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Healthy Working Life Board
Wednesday, 28th October 2026 at 9:00am

 
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  1. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
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  1. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
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  1. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  2. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  3. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  4. Cllr Cllr Stephen Place Bradford Council
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  1. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  2. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  3. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  4. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  5. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  6. Professor John Wright, Bradford Institute for Health Research
  7. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  8. Professor John Wright, Bradford Institute for Health Research
  9. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  10. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  11. Mr Carl Hawkes Yorkshire Sport Foundation
  12. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  13. Cllr Eleanor Thomson (Leeds City Council)
  14. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  15. Mr Cllr Paul Hawkaluk Calderdale Council
  16. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  17. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  18. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  19. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  20. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  21. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  22. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  23. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  24. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  25. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  26. Cllr Cllr Stephen Place Bradford Council
  27. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  28. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  29. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
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  1. Peter Glover, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  3. Cllr Eleanor Thomson (Leeds City Council)
  4. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  5. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  6. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  7. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  8. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  9. Mr Carl Hawkes Yorkshire Sport Foundation
  10. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  11. Mr Carl Hawkes Yorkshire Sport Foundation
  12. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  13. Professor John Wright, Bradford Institute for Health Research
  14. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  15. Jennifer Connolly Consultant in Public Health
  16. Mr Carl Hawkes Yorkshire Sport Foundation
  17. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  18. Mr Carl Hawkes Yorkshire Sport Foundation
  19. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  20. Joshua Rickayzen, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  21. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  22. Cllr Cllr Stephen Place Bradford Council
  23. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  24. Ms. Helen Browne, Department for Work and Pensions
  25. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  26. Ms. Helen Browne, Department for Work and Pensions
  27. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  28. Ms. Helen Browne, Department for Work and Pensions
  29. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  30. Joshua Rickayzen, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  31. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  32. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  33. Cllr Eleanor Thomson (Leeds City Council)
  34. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  35. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  36. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  37. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  38. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  39. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  40. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  41. Mr Cllr Paul Hawkaluk Calderdale Council
  42. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
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  1. Joshua Rickayzen, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  3. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  4. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  5. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  6. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  7. Ms. Helen Browne, Department for Work and Pensions
  8. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
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  1. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  2. Ms. Esther Ashmann, NHS Yorkshire
  3. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  4. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  5. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  6. Joshua Rickayzen, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  7. Mr Carl Hawkes Yorkshire Sport Foundation
  8. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  9. Professor John Wright, Bradford Institute for Health Research
  10. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  11. Cllr Eleanor Thomson (Leeds City Council)
  12. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  13. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  14. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  15. Cllr Cllr Stephen Place Bradford Council
  16. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  17. Cllr Cllr Michael Simmons Kirklees Council
  18. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  19. Ms. Esther Ashmann, NHS Yorkshire
  20. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
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  1. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  2. Ms. Michelle Burton, Head of Employment and Skills, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  3. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  4. Ms. Michelle Burton, Head of Employment and Skills, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  5. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  6. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  7. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  8. Ms. Michelle Burton, Head of Employment and Skills, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  9. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  10. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  11. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  12. Ms. Michelle Burton, Head of Employment and Skills, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  13. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  14. Jennifer Connolly Consultant in Public Health
  15. Ms. Helen Browne, Department for Work and Pensions
  16. Cllr Eleanor Thomson (Leeds City Council)
  17. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  18. Ms. Michelle Burton, Head of Employment and Skills, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  19. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  20. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
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  1. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  2. Mr Cllr Paul Hawkaluk Calderdale Council
  3. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  4. Cllr Cllr Michael Simmons Kirklees Council
  5. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  6. Ms. Michelle Burton, Head of Employment and Skills, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
  7. Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
  8. Webcast Finished

Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:00:00
I like our new poster. That's new, isn't it?
It's great.
Fabulous.
You see the big one there?
Yeah.
Okay, we are online apparently.
So welcome everyone to our Healthy Working Life board meeting.
This is my first meeting as co -chair.
And just by way of introduction, I'm Mark Chamberlain.
I chair West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board.
And my co -chair you'll know very well, Tracey.
So welcome everyone today.
I think there are some new faces here in the room who haven't been at meetings before.
So just a bit of a reminder.
First of all, please press the button on your microphone, the speak button, not the interrupt
button, when you want to speak.
And I think what we'll do is we'll work through the meeting in a conventional sense going
down the agenda, so we'll pick everything up as we go through.
I think, again, because this is the first meeting for me and for a number of other colleagues,
although it was just worthwhile that we remind ourselves what this board is about and why
we're here.
So I think it's just I'm going to kind of read this to some extent, but we're here to
consider to work as a board to reduce economic activity in West Yorkshire, and that's through
providing strategic direction, challenge, oversight.
And that oversight is to the appropriate accountable bodies
and decision makers.
And it's looking across that wider employment landscape.
And recommendations made by this board will influence the current
programmes of development and also prepare us for future programmes.
So we have quite a big influence in that context.
Looking ahead, I think also we're part of the input to the
West Yorkshire Combined Authority,
the integrated care boards, that's my world,
but also the five local authority areas.
So Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield,
and the Department for Work and Pensions.
It's good that we've got DWP colleagues with us today.
So it's important stuff.
Also what we'll do is work, so essentially what we'll do is
work together on initiatives about improving healthy outcomes for the people of West Yorkshire,
helping them to be in employment, being a productive part of our region and, you know,
having healthy lives for them and their families. Important stuff. So I think it's just important
we talk about that context. We will come back to this because later on in the agenda we
have a discussion about the future of this particular board and the shape that it will
take.
But I just thought it was important to put that out at the start.
Okay.
So let's go into the slightly more formal part of the agenda.
So apologies.

