And obviously, having worked for a local authority for 30 years before joining here, actually,
what local authorities do, they tend to have four -year kind of business plans and they
refresh them annually.
So we immediately move to that kind of four -year plan.
And what that four -year plan does, it allows us to kind of look ahead.
And as you've just said, Mayor, you actually need to look to the future, don't you?
We can't just be looking here and now.
We've got to be looking ahead.
Because some of the big programmes that we're delivering, they've got a long timescale for
delivery.
So we look to four years, but we refresh that plan every year.
So we're constantly looking at what's new and what's coming
over the horizon.
So we've put in place an integrated kind of business
budget and workforce planning approach, which means that we
look every year at kind of what our priorities are, and we do
that top down and bottom up.
But we also line that to the budget so that we're making sure
that we've got the right resources in place to enable
us to deliver.
But then we also look at kind of what that means for the
workforce, there's a number of questions today about capacity.
So we're doing that collectively together and at the beginning of
the year we get to a position where we update those business
plans for the year.
I think we've also strengthened our approach to performance.
So in the PAC you've got kind of the update on the quarter one
performance, we are looking at performance on a regular basis.
We have an internal performance board and we're constantly
monitoring kind of where we are.
And we sometimes worry about things looking red or things
looking amber.
it's really important that we identify kind of where we're not performing because that means we can put mitigating actions in place and we'll
probably come on to that in a little while but
but we're doing a lot in this space to try and make sure that we are focused on delivery and sometimes things don't
they don't go to plan. That's life, isn't it? And things happen that mean that we have to kind of readjust
but part of the work is around how we then
bring things back on track and from our perspective the mayor is incredibly focused on delivery.
We've got a little bit of a mott around deliver deliver deliver which we you know
We're all trying to do and we're trying to do that at the same time that we're looking at new opportunities
So what we will be what we're doing at the minute
We preparing for new things that might be coming and we think about things in transition
What do we need to do to transition to the new state before implementation?
So we're doing those things in tandem and that's part of the business planning approach for this
Coming year that we're working on at the moment. Yeah, would it be useful if we shared our
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:59:18
Local Growth Plan 2035, it's a 10 year strategy,
and for committee members to have a look
about our longer term ambitions for the future,
if that's useful.
I think that's eminently helpful to the committee.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 0:59:32
As I've said to a number of members
during the course of this morning,
there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes here,
which obviously screening members are privy to,
and it's interesting to see how it all fits together,
all gels and the actual people behind the cut and thrust of what the combined
authorities do and a lot of the questions today really important but if
sat here as chair I could actually give you some reassurance to support the
mayor they are on the journey it's a difficult journey but they are taking
the right steps that's not to say we shouldn't scrutinise it but the right
steps being taken. Yes, thank you.
Go on then, Councillor Rose. Yeah, it's just a follow -up on that on that final point
around the 10 -year plan. So that was presumably 2025 is 2035 that it ends. To
what extent do the new powers that have some of which are brand new information
since then, how much is that just accelerating or strengthening that plan
versus how much is that plan already starting to be out of date? Just
just curious, it's not a long answer hopefully, but since that's a relevant point.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:00:45
Thank you and always the voice of York and North Yorkshire is very welcome. It's iterative
and of course my ambitions as Mayor, because I understand my powers are also shared by
the Prime Minister, so I think there is quite an alignment there for his ambitions from
Greater Manchester when he was Mayor, really we were in alignment about what we wanted
to achieve. So now he's just enabling me to go faster. So of course we will take the opportunities
to speed up that plan and then look at those opportunities. But it does iterate. So I'm
not sure when the next iteration is. I think potentially after rewiring the state and the
White Paper then we'll get a better view. Thank you.
Before we move on to the next item, which is performance, are there any further questions
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 1:01:32
on devolution and rewiring the state?
I'm Councillor Reid.
Hello Mayor.
Cllr Ian Reed - 1:01:39
You mentioned earlier on about new powers to tackle illegal dumping.
As we continue our development, our rapid development, it's absolutely fantastic to
see what is happening, very exciting around the Bradford district and our wider district.
Illegal dumping is an issue and we're not having an awful lot of enforcement going on
there.
I understand that the environmental agency get round to doing things when they can.
With the new PAPOs coming in, have you considered a task force or what would your plan be where
the environmental agency or even our local agencies can work collectively as a task force
to tackle things rather than leaving it for months and months and months as we continue
to develop.
Have you given any further thoughts to that?
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:02:32
Thank you, Councillor Reid.
And it's absolutely what this new pilot is all about, is bringing the right partners
round the table and giving them further resources and powers to catch and convict the illegal
dumpers.
It's absolutely outrageous that people are making money of dumping rubbish into our communities.
It's bad for the community, it's bad for health, it's bad for air quality, it's really bad
on people's morale and self -esteem.
And that's why I'm really pleased,
over the summer the Prime Minister came to Bradford
and announced that we were part of a pilot
with Greater Manchester, about how,
if we brought the right people around the table,
could we get better outcomes.
So we've had one meeting already with officers,
Greater Manchester and Oz,
because I believe that if we do it in tandem,
we'll learn from each other,
and then we'll be able to cascade that across the country.
and we've had our first meeting on how we do it.
But as police and crime commissioner,
I can also then hold the chief constable to account.
How many illegal dumpers are you bringing before the judge?