1 Apologies for Absence

Rotimi, would you be able to confirm the apologies for us, please?
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:02:54
Thank you very much, Chair.
We have apologies from Councillor Arif, Councillor Sudal and Councillor Johnson, David Maloney,
Kim Schutler, Ian Holmes, Julie Carter, Lauren Jackson, and Susie Breen -England.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So, we can only imagine, you know, the scale of the meeting when we have everyone here.
I think it's also important to note that the range of members and attenders from different
parts of our system, you know, is important.
So we welcome those people being here when they are, but note they're not here today.
Any declarations of interest for those of us present in relation to the items on the
agenda today?

2 Declarations of Disclosable Interests

Not seeing any, so I'll take that as no.

3 Minutes of the Public Meeting held on 29 January 2026

We turn then to item three, which is the minutes of the meeting, which was held on the 29th
of January.
So first of all, any concerns about accuracy of those minutes that anyone would like to
raise?
Any points of accuracy?
No.
And any matters arising that aren't already identified
elsewhere on the agenda?
And again, I'm seeing a no.
So, are we happy to take that as an accurate record?
Yep.
Great.
Okay.
So, in terms of co -chairs update, well,

4 Co-Chair's Update

I'm going to start this and then I think hand to Felix.
But obviously, Tracey, clearly, if you want to add,
then feel free.
So I think, again, just to go back to where we were,
again, thank you and welcome everyone to this meeting.
We had a meeting in January, but this is the first one that I
think a number of us have been to.
And I think this part of the importance of this meeting is
kind of set in the direction and almost like underlining the fact
that this is an important part of the way we do business across
multiple parts of the system in West Yorkshire.
So it is really important.
Clearly, when we look at what's happening at the moment,
the labour market and the factors that influence that,
like the health of our people, is quite a significant issue,
both nationally and locally.
We hear it in national politics all the time.
And very important.
And I think it's worth noting that we've seen a slight
decrease in both national unemployment and inactivity
figures at the moment, which is a concern.
Clearly, we want to take the opportunity for West Yorkshire to really be in an extremely
good place in this sense.
So that's where we need to focus.
We're also really aware that there are structural barriers in the way of how we achieve our
aim to have the healthiest workforce and residents in West Yorkshire by 2040.
And item six on the agenda, which is about the employment landscape data, gives us an
opportunity to look at some of that.
So we will pick that as we go through,
and we'll have some insight into that.
I think the other thing that's worth calling out is the fact
that we see that there will be some quite significant changes
as we move forward.
And, you know, we have a budget today.
We have the national government publication about rewiring the
state, which is going to have significant impact for us.
And, of course, we have the whole devolution agenda,
which continues. So a number of significant things which will help I think to underpin
the opportunity for what we can do here and provide some enablers as well and we need
to approach them in that sort of way. So at that point I'm going to actually hand over
to Felix to give us a little bit more information on some of the things that are going on in
West Yorkshire. May I jump in initially? Yeah, certainly. Morning folks, really good to see
And it is an exciting day today because it's budget day,
but also because we have a Prime Minister who used to be a mayor.
And I think this board is a great indication of how we've
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:07:04
lent into it in the collaborative approach.
DWP colleagues, it's great that you're here,
but also other organisations, our local authority leaders,
and also health partners.
we know that there is, our challenge here is the
opportunity inequality, whether that's health,
whether that's skills, whether that's transport,
housing, and we collectively, through further
deeper devolution, have the chance to turn that around.
And we'll see from some of Peter's statistics later on,
we have a job to do, and unfortunately we're not
moving fast enough, so we have to lean into this
opportunity and devolution.
And I'm pleased to say that this government do see us as a mature
strategic authority where we're also award -winning.
Thank you, skills team.
And we want to do more of that.
We want to be actually the leader in this space of
collaboration and cooperation and what we call the West
Yorkshire Way Working Partnership.
So thank you very much for your focus over the last year or so.
but change is also afoot as we go deeper into devolution.
So I just want to pass over to Felix.
But today is exciting and gives us an opportunity
to be really innovative, to be a game changer,
to be the pioneers that we know we are in West Yorkshire,
to really make that difference.
So thank you.
Over to you, Felix.
Thank you, Mayor.
And that's perfect segue, really, for me to come in.
There's a lot of work that was kicked off through the summer
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:08:47
with rewiring the state, which we expect to come to a head.
I'm sure there will be some pronouncements today,
but a white paper next month we're expecting,
and then into next year, you know,
the powers and responsibilities that will flow from that.
I think with regards to this board,
there are maybe three or four lines that are,
could be really interesting,
and will significantly, fundamentally change the
role that the combined authority plays, the role
that our local authorities and partners play in
shaping the lives of residents.
We've heard about post -14, 14 to 16 education, and the
emphasis the government is putting on that to ensure
that young people have access to the vocational and technical
pathways that give them a richer set of choices and options that
hopefully will lead them into careers that are also relevant
for their places.
And currently, we don't have a particular role in, you know,
education below 19 years old.
We will have a much greater role.
And we are working with government partners to nail
exactly what that end state responsibility will look like.
But that is a good thing.
And we've already done some work, Michelle and team,
thinking policy -wise what 14 to 16 vocational and technical
pathways will look like.
So we have a bit of a head start.
There is then post -16 education.
That is massive.
That is currently we adult skills budget gives us you know a key relationship
with our FE colleges we've got seven of them and our independent training
providers but for none of them will we be more than I don't know 10 to 20
percent of their budgets. That is completely going to flip and for some we
might be almost all their budget responsibility. So we're talking post 16
talking to the form colleges, school set forms, FE colleges, training providers. And that
gives us an opportunity, one we stop talking about adult skills and we just talk skills,
and how we move from 14 through 16 into employment, careers, enterprise, et cetera. And how we
use local policies shaped by our politicians, the mayor and our leaders, to then drive how
we use funding to incentivize certain changes
and certain behaviours.
So it's a great opportunity there
in the 16 to 18 education space.
Post 19, we're already doing that,
but we are now able to have a more seamless flow
and we don't have to wait to pick up a challenge
when a young person hits 19.
There is also, and great to have colleagues from DWP here,
the promise, commitment really,
to devolve employment support to mayors
and to combined authorities.
And again, this is significant.
We already play a role, but we are a small cog
in quite a big wheel right now.
This changes, and we become really integral partners
with DWP and with other partners.
And it will fundamentally change the remit of this board.
And looking at the challenge that we've got with the numbers, with youth unemployment
and others, we will not be able to point the finger at anybody else if the problem doesn't
shift.
It will be on us.
And it's an exciting opportunity.
So there is something significant there.
And finally, you know about LSIPs, the skills improvement partnerships, that we sort of
core developer that is led by the chambers here.
Again, there is a big move for combined authorities to have a
much bigger role there.
So taking all that together, there is quite a shift from the
centre to the local areas to combine authorities and to
partners around the table to take greater ownership of the
opportunity, but also the challenge and to use the
resources that come with that for us to shape the future so far of our residents, especially
young people.
It's really exciting, but it's huge, and we'll see where we get to.
Thank you, Felix.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:13:26
So I suppose just to close this session off, in previous meetings we've also talked about
the importance of developing connected data systems to support the work that we're doing.
So I wonder if I could just ask Jen Connolly to comment on that for us.
Thank you. Morning everyone. I'm Jen Connolly, Associate Director for Health Partnerships and Determinants.
I work jointly between the ICB and the Combined Authority in West Yorkshire.
So John may want to add to this, but we've had a really positive meeting
including John, partners from the ICB,
looking at how we can learn and build on the work that's been
done in Connected Bradford to really push forward a connected
West Yorkshire.
So that's an opportunity to build on that nationally
recognised success in Connected Bradford and think about West
Yorkshire -wide capability for improvement, for research,
innovation and population health.
It's got a potential to become a major strategic asset for West
and the vision really is to create a single linked data
asset that brings together healthcare, education, housing,
wider determinants, so it's a big bold vision.
It would then be able to support both research and operational
service improvement and would enable a stronger focus on
prevention, early intervention, and reducing inequalities.
It aligns with the work that's going on around a Yorkshire and
Humber secure data environment from the outset as well.
So I think the opportunity is there because we've got the kind
of the known experience from Connected Bradford.
And we've got this growing opportunity with the changing
nature of the ICB around using population health intelligence
differently as well.
So it feels like the right sort of time.
It could give us the chance to really better understand how
housing, education, employment affect health outcomes.
We know that that model exists.
It gives us an opportunity to dig into that for the
population of West Yorkshire even more.
It would also potentially give us the ability to have
a more sophisticated population health management
approach as well, and to use that as a stronger evidence
base for our service planning and using that as a
single sort of data source.
There's the added benefit of it enabling us to become an
increasing in our attractiveness across West Yorkshire
as a centre for life sciences and innovation,
which is already one of our key strengths.
There's a number of challenges we need to resolve.
So we've established a working group to take this forward.
We need to initially probably identify
a number of compelling use cases that we can use
to then be able to demonstrate the value.
There's an awful lot of kind of legal
and governance issues to address.
We need to get the approvals right.
You know, we're talking about significant amounts of data,
We have the expertise to help us with that.
So we're looking at exploring some priority use cases.
We welcome the strong support that this
board has given and that will really help us take that forward.
So it feels like the kind of working group that we've
established really helps us take that forward.
I know there's then discussions within the ICB about making sure that that aligns with
the digital technology work streams and so on.
And so we'll continue to kind of build the cases and build the way forward from there.
But yeah, thank you.
Thank you, Jen.
Important stuff.
Yeah, I'm happy to take any questions and comments.
So going to Stephen.
Thank you very much, Chair.
Cllr Cllr Stephen Place Bradford Council - 0:17:10
We have to build on that success.
But the 18 to 24 is a completely different picture with double the national average.
We have a task force at the moment where we're trying to create 3 ,000 new opportunities.
So I'm asking that any future funding and programmes be localised around the need of the
the
Labour party rather than a generic regional approach if
that's possible.
So we can dig into what's needed.