How many, what resources are you putting in?
So it's a good combination being the PCC,
as well as having this opportunity.
So watch this space, but that's what this pilot is all about,
is creating that agile, resourced task force to get better outcomes.
So if you move on to the performance items.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 1:04:08
Councillor Ringham, yeah.
Cllr Joe Ingham - 1:04:12
Just on the illegal dumping still, would that include, will it make it easier for people to instal CCTV as well specifically?
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:04:21
It's part of the whole package would be monitoring sites, identifying who's done it, finding
out the source of the dumping.
It's about a community as well because we know that communities are so impacted by it.
We also need to hear from them.
But there will be extra resources.
So whatever that whatever the solution is we will now have some resources to be able to
Implement what we feel the solution is. I don't know if you've any further thoughts on that
But but obviously CCTV plays a big part
It doesn't stop it happening, but it gives you it gives you evidence as to how you can then find the perpetrator
Councillor
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 1:05:17
Cllr Lisa Martin - 1:05:19
Thank you, Tracy. I'm just thinking in Leeds we're investing loads of money in tackling fly tipping
and I'm just wondering how West Yorkshire Combined Authority will start duplicating it?
Will it plug the gaps in other authorities who may be not investing in doing what we're doing?
How will it work? How will it be fair? Thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:05:44
Thank you. Obviously my job is for the whole of West Yorkshire but this is a
pilot for Bradford. It's one particular site that was absolutely outrageous, the
size of it, the disruption and the audacity of the dumpers. So we're using
that particular site to develop tools and partnerships to see what we need. So
you know I compliment Leeds City Council and in fact when I had the Prime
ministers, chief of staff to do a walk around.
And I also did the same walk around with the Swiss
ambassador.
Both of those individuals said, I can't believe how
clean Leeds is.
And in the mornings when I walk into work, coming up
through town, you see an army of street cleaners.
You have the vehicles you've spent on resources.
And it pays off.
And it makes Leeds hugely attractive as a city centre
for shoppers, for the night time economy, etc.
So I would applaud Leeds but also encourage local authorities to see this as a priority.
No more questions?
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 1:06:54
We'll move on to the performance item then.
So first question is from Councillor Rose.
Thank you and yeah, it is a separate item but I think it flows on quite neatly really.
You were talking about large amounts of money, taxpayer money, you know, we can't have waste
and we need scrutiny at all levels, including the highest places.
And I think that my question is about the same thing, but about measures at all stages,
at all levels.
And that acceleration, the rewiring the state piece, is moving us further on that journey
Cllr Jason Rose - 1:07:33
as a combined authority from allocating finance and measuring whether the finance has been
spent and how much is spent and setting deadlines into the project delivery where we're measuring
those milestones and tracking the finance and budget over time into that space where
now we're trying to track those outcomes as they're ending and then moving further into
the outcome space into service delivery and service management which is new territory
and much more difficult.
The kind of question really is how are you going to tangibly make sure that we're maximising
outcomes and improvements and we're measuring those outcomes and improvements.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:08:08
Thank you for that, it's a really important question and for me I am
really reassured that our assurance process that projects have to go through
in order to get signed off by the CA have very clear expectations of outcomes.
Some of the local authorities might say it's too good the assurance process and
there is too much for them to have to deal with would like a lighter touch. But I think
if we are going to be trusted by government and also for every pound from West Yorkshire
to be sweated for the best outcomes, I think it's really important we have that oversight.
But I'll come to Sarah on the strategic expectation on the change that you alluded to.
So one of the things that we've developed for West Yorkshire, as part of the integrated
Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:08:58
settlement we're required to develop an integrated settlement kind of outcomes framework.
And so the detailed measures are in the performance pack.
So what we're trying to do is report transparently against those measures.
You'll see that some of those measures aren't necessarily measuring outcomes, they're measuring
outputs.
And I think that is something to do with the maturity of that approach.
It's one of the things we did lobby the government quite heavily on.
One of the things we've done for the region is because the integrated settlement is just
one funding stream, we get other funding that comes through.
And obviously to kind of measure and track how we're achieving against kind of broader
outcomes, we've developed a broader framework.
It's called the West Yorkshire Outcomes Framework.
And what that does, we've tried to look across the organisation at all the measures that
we've had in place over many years and to try and simplify
and streamline that approach to a set of outcomes effectively.
And what we're doing is we'll be using those outcomes and asking
our partners and people who are delivering services to kind of
match their activity against those outcomes.
That's quite important because if you have a kind of
proliferation of measures that are all trying to do the same
thing, it's really difficult to kind of get a baseline of kind
of where we are and where we're trying to get to.
and that will link into our new assurance system as well.
We've got a system called PIMS, which measures
all of the programmes.
It measures all of the finance that's coming through,
and it links into the work that Kate does around measuring
whether people are on track with their funding,
but it also measures outputs and outcomes
so that we can start to kind of get a baseline
and effectively get that consistency of measurement.
I think that's a really important piece of work
that's been done across the organisation,
and that then links into how we evaluate schemes moving forward.
We know that from some of the previous evaluation work we've done, which evaluation tends to
happen a lot after projects are finished, that some of the measures weren't right, which
is why we've put this piece of work in place.
But it allows us then to direct our work on evaluation to the right places so that we
can measure that longer -term impact.