6 Employment Landscape Data

5 District Reporting

Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:17:46
The numbers are a bit frightening for the 18 to 24
Claremont group.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:17:53
≫ If I may, the challenges are mixed across the whole region.
And in Leeds, for example, the number of NEETs is
eight point something, which is way above the
national average.
And the challenge I would suggest in Bradford, you've
some very clever young people, but the jobs aren't
there, and part of the problem is transport.
So that's why I'm very grateful, Stephen, for your
support for Tram and at that new station in Bradford.
We have to get those young people potentially trained
to be pharmacists who there's no pharmacists left to give them a job, but they could then
get a job in a pharmacy in Huddersfield or in Leeds. So if I may just gently say it is
a strategic vision to ensure that we have a workforce that can move around the whole
region rather than just expect jobs to be in their particular postcode. So I take your
point and you are absolute local and you know, you're really leading the way on this in Bradford.
but we want to take your learnings and share those across the whole region.
But Felix, did you want to come in?
Then I'm sure John might want to come in as well.
I'm not chairing this, I'm sorry.
It's just a natural default.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:19:03
I'm so sorry, Felix.
It's fine.
Don't be.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:19:08
No, all I was going to say, so thank you, thank you.
I think the point is very well made.
We don't actually have a generic regional offer.
So, insofar as the combined authority has a role currently, it plays out very locally.
We provide funding through Employment West Yorkshire for a skills house and its equivalents
across the region and that is localised.
So we don't have that.
We are not planning to have that.
But the mayor is absolutely right that what we have is a regional labour market with over
90 % of the people who live here also working here.
And when we talk about apprenticeships,
I think about 40 % to 50 % actually
travel across local authority boundaries
to access the opportunity.
So we need to continue to make sure
that we are expanding the horizons of our residents
and be able to access opportunity wherever
that will be.
But also, I completely agree with you,
make sure that it has a local arrowhead,
So that's whatever local nuances or design is required, we are playing into that, we
are funding that, we are supporting that as much as we can.
And where there's great practise, like you've mentioned, Councillor, on the needs side,
we need to learn from that and make sure the rest of the region benefits from it.
So thank you.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:20:35
Thank you Felix.
Right, let's go to John.
I'm going to go back to the data, if that's okay, Jeff.
Professor John Wright, Bradford Institute for Health Research - 0:20:44
Yeah, good progress I think. I have been knocking at this door for a while. I think what we've
shown in the West, West Yorkshire, is the power of linked data, not just healthcare
data but local government environment, transport data, what you can do. And people are coming
to us now to answer big questions. Peter Fonigian has reviewed on prevalence of mental health,
Adam Milburn and his review about NEET. We have the answers here. I'm really keen we
expand this across West Yorkshire.
I caught Mark beforehand.
And I think what I,
what our conversations with Jen and the group has been,
this can be quite abstract, I think.
You know, just data, data, data.
There's challenges in terms of information governance,
but we've shown you can do it safely and securely.
We host the Yorkshire and Humber secure data environment
in West Yorkshire.
So I think the technical challenges are surmountable.
I think we've got to bring it to life
to make it relevant to people's concerns.
And the areas that we've sort of narrowed down on Jen,
I think, as she said, are life sciences,
how can we do more with our fantastic leading
bioscience industry.
Housing, which is one of the wider determinants things,
which, you know, just the power of linking housing data
and health data is really impressive.
And then the NEET, mental health agenda,
if we link in education.
So that's the challenge,
looking at education local government health data. It's been done before in
Liverpool are overtaking us now. North London are doing it as well. So if we
could do this it would be a big prize. You know this country is not going to
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:22:20
win any trophies when it comes to AI but our assets are our data. So I think I
don't know how we do we need a task and finish group Jen to do this? Should we
Should we suggest that?
We've got that group pulled together now.
Take it forward.
I have a second point, which relates to Felix.
Okay.
And I think Tracey might like to comment as well.
So we're also setting up a schools research platform,
Professor John Wright, Bradford Institute for Health Research - 0:22:46
which is trailblazing nationally,
building on what we've done in Bournemouth Bradford.
So primary and secondary schools,
testing randomised controlled trials,
evaluating national policies.
If we could do that across West Yorkshire,
I think that would be also a big prize.
So perhaps we could take this offline and think about how we expand those plans to do
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:23:05
everything.
So that's health and education.
Thank you.
Tracy?
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:23:14
Just one thing I wanted to ask, and I'm really pleased that Karl's here because part of this
picture, particularly around mental health, is team sports, getting out and being active,
is a real counter to poor mental health and getting young people out of their bedroom.
How integrated is Yorkshire's Sport Foundation and the work that you're doing?
Because this is a good opportunity I would suggest.
Yeah, I'm quite excited for rewiring the state and what that could mean for us.
Mr Carl Hawkes Yorkshire Sport Foundation - 0:23:44
We are targeted by Sport England to deliver against a number of set outcomes which are
nationally dictated to us and loads of those are very relevant to the work we do in West
Yorkshire.
So I work in schools, for example.
But there's nothing on needs.
And I was reading the papers last night,
and I was looking at some other data sources.
And of the young people who are economically
inactive in West Yorkshire,
who claim a health -related benefit,
they are still economically inactive.
Two years later, or 70 % of them are.
And some of those key drivers are around health,
which can be solved through movement of physical activity.
And so for me, I'm really eager to think about
how can we orientate my organisation better
towards the goals and aims of West Yorkshire
to help address some of these challenges,
taking a whole systems approach
to try and improve physical activity levels
across the region.
Okay, that wasn't an answer to your question, I'm sorry,
but I think there's an opportunity for us to explore.
Thank you, Carl.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:24:39
And then finally in this section,
I think we've got Helen who wants to come in.
Thank you very much, Chair.
Yeah, really encouraged to hear about the work in schools.
Cllr Eleanor Thomson (Leeds City Council) - 0:24:48
particularly representing an area right on the border where a lot of young people travel
in and out from Leeds into Bradford, from Bradford into Leeds, they don't really worry
about the boundary if the opportunity is there and they can get there, which is sometimes
the issue, especially with the trains in Beildon, then they'll go where the opportunity is.
From a Leeds perspective, one of our real concerns is the gap in data at post 18 when
and pass the statutory education level, it becomes really, really difficult to track
young people. And so we're too reliant on local and anecdotal evidence, so really keen
to see some work around that to try and pull that information together and perhaps what
John's talking about might be really useful in doing that.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:25:33
Thank you, thanks, Anna. I think there's a number of factors, sort of strands, coming
together here, aren't there? So let me go to Paul.
Mr Cllr Paul Hawkaluk Calderdale Council - 0:25:46
Thank you chair, as a general comment in Colgate we are very acutely aware of the need issue,
whilst we are below the national average and below the West Yorkshire average it still
doesn't make us complacent because it is a growing problem and it is a real problem and
you couple that with potential mental health issues with young people and older adults
it is a real problem. I mentioned at the last meeting about the option of actually funding
if I want to have a better term, apprenticeships.
My thinking here is joining up with education, joining up with learning skills of 16 to 18 year olds,
when eventually you do get the funding, and I hope it's significant,
you actually look at hard projects of creating a local college course in something like grounds management or engineering management.
we can actually employ apprentices as local councils.
They go through the two year apprenticeship,
once they've achieved the vocational qualification and the work,
we then look to keep them on in our councils and we give them full time jobs.
So I'm just wondering if that can be an option to look at,
that a really hard, basically a very hard thing I've seen,
there's your money, take your apprentices on,
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:27:04
get them through an education, get them the skills,
and then they become actually part of a skilled workforce.
Anyone want to comment on that?
Question at the moment.
Thanks chair.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:27:18
So it's a really good idea and my colleagues are noting it down.
We had a good conversation with Councillor Judson a month or so ago along similar lines.
So there is something that we are sort of thinking through.
We don't do.
We don't do.
Now, starting new courses in colleges and things like that, I'm sure you're not straightforward.
And setting up apprenticeship standards and things like that are very, very complicated
things to do.
But there is something about leaning into what already is there, expanding it, especially
where there is demand.
We know about construction and others where we can, you know, there's more demand than we can meet and
How we can weave that into areas where we already have a certain amount of control
So you use the local authority example if council building council housing is going to be a big thing
How do we use that and provide more opportunity? So we completely alive to that we need to
Exploit a bit more to see how we make it work
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:28:24
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:28:26
It will be interesting to see how and if we are able to make that become part of the wider
participation service offer that we are designing.
So, yeah, it's a great idea.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:28:34
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:28:35
If I may just jump in as well on the back of that.
As you know, the West Yorkshire promise promises more apprenticeships and this government are
promising more apprenticeships.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:28:42
But still, Skills England, even though all the mayors have said Skills England is centralising
what really needs to be devolved,
they are going to be holding onto apprenticeships because of
standards, and their standards need to be equitable across the
whole country.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:29:00
So we're trying to make the case that we need more flexibility on
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:29:01
apprenticeships because particularly for us,
whether that's engineers for our franchise busses,
our transport planners for our tram,
for that massive house building project for the retrofit of our
social homes, we are already doing the preparation of the pipeline, the skills pipeline, but
I like that additional piece of the jigsaw, which is looking at gaps in local authorities
that you're finding hard to fill. Where can we build those apprenticeships to keep young
people in our region so they don't have to leave to achieve? So let's take that conversation
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:29:42
on further about apprenticeships, but this is the way we really focus on the hard hat
rather than the mortar board, isn't it?
Okay, thank you.
And Steve, I think I'll answer it to you
before we move on, I think.
Thank you very quickly.
Just following on from Councillor Hawke,
in the late 90s, I used to lecture at Ascombe Bryan College
and the biggest courses there was greenkeepers
and groundsmen, and I think that is a real pathway
Cllr Cllr Stephen Place Bradford Council - 0:30:05
throughout local authorities in terms of looking after
parks and land and obviously golf courses, et cetera,
and I think there's a real potential growth area there
for young people.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:30:15
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:30:18
Just very quickly, if I may congratulate Calderdale on the course that you were running in Todmeden
on SEND young people, getting them into grounds work. I don't know if that course has ended
but it was a really impactful course.
Yeah, it's a shame.
Anything else?
Great, thank you.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:30:42
Okay, so I think some interesting themes coming out of there around education, but I think
particularly about connectivity, both in the sense of transport and data, which is fundamentally
important, I think, to the opportunities for people across West York as a whole.
So no doubt we will come back to this in detail.
And I think we've got some actions and ways ahead from some of that.
So, we're now onto item five, district reporting.
Now my understanding is that this would be an opportunity for council leaders to comment.
No?
Right.
I think it's item six, employment landscape data, isn't it?
Yeah, I just wondered what – I've got item five on my agenda.
Oh, don't worry.
So, can we skip over item five?
Fine, that's okay.
Let's go to item six, employment data.