We've also got the West Yorkshire Plan, and the West Yorkshire Plan's got a range of indicators
in there which are more longitudinal measures.
And I think back to the local growth plan, we've got measures in the local growth plan
as well which are kind of measuring that longer -term impact.
So we've developed the outcomes framework
to pull that together effectively,
which will give us a much simpler way
of kind of doing what you're saying, Councillor Rose.
Thank you very much for that.
I guess a slightly meta question of
how are you tracking the maturity
of the performance framework or the outcomes framework?
And then also I guess,
appreciating the point around having
too many outcome measureings
and those kind of performance indicators.
but also having KPIs at all, having too few KPIs can mean that partner
organisations are a bit too laser focused on trying to achieve that
objective rather than trying to achieve what we want for the region so I guess
what's the right way of, you know, what tangibly you guys doing to make sure
Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:11:59
that that balance is right? I think it is, you're absolutely right to get that balance right.
We can measure lots of different things but sometimes we get too much
information, we can't see the wood for the trees. I think we think the balance
is right in the outcomes frame, the West Yorkshire outcomes frame, we think we've got that just
about right, there's not hundreds of indicators,
but it's given us a good range to measure
kind of the breadth of activity that we've got
across the organisation and kind of measuring
the projects and programmes that our partners are delivering.
We did some work with kind of local authority offices
to kind of have a look at that to make sure
that it was getting the right balance.
I think one of the things we do need to be thinking about
is as we pull in more functions and powers,
you know, that is broadening the range of activity
that we're working on, that we're making sure
that framework keeps up to speed with that.
So we've certainly, in some of the consultation
that we did on that, we ended up looking at much broader things
that we were kind of delivering.
The integrated settlement outcomes
are too narrow for us to kind of measure that activity.
So that's a constant piece of work that we're looking at.
The performance framework, I think
it's definitely improved over the last couple of years.
We constantly have to keep the maturity of that under review.
and so we're doing quite a lot of work through our internal performance board to make sure that we're
you know, we've got the right amount of
oversight of
Indicators and measures to be able to report transparently
So definitely something that we constantly kind of have a look at making sure that we get you know
We get it right and I think what we do each year is we kind of do a bit of a review
As to where we've got to and then we iterate so this year
We were measuring last year around 400 measures
and they are all different scales. We have some big things, we have some little things,
we have done quite a lot of work for this year's performance framework to reduce that
down so that we are reporting against a coherent set but they are all of the same magnitude
really so something that we keep looking at on an annual basis.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:13:59
If I could just sing Sarah's team's praises for a minute though. When government were
talking about the performance framework, the outcomes framework, goodness me they didn't
know us very well.
So we've had, the team has had to do a huge amount of work to
reduce, but also to make real the expectations from the
centre, because sometimes the expectations from the centre
are what is their manifesto commitment,
not what is really possible to deliver.
So we've, couldn't possibly happen,
but there has been a lot of wrangling to get us where we
are, and also the opportunity for us with this new integrated
settlement is also procurement locally to support businesses so how can we do more in
our expected outcomes to make sure that the money in West Yorkshire stays in West Yorkshire
is also something that I'm very keen to keep an eye on.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 1:14:55
I now have a question on the performance report and it's about the level of ambition within
the combined authority. So the question emanated from page 56 and there's one line in the report
which is the number of businesses engaged with employment and skills interventions.
That's where my search started. And then obviously you start thinking about that and you think
what drives most of the combined authorities and targets. Is it need, ambition or capacity?
And looking at that single line of the report in context, we're engaging with 550 businesses
more or less of about 90 ,000 regionally. So is that about capacity? Is it about need?
or do we lack the ambition to go out there and talk to more businesses to actually understand
what's going on in the region? Thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:16:02
Thanks, and really, really important part of our redesign of the business hub, you're
absolutely right, what we need to do is to be really easy to do business with, that sort
of single front door.
And what we were finding was that there was a multitude
of businesses in West Yorkshire that could benefit
from our support that didn't know we existed,
that weren't coming to us, that were struggling through,
and didn't take up the opportunities for more tech
or plant equipment and so on.
So we've spent probably 18 months rewiring the business hub.
And we had a launch of it a few months ago.
but I wonder Felix, if you want to talk to that,
because it's really important
when we've got 100 ,000 businesses,
I can see your question.
Thank you, Mayor.
And very good question.
It's one we wrestle with regularly.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:17:01
I think a bit of context might be helpful.
So it's definitely not a question of ambition.
We set out ambition very clearly,
the local growth plan,
where we set out the 11 billion pound productivity gap
and the fact that we don't have enough businesses,
we don't have enough jobs, given the size
and the scale of the place.
So that is not the issue at all.
But in setting these targets, a lot of things come into play.
How much money have you got to address the issue?
So how realistic can you be?
So we might have, we do have significant ambitions.
But for how much, for the money we've got, what can be done?
that comes into play quite a lot.
The time you've got to do it comes in.
But the point that may have made about the new Growth Hub
sits at the real crux of this.
We've restructured, we've actually completely redesigned
how we support businesses here.
The number you've got here is about the businesses
that we will directly engage with
in a way that we are able to show results.
But the Growth Hub is about leveraging
the whole ecosystem.
So we've set up a Growth Hub network,
which brings in the banks and solicitors and accountants
and other finance bodies, business representative bodies.