6 Employment Landscape Data

So this is a paper which contains information about,
I guess, metrics which really underpin our healthy working
life agenda.
You will see that there's a particular focus on young people
who are not in employment, educational training needs,
youth and employment, long -term and up -term unemployment,
all important factors for us in terms of our gender overall.
So I'm going to hand over to Peter Glover,
who's at the end of the table there,
to just take us through, I think, summarise what we have in this particular set of data.
So Peter, over to you.
Thank you, Chair. So the purpose of the paper is to explore labour market trends that are
Peter Glover, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:32:06
relevant to the Healthy Working Life agenda, which will hopefully provide context to the
board's discussions around policy and interventions. As noted in the paper, the upcoming indicators
set out in the West Yorkshire Healthy Working Life Plan, which was published by the Combined
Authority in 2025 provide a useful reference point for the labour market analysis in terms
of whether we're going in the right direction on key things. And there's a summary table
on pages 15 and 16 of your pack showing the latest figures for some of the key indicators
and also the direction of travel for those indicators. So turning to the indicators,
on the positive side, the region's employment rate gap with the national average show
signs of narrowing. So this is an indicator in the Healthy Working Life Plan and it also
reflects the government's ambition to raise the national employment rate. So West Yorkshire's
employment rate of 72 .8 % is three points lower than the national average of 75 .8 % and in
real terms this equates to 43 ,000 fewer people in employment in West Yorkshire than would
be the case if the region matched the national average performance. However, this 43 % represents
an improvement on the previous year when the gap was 60 ,000. So we can see an improvement
there. Alongside this, the region's performance and economic inactivity has also improved.
So the economic inactivity rate has fallen. It's important to note though that this wasn't
to a decline in the number of people who are inactive due to long term sickness and that
figure remains largely unchanged. The Healthy Working Life Plan also sets out an ambition
to get more people with long term health conditions or disabilities into work and that is certainly
happening so for example the number of people in employment with long term health conditions
grew by 9 % year on year in West Yorkshire and by 32 % over the last decade and that rise
This reflects both growing labour market participation among people with disabilities and health
conditions but also a rapid increase in the number of people reporting long -term health
conditions.
So the disability employment rate gap which compares the employment rate for disabled
people with that of people who are not disabled shows signs of widening which is a cause of
concern.
This is because the number of disabled people in employment is growing in West Yorkshire,
but since the pandemic it's not been growing as fast as the rate of growth in the overall
number of disabled working age people.
An important challenge is the increasing number of people claiming jobless benefits in the
region, particularly among young people, so the overall claimant count increased by 2 %
in the year to August 2026, but the number of young people aged 18 to 24 claiming jobless
benefits grew faster with a 9 % increase over the same period. And then this links into
the issue of young people who are not in education, employment or training. In West Yorkshire
the overall number of young people aged 16 and 17 not in education, employment and training
has been maintained at around 5 % of the total cohort in recent years, which is similar to
the national average, although some at risk groups, such as young people with mental health
conditions, have above average need rates.
There's very limited information, as has been pointed out, at West Yorkshire level,
regarding the number of young people aged 18 to 24 who are not in education or employment
or training, and that's because many of this group have dropped out of the system, and
Therefore measurement relies on national survey data which doesn't provide reliable estimates
for geographies of the size of West Yorkshire.
But we do have figures for Yorkshire and the Humber and the latest estimate indicates that
16 % of young people aged 16 to 24 are not in education, employment or training.
If we apply this proportion to West Yorkshire it suggests that we have 36 ,000 young people
in the region who fall into this category.
The Yorkshire and the Humber figures also show that the prevalence of young people who are neat is growing over time,
from 11 % of the cohort in 2024 to 16 % in 2026.
And it's important to note the health rate of inactivity is believed to be a major factor behind the rising numbers.
And then finally, to end on a somewhat positive note, the monthly count of online vacancy postings is a useful leading indicator of labour market performance.
and the latest figures show that West Yorkshire job market has remained resilient so far in
spite of the wider economic challenges that I'm sure we're all aware of. We've seen growth
in the number of postings of 12 % in the June to August period compared with the previous
quarter and the count's also 3 % higher compared with June to August 2025. It's important to
note, though, that performance has not been uniform and
occupational areas that are particularly important for
young people like retail, customer service,
and hospitality haven't performed as well as that
overall picture.