We've set up already about 16 affiliate arrangements
with various groups in the region who we are supporting
and enabling to go off and do their stuff.
But we're not set up to track everything that they are doing so those numbers do not reflect here
This is specifically to do with the businesses that we are
directly able to have
Will have meaningful engagement with over time in a way that we can track
What comes out of it, but it's only a small part of the overall structure that we've set up
We had, we launched the Growth Hub network
in Bradford last month.
We had over 150 partners from across the region
that came to that.
And all of them were coming periodically and go out
and they are reaching thousands upon thousands
of businesses with what they do.
Our job is to enable them not to get in their way
and pretend that we are the ones
that actually do business support because we're not.
Just a quick follow up there.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 1:19:51
So presumably within the group of businesses that you work within the business of, are
they signposting all the businesses towards that?
And obviously, it's the easiest way to get the message out there really, isn't it, without
spending huge amounts of budget.
So I'm just sense checking that's already being done.
Thank you.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:20:08
Yeah, thank you.
Really good ones.
That is the point of it all.
What we had before, and I'm generalising just to make the point, is that a business will
go to a particular partner in the system and say X or Y is the challenge I have or the
opportunity I have.
And if that partner can support them, they do, but if they can't, then they don't, and
that's the end of it.
What we're trying to do is not necessarily to have a single front door, but to have no
wrong door in the system.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:20:42
So wherever you enter, whoever you engage with, that you will end up with the support
you need irrespective of where the engagement starts from.
So the signposting, the information and intelligence into the system and the sharing of that, what
we've done with our website now, and now going,
making sure it's AI enabled, channelling everything
through that, and then growing that to make sure
everybody's having access to the information.
Bringing in the government level growth hub information,
and bringing that regionally and locally for our businesses
to take advantage of.
These are the kind of things that we are doing,
and that is reaching thousands upon thousands of businesses.
The traffic on our website is gone up considerably as a result of this, but we think there is
more that we can and should do.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 1:21:33
So we just keep peeling it off.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:21:35
Chair, would it be helpful if we sent a link to the Growth Hub so people could just in
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 1:21:43
their own time have a look around it if it's useful?
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:21:44
Because we've spent an enormous amount of time getting this right.
I think it's something a couple of years ago we were talking about and now we're actually
finally there.
And it has to be the most easy to use,
ergonomically designed, and for everyone,
whether you're a start -up, whether you're a sole trader,
whether you're a big business, a multinational.
So if we send the link and colleagues can maybe have a look
around it if it's of use.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 1:22:11
Certainly of use to me because I'm quite passionate about what
happens here in West Yorkshire, which is why I often speak to
Felix outside of meetings.
So thank you very much, Felix and Mayor.
Council 14, it's Councillor Mufti.
Cllr Brian Moughtin - 1:22:33
Thanks.
Just regarding strategic alignment and the local nature recovery strategy, how will you
ensure that the nature recovery strategy delivery and outcomes are embedded in all decision
making, particularly planning, region, land management,
and investment, e .g., ensuring identified priority species
and recovery measures are followed through.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:22:59
Thank you so much.
The local nature recovery strategy was a really important
piece of work for us, because if we are going to grow our
economy, we have to regenerate Brownfield,
we have to build new homes.
We're building a tram.
Nobody tell you it's going to be a bus.
That's just my opinion, Chair.
And part of this is obviously how we make our
region the greenest, the most biodiverse region
across the north.
And also with a single blue thread of water that runs
through it, I would like us to be a swimmable region
where families, wherever you are, you could swim in the summer,
where it's safe, of course, but in our rivers.
And the water quality is good enough for fish and other species.
So this piece of work is critical, and particularly with the climate emergency being,
you know, obviously a great priority for all of us,
ensuring that we have the right canopy cover to have cool cities,
and also with the fires that you've seen on the moors up over
at Marsden, that we have the peat to ensure that we keep the
carbon in the ground, but also it slows the flow of water down
to our valleys.
So it's part of our wider strategy.
Your question was more about outcomes,
so I'll come to Alison on that.
But rest assured, it's really important for us,
And I know that Greater Manchester might see itself
as sort of a northern London.
I would say, my ambition is that we are a northern
Copenhagen, that it's a great place to live and work.
And that there are pocket parks, there are green
spaces for working class people.
There's opportunities to swim, to enjoy where we
live, and transport works for all of us.
So, you know, it's all interconnected.
That greener, cleaner West Yorkshire
is one of a really important priorities.
But Alison, if I could come to you.
Yeah, thank you, Tracey.
That's a really great question,
Alison Gillespie, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:25:21
and thank you for asking it.
And it's a conversation that is live at the moment,
actually, with DEFRA, because obviously the emphasis
have been on getting our local nature recovery strategies
in place, and then now, obviously,
we have the important task of how we implement those
and implement those across the whole country
where nature and environment doesn't respect local authority nor strategic authority boundaries.
I think one of the challenges we've got is that our local nature recovery strategy is
not the strategy of the combined authority, it's a shared strategy and we've absolutely
written it in partnership. So it is everybody's responsibility, however, whatever sort of
investor you are, whether it's a public or private investment, to ensure that you're

6 Quarter 1 (2026/27) Performance

playing your part in delivering the outcomes of the strategy. So that's what
we're focused on. We've got a small amount of money which basically allows
us to retain the staff that we've got that have written the strategy and pivot
those into working to make sure that we've got the partnerships in place to
hold others to account or encourage them to also implement that strategy
alongside us and then obviously our role is where we are investing to
ensure that we're doing that in a way that we're mindful of also achieving those outcomes
in that strategy. But our lever really as a combined authority is in driving and forming
and building and maintaining those partnerships because obviously we are not a major investor
ourselves in nature -based schemes. But that may change over time and as I say we are in
conversation with DEFRA about it.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:27:01
And if I may say, the power, the convening power of the mayoral office is a really powerful
tool when it comes to natural England, when it comes to Yorkshire water.
Getting all of those partners, they helped us write the strategy and to help them now
to deliver.
So, for example, the White Rose Forest is a large organisation across South Yorkshire
York and North Yorkshire and we're a really active member of it.
So it's about a Yorkshire vision but also using our partners to enable us to deliver
really ambitious schemes for the region.
So we all share the ambition but is the money best placed in an arms length body over there
or is the money best given to us directly so we can deliver it?
So those are the conversations that we're having.
And that's part of the greater devolution conversation.
Where is the money best spent?
Is it best spent in local authority level,
in mayor authority level?
Strategic across Yorkshire or more national,
or across the north and then nationally?
So there is a piece of work going on about
where is the best place to put the money
to get the best outcomes?
You've mentioned Yorkshire Water there.
Cllr Brian Moughtin - 1:28:25
It's been mentioned quite a few times as Yorkshire Water.
As the second largest landowner in Yorkshire, they are highly involved.
Will the Combined Authority be encouraging landowners such as Yorkshire Water to get
involved with the voluntary sector in this scheme?
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:28:44
I think my understanding is that they do, and you're right, that Yorkshire Water are
huge partner for us and have been incredibly supportive of the strategy.
My own opinion about the way it's run is completely separate to the work that they do on the ground
as a partner.
And I just want to put on record my thanks to all those volunteers that slow the flow
over in Calderdale.
And there are other examples across the – whether that's the River and Canals Trust.
They're really amazing people, volunteers that clean our rivers and are there in emergencies.
So volunteering is really important and I always am so proud of the people who step
up to plant trees and like I say, do the leaky dams for us in a volunteer capacity.
But yes, I think my understanding is Yorkshire Water do already work with volunteers.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 1:29:51
Thank you, I think you're up again for the next question.
Cllr Brian Moughtin - 1:29:56
Right, thanks.
Regarding the overlap on warmer homes and health outcomes, are multiple overlapping
outcomes being considered in a single programme, e .g. what assurance is that that ventilation
and indoor air quality, which has health benefits, are being considered alongside reducing heat
loss, particularly when existing homes are being made more airtight.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:30:24
Thank you. And you're dead right. There is a massive overlap. And when I go and visit
some of the homes that we've retrofit, it's so fascinating to meet people who live there
and just say, it isn't just about the warmer home and the lower bills. It's the peace and
quiet because the windows are double glazed and I don't hear those fools on off -road bikes
in the street.
There was another fellow that we visited that said,
I just feel so calm and, you know,
I'm able to feel more rested in my home.
One, another lady who was recovering from cancer,
you know, I feel my recovery has benefited from this retrofit.
So these are really hard to quantify for sure,
but whether we can, whether we can audit the air quality in the
home, I'm not so sure.
So Felix, you're the technical guru.
I'm going to throw this to you.
I don't know about that.
I just know the overlay.
It's all a good thing.
We need to retrofit all our social homes for sure.
Alison is probably better pleased than I am.
But it is right.
Try as we may, we will not be able to quantitatively measure
all the impacts that we are making.
So in some cases, we need to accept qualitative evidence
to back up what we quantitatively can measure.
And what the mayor has set out is absolutely spot on.
So there are some things that we can measure
and we do that.
I think when it comes to air quality in the home,
we would look at that, we're not looking at that right now,
but we'll look at that on a case by case basis
when there's something specific that needs to be remediated.
When the Home Energy West Yorkshire Programme
that we've got, part of that if somebody chooses
to put solar panels in their home,
we do have people that will come to your home
and do that assessment and look at,
have a conversation with you about what is needed,
et cetera, so as and when an intervention of that nature
is needed, if we need to understand air quality in homes,
I'm sure working with local authorities and others,
we're able to support.
I think for us as an authority, though,
there's a wider point here.
Not everything is about getting somebody back to work,
but we know that some of the key determinants
of economic activity and health are some of the things
that you've talked about and what the mayor has picked up.
So the more we are able to address some of these
determinants, the more we are able to put,
the better position we are in to put people
into a place where they are able to contribute
to the economy, which we know is then better
for their health, mental health, et cetera,
and in generating that prosperity is then good
for our economy.
So for us, it's a win all round.
We're not always able to sort of
quantitatively measure everything.
But if I may say to councillors as representatives
from your communities, do have a look at Home Energy
West Yorkshire, because we need more people
to take up the offer.
And also we've been given money from government
to support the rollout of plug -in solar
that really does impact on people's bills.
So with winter coming, it might be a good campaign
for you to run in your local, in your patches, and we would be enormously grateful. We had
a pop -up in Bradford station recently trying to get people to be interested in the opportunities
to reduce their bills in a very reassured way because it's us that are doing it, and
we have all of our installers, we will talk you through the whole process, you don't have
pay anything for the first assessment and then you can get a low -cost loan.