So they're the points from me, Chair.
I'll hand back to you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Peter.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:37:41
I mean, it's really important we understand and continue to
monitor the situation against all those metrics.
I mean, it's fundamentally important to what we're trying
to achieve both as a board and as an area across West Yorkshire as a whole.
So any comments or questions in relation to what Peter has just told us?
Eleanor.
Thank you.
Thank you, Peter.
Thank you, Chair.
Just a concern that we make sure we're complementing rather than duplicating efforts because local
authorities have been doing a lot of work in data tracking, tracking in people who are
Cllr Eleanor Thomson (Leeds City Council) - 0:38:20
neat, but how does the combined authority of the ICB and others then work with that,
rather than duplicating those measurements, whether that's in supporting and gathering
data or otherwise, so that we're more effective?
Any colleague comment on that one?
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:38:35
Yeah Felix, if you.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:38:44
Thank you. We completely – we know the hard work that local authorities put into this,
and local authorities have had a statutory responsibility in this space for a long, long
time. The Combi Authority hasn't, so we're definitely not looking to duplicate anything.
The information that Peter has just put out is obviously from official statistics, so
It's some of the work that you do that needs data based on some of the work that you do.
So that is us just reporting it.
I think when Alan Milburn's work and the mayor's on the commission report next month,
we know that one of the big things coming is on the tracking bit.
We've got quite a lot of unknowns.
and that distorts the data is also disturbing
because we don't know where these people are
and what they're doing and all of that.
So there is a big duty coming on us, on the mayor,
on partners for us to be able to track young people
up to 24 and to be able to account for their experience
and their outcomes and to be responsible for those outcomes.
That will be a big data point going back to what John said earlier on about how we share
data, what data we collect, how we share, who has it, what we're doing with it.
Currently, there are too many barriers in the way when it comes to sharing data across
all partners.
And so it's one of the key things in rewiring the state that we work to remove those barriers
as much as possible so we can share that information and be better informed in the policies and
interventions that we come up with.
So absolutely no intention to duplicate, God knows we don't have enough resources to start
things from scratch anyway.
But it will be on us to make sure we are sharing data and we are, we are every smarter in how
we work.
And a couple of the papers to come later today should hopefully lead us into such conversations
about how we do that better.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:40:52
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:40:56
Thank you, and if I could just add, I think one of the biggest challenges for us is accountability.
Who is accountable for that young person that then leaves school at 15?
Who is accountable for that young person when they fall out of work because they're unwell?
Who is saying to them, it's not what you can't do, it's what you can do?
And we know as parents, all of us will probably be great parents and, you know, ensure that
children go through these transitional points onto the next point, onto the next opportunity
or keep the door open.
But there are far too many young people that once they fall out of a system, nobody's accountable
to carry them.
And I think it's our job, it's a moral duty actually, to ensure that that young person
in West Yorkshire, it's our responsibility to make sure that they don't fall through
the cracks.
And if they do, we're there to put down a hand to get them out of the pit so that they
can move on to the next phase.
And we can't do that.
We can't be held accountable without the data.
So I think that's really critical.
And I think to your point about data beyond 19,
19 is not the threshold when life becomes sweet.
It's not a magic number.
24 is probably more sensible.
But that's a big piece of work data wise.
And also those interventions have to be also bespoke.
So it's a big piece of work, but we won't let down
the young people of West Yorkshire because the data shows us that it's a crisis and we
can only grow the economy if those young people have a better start in life.
Thank you, Tracey. It's interesting just listening to this. I won't do this every single item
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:42:35
on the agenda, but there are some themes flowing through here and I think that consistency
of data, sharing that data and not duplicating its production, I think is a really important
And I think it will continue, so thank you.
Okay, so, yes, Karl?
Mr Carl Hawkes Yorkshire Sport Foundation - 0:42:57
We probably don't have this, but I'm interested in exploring the idea of within the data set,
what segments do we have to understand what interventions are more effective for different
demographics of individuals, depending on both their age, the barriers they're facing
to employment, and what does that mean in terms of the information that we can then
share sub regionally to help us think about this from a strategic commissioning point of view.
And that might come out of some of the work that's being spoken about earlier.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:43:22
I don't know if that exists or not.