That's very low cost. So we're just trying our very best to bring bills down.
So if it's something you're interested in, do cheque it out. Thank you, Chair.
Alison, did you have something you wanted to add?
Alison Gillespie, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:34:23
Yeah, sorry. So just to answer the very specific question, so the funding that we have been
provided for social home retrofit
is there are a set of very specific measures
that we are allowed to implement with that funding.
And ventilation is something that we are able to look at.
So in relation to your question, yes, it
is part of our current programme.
But there are limits to what's on that list.
And I think the question you were asking
is a really important one because we are restricted around some other areas of housing quality
and we're very mindful of the fact that we often go into people's homes and there are
other challenges that they're facing that can't be addressed through the retrofit funding
so that's something that we are very mindful of and looking at behind the scenes to see
How can we make sure that we're as joined up as possible in delivering outcomes for residents?
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 1:35:29
Thank you, I think question 16 is perhaps being answered so could we move on to council ringen
Sorry chair
Cllr Colin Campbell - 1:35:45
I was hoping you were going to ask that one because I was hoping to raise an issue with
the bear in relation to that.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 1:35:50
Cllr Colin Campbell - 1:35:53
Cllr Brian Moughtin - 1:35:56
It's definitely the Brian show, isn't it?
It certainly is, yeah.
Just regarding the local nature recovery strategy again, how will you ensure that all five councils
consistently work to achieving joint priorities and how will scrutiny see that they're being
delivered.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:36:14
Thank you for that.
Well, you have your own mandate.
You have your mandate of what you want to deliver for your
regions, and I know that there's decisions being made at local
authority level that don't necessarily align with our
decision -making, and that's fine.
That's democracy.
So I will do my, within my powers,
to ensure through our strategies, through our investment, that we deliver better outcomes
for our communities.
And you know, I empower local authorities to make their own decisions.
I'm not quite sure what that question really related to, but was there something specific,
Cllr Brian Moughtin - 1:37:02
Councillor?
Just one example in the local nature recovery strategy which I am involved with is red squirrels.
So if we could get red squirrels back into West Yorkshire that will also link in to other
things like tourism which will then link into the levee.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:37:28
Sorry I thought you were focusing on the climate emergency so I now understand what you're
talking about.
So absolutely, let's get the red squirrels.
Let's start the campaign now.
You know, bringing in greater diversity of wildlife is really
important and that's why we need cleaner water.
That's why we need cleaner air.
And, you know, being able to see in other places in the country
and Europe where they've really doubled down on, for example,
water quality in London and now they've got otters in the Thames. You can now
swim in the Serpentine in Paris when it used to be a dumping ground. With the
political will, with all of us facing in the right direction and pulling together,
we could be quite transformational for our region. So I do support you Brian and
your Red Squirrel campaign.
Cllr Colin Campbell - 1:38:28
processes Limited Square Park, for instance, and for aOkay, this will become a public place
for construction, which is something mostINAITOL populations have issues.
And of course, it's a local thing for me because I will say I did ask the team at WICA about
if they'd made an input into a particular large proposal that was happening locally,
only to be told that they wouldn't do that.
So I'm slightly concerned that there might be a disparity between our high ambition and
what our officers are saying.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:39:20
I share your frustration, Councillor.
I'm not a totalitarian leader, sadly, so I can't have everything I want, but I have to
work in partnership with local authorities and they have their own priorities.
We will set out our vision and we will do everything in our power to ensure the best outcomes and that we are strategically delivering on our strategies.
And for example, if one local authority is particularly averse to something that is important to us, then we may resource it somewhere else across the local – across West Yorkshire in order to meet our targets, which are important.
So I'm not sure what you are the particular issue, but maybe we could take that offline chair
Unless you know what it is
Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:40:13
It to do with the development that was taking place council Campbell in a certain part of the
Yeah, I was told quite categorically that you wouldn't comment
ie
In relation to the local nature recovery strategy for West Yorkshire the implications on that side
I appreciate that's a slightly parochial comment and probably not there but I need to raise
that because I feel there is an issue in relation to the communications, if that's the right
word, between the various elements.
Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:40:49
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:40:55
Thank you. As I think I've explained it, Chair, that local authorities have their own mandates.
I will do my bit to deliver on my mandate and my objectives.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 1:41:04
I think you're absolutely spot on because I've had this conversation with you before and it happens in my local authority too.
So I'll catch up with you afterwards, Councillor Campbell.
Councillor Ingham.
Cllr Joe Ingham - 1:41:23
Which of the performance measures ensures that locally tailored technical and vocational routes are being made available for 16 to 19 years?
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:41:27
year olds. Thank you so much for this. This is a passion project of mine because I was
privileged to have been part of the Alan Milburn Review and we know that there are too many
young people not in employment, education or training and we have to solve this problem
because it's a moral imperative and we cannot let down this generation who actually do want
to work and do want to contribute and do want to have a rich and fulfilling life. Now we
We have a number of issues around the technical education.
Initially, we only had responsibilities and devolved
powers of the adult education budget post -19.
When you're a youngster leaving at 16, there are then three
years where no one is tracking you or ensuring you get training
or whatever, and then we pick them up at 19.
And I would suggest that the damage is done.
And frankly, if you're a young person that hasn't worked,
by 26 you never work.
So surely the moral imperative is to get them at 16.
Now that's why rewiring the state has been helpful
because we will now have responsibilities for post -16
and also some influence on 14 -year -olds
and opportunities for careers advice and so on.
And that's what I'm really pressing for
is devolve powers around careers
because we can then pathway those 14 -year -olds
into the college and to the courses they do at school
to enable them to go to college.
One of the biggest issues is sufficiency
and capacity of our colleges.
Because we are really proud that we have
the centre of excellence for construction here in Leeds
for the whole of Yorkshire and Humber,
and yet they're turning away 16 year olds hand over fist
because the place they want to do
is that capacity.
So we are supporting them and lobbying government
to enable us to loan to them so they can build more capacity.
Now we had 10 million given to Leeds last year
for extra capacity.
We've had another 13 million to support our FE colleges.
But the need is 10 times that.
So we have to have a way where we
can be more influential or more useful in lending to colleges
who have ambitions to expand.
Because the prime minister is absolutely right
that the hard hat should be as important as the mortar board.
And so many young people, they try and get on a course.
They don't get on a course.
They do a course that means they go to college,
but they're not interested.
They fall out of the course.
They get, you know, they're full of despair,
they're in their bedroom, and then we've got a problem
on our hands.
My passion and my determination is also,
who is actually tracking these youngsters?
The accountability and the oversight of these young people
is not joined up, and that's where I see the power
of the office really could come into its own.
with the right access to the data,
we can see that young child who is not school ready
when they go to school,
track them through to leaving school at 15, 16,
and then when they fall out of the education system
or whatever happens to them,
who then picks them up and gets them into work,
gets them training,
or they become sick with poor mental health.
Who is the person is then saying,
It's not what you can't do. It's what you can do and let's talk about what you can do
Let's get you into a training course or a job and then it's down to me as well to identify and help
businesses create those jobs for young people
so we've got some
numbers across the whole of the region on those
niche youngsters
Leads 8 % something higher than the national average
Bradford is at 4 percent.
I think Colesdale and Kirklees aren't doing too badly.
But in Bradford, people are in training,
but there's no jobs, so they've got high unemployment.
So we have to take an overview of the whole region,
and that's why transport is critical to ensure that those
young Bradfordians who are full of ideas and talents can come to
Leeds or Wakefield or Huddersfield to get a job,
and are not just within the boundary of Bradford.
Because, frankly, if you've trained as a pharmacist and
and there's only a set number of pharmacies in Bradford,
and those roles are all full,
you will sit on the unemployment benefit.
But if you can get access to other communities,
then you can get employed.
So that's a bit of a rambling answer
to something that is really important for all of us,
I think, that technical education to make sure youngsters
are able to be part of our good news storey
when we're building more homes, we're delivering a tram,
We want engineers for our electric busses.
We want the pipeline of talent coming through.
And I would say some of our FE colleges are really
innovative in this space.
Kirklees, I was at Kirklees College a few months ago,
and they had a young lad had just through May heard
that they had a centre where you could practise on a digger.
I just walked in and said, can I sign up?
He went on this module programme.
and then he finished the module and then he went to work for Trans -Pennine and
it's all within walking distance and it was because it was there and it was
available and it was in his eye line. Our issue is you can live in Hare
Hills and you see the the shiny you know financial professional services district
in the distance but you wouldn't feel that that's for you necessarily. Where
can we give them the opportunity to be ambitious in other roles that are needed
across our region. So thank you, Councillor Ingham, for giving me the opportunity to be
on my soapbox about our young people. We all have a responsibility, it's a moral imperative
to get our youngsters, to bring that hope back to our youngsters.
Thank you, Mayor. One final question from Councillor Padgett.
Cllr Steven Padgett - 1:47:53
Thank you. I'm absolutely delighted that you're as passionate as am I about helping to get
young people into meaningful roles.
In my main day job, which isn't being a counsellor,
I can assure you, I run a centre of excellence for a national
centre of excellence, which is, I'm afraid to admit,
just outside your remit because it sits in South Yorkshire
near Doncaster.
The issue that we have, apart from the fact that we work
really, really hard at training people from up and down the
breadth of the country and getting them through our training packages and into real jobs at
the other end.
But with those who are 19 or above, getting government funding to which they are entitled,
getting access to it is really, really difficult because those monies are affected by the devolved
distribution.
and as a national centre of excellence we have people coming from Cumbria or from Exeter
and it is virtually impossible to get hold of the money that allows us to train as many
of them as we like or to give as many spaces and make as many spaces as we wish to for
those people. Is there anything you can do, while still I hope standing on that soapbox,
to help us bring a different perspective to that adult funding budget, maybe it could
all be travelled through West Yorkshire, who knows, for learners who come from distributed
parts of the country.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:49:33
You've really identified the challenge from centralised funding and regional funding and
The funding that we are using to deliver on our outcomes and our growth targets, etc
It's something can we take away because I think that's quite a complex narrative and I'm sorry that you're in South Yorkshire, but anyway
We train lots of people from
Your very good feelings if there's something
Cllr Steven Padgett - 1:50:07
Come technically to help
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:50:11
I was only going to say I have committed to come see you.
And we're just trying to get data that works.
So we will come and see the work that you're doing.
And horse racing college.
Oh, the horse racing.
Perhaps of a different sort.
Yes, yes.
So we will come see you and take what we can learn from it.