But I just think back to some of my previous work before I joined the Yorkshire Support Foundation
Mr Carl Hawkes Yorkshire Sport Foundation - 0:43:32
running individual placement support programmes, employment support for individuals with mental health conditions.
You could see in all of the randomised control trials right across the world that those interventions
were highly effective for people with mental health conditions.
And when you really dig into some of the interventions, a lot of that was around the clinical support
provided to people, but also some of the support around moving into this activity to help address
the mental health concern, as well as providing employment support to help people move into
work.
And what you could do is really drill into the different segments to understand what
intervention was more effective for beneficiary group A to B to C. And that may not exist,
but it would be interesting to explore that, I guess, as a board together.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:44:12
Yeah, and I think you make a really valid point, and I suspect that John's going to
come in and comment on that.
Yeah, just briefly, absolutely.
Professor John Wright, Bradford Institute for Health Research - 0:44:21
I think, you know, just get the data linked and connected safely and securely, and then
that allows us to evaluate what's happening.
And a big note of warning is that a lot of things that we do don't work, and that's really
important to understand what doesn't work.
Great, thank you.
Okay.
Oh, sorry, Jen.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:44:42
I was just going to say that just to give some assurance that we're not waiting for
Jennifer Connolly Consultant in Public Health - 0:44:48
that data to all be connected. We are evaluating all of the current programmes that we're running
in West Yorkshire at the moment, so we're kind of constantly using that insight to inform
kind of the future direction as well as much as we can with the national evidence base
and then the locally gathered information as well.
Mr Carl Hawkes Yorkshire Sport Foundation - 0:45:07
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:45:10
Mr Carl Hawkes Yorkshire Sport Foundation - 0:45:11
I'm interested in understanding things, where are the gaps and what are the opportunities
and where can we plug in other parts of the system so we connect more of the system together
with itself to help I guess strengthen some of those areas of opportunity, including my
organisation.
Okay, thank you.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:45:26
Okay, we probably need to move on.
We're asked to note the information that Peter shared with us.
I'm happy to note, so we'll do that.
Let's move on to item 7, devolution of employment support.
Again, we're back to rewiring the state, and clearly this has got a vision for further
devolution and the commitment to devolve employment support to mayors, which gives us an opportunity
for sure.
So I'm going to turn to Josh, who's going to take us through this gender item.
So Josh, over to you.
Thank you, Chair.
I'll try and kind of get through this quickly
so we can invite a lot of discussion at the end.
Joshua Rickayzen, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:46:04
The intent of this paper is to cite members
on national developments related to
devolved employment support,
and particularly around the approach to this.
As Felix noted in kind of opening statements,
the current commissioning landscape for employment support
can be very confusing, fragmented,
lots of cogs in the machine to kind of borrow the analogy.
National programmes are often commissioned
on kind of a cohort basis,
which involves kind of prescribed eligibility criteria
and sometimes kind of prescribed delivery mechanisms
within that as well.
So obviously the rewiring the state statement
suggests quite substantial change to the system
and quite substantial change to kind of roles
and responsibilities within that system.
Case for devolution at regional level is strong,
especially given the kind of travel to work
and travel to study patterns across the region.
We are expecting further detail on what devolved employment
support means in practise through the devolution
white paper later this autumn.
There is a lot of engagement happening between
lots of actors in this space at kind of all levels
of seniority and across kind of multiple partners.
So lots of very live conversations about how this is
kind of taking shape and what this will mean in practise.
Ultimately, you know, devolution in this space
should move the landscape away from programmatic
commissioning to something that promotes collaboration
amongst partners, again, referring back to Felix's
opening remarks, with sustained capacity,
sustained capability, and a view to achieving
long -term outcomes as we've covered in some of the
earlier items, and you can see more of that end state
outline of devolution at 3 .8 in the paper.
And then just very quickly, devolution of employment
support is likely to begin with devolution of funds to strategic
authorities related to future support for the long -term unemployed. It is
likely that this funding is expected to be delivered in line with national
guidelines on eligibility with volumes and outcomes set nationally as we
understand so far and there has been quite a clear steer that you know this
first step of devolved employment support should represent a significant
the desired end state described in 3 .8 in the paper.
I will pass back to the chair now for comments from you.
Thank you, Josh.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:48:31
All right.
Any comments or questions in relation to what Josh has just taken us through?
Thank you.
Dean?
Yes.
From Barbara