Not to get too technical, but this
is at the heart of some of the conversations
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:50:32
that we're having.
So if you look at the way the country is divvied up
for combined authorities, does the money follow the residents
or does it follow the provision on the Apache?
And whichever way you swing is similar
to the fiscal devolution conversation.
There will be someone who is left out in the margins
or a certain provision that is not catered for in the margins
that is difficult.
What we do is because we have good relations
with our neighbouring authorities,
we do pay for provision that our residents take up
over the border. So if there's a West Yorkshire resident who has to go to Ascombrine or Craven
College or Barnsley College, we have an arrangement that means we are able to take care of that so they
are not left out. But we'll come see you and get into the finer details and see what's possible.
Didn't we have a situation with the Northern College as well?
We did.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:51:40
where we're trying to work with other mayoralities to ensure that people can move around borders
and get the best provision available. And there will be people coming from Grimsby to our
northern to our college of building and there will be our young people going to Grimsby to learn about
refrigeration cooling. So yeah we have to be able to be smarter at this. Thank you Felix.
Thank you. Councillor Reid. I noticed you had your hand up. Can you make it a quick
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 1:52:09
question? Very quick. Thank you, Lord Mayor. It's wonderful to hear just how…
Cllr Ian Reed - 1:52:13
I'm not your Lord Mayor, lovely. Councillor Cohen was the Lord Mayor.
There you go. It's wonderful to hear just how passionate you are about young people
and the growth. But in particular, the Growth Hub, our high streets are really struggling.
Our city centres are struggling, this is not just our region but this is probably the whole
region there.
As an example, Bradford brings in 11 % of its yearly income from business rates.
Lots of big businesses and you attended on Monday the scale of 26 which was absolutely
fantastic event.
With the Growth Hub, is there any way we can hold our local councils to account?
a bit of a healthy competition maybe, just to force our hands to make sure that we do
everything we can through the Grove Hub, giving people the opportunities, because that's all
we've got on our treatises, opportunities, to hold them to account, to cheque these figures
to see if there's any funding available and saying well we will put this funding to the
people that are seen to be providing results rather than allowing it throughout everybody
for the Grove Hope. Healthy competition I think would really draw all the councils to
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:53:31
really really go that extra mile. It was a great event actually and really pleasing to
see a lot of the hard work that's gone on for the last five years come to fruition,
whether that's investment in the media museum, the news station and you'll know better than
Councillor Hinchliffe was a passionate advocate for that station and also
Bradford Live, what an amazing venue, much investment over the years there and
we've got there after the Mercurys in the Northeast I'm really pleased that
the Brit School are coming to Bradford. So Bradford has a great good news storey
and this does relate to a previous question when it comes to the High
Street, I think there are opportunities with the overnight visitor levy, for example, how
you would then pivot some of that income to make your high streets more attractive for
visitors, et cetera. I'm not sure about the healthy competition. There is definitely healthy
competition between mayors. I think we're the best here, but anyway. But do you want
to come in, Felix? Thank you, Mayor. Just specifically on the
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:54:40
high street bit. So we talked about the Growth Hub. The Growth Hub is obviously more than
the website, we're sort of doing three levels of activity here.
So the website is one too many, and that's what we discussed last time.
It's a middle tier of activity, and we are working with a range of partners.
I talked about the affiliates, about 15, 16 that we've signed so far.
We have a particular arrangement with our local authority partners, and we are providing
funding revenue and capital to each of the five local authorities, and part of that funding
is specifically about high streets
and supporting our high streets to be revitalised.
So I'm happy to have a conversation with you,
but maybe you also want to have a conversation
back at the ranch with your LA to say,
what are you doing with that funding,
that capital that we've given you for your high streets?
What are you doing and what difference are we going to see
over the next couple of years
that this funding is going to be available?
Because as I said, we've done that for all five areas.
But I would also say the investment in Dali Street Market
has been really incredible.
The footfall is off the scale.
Alongside the loading bay, which is a nighttime economy
where people go to the theatre,
then go to Dali Street Market beforehand and have a dinner.
And then you're near Foster Square
with those trains to London.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:56:03
I mean, Bradford is definitely on the up.
And I think it is down to the really hard slog
from the difficult times from local authorities to keep the vision alive and now it's coming
to fruition. So I stand on the shoulders of giants, there's no doubt about it.
Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 1:56:27
Right, there's no more questions. I'd like to thank the Mayor, Felix, Sarah and Kate
for coming along. We've just got a bit of housekeeping to do. Sorry, and Alison, yeah,

7 Scrutiny Workplan and Next Steps

Cllr Bob Felstead Chair - Scrutiny Committee - 1:56:49
Right, so the last bits of scrutiny for today. Item 7 which is the work plan item, we just
need to note it and also note that we're doing some work at Bradford City Village and we
We will summarise and report back to the CA.
It won't be today obviously but we'll get round to doing it.
Today's discussions, questioning and everything.
So unless anybody's got any additional questions I can close the meeting.
No, we still need to table the conclusions.
Yeah, we need to...
I don't know...
No, just hold on.
You closed the meeting, OK?
Yeah.
There you go.
We forgot to table the conclusions note from the pre -meeting so officially and that's it.
So do we show of hands?
Yeah show of hands?

8 Meeting dates

Okay thanks everyone. Cheers.
It's closed now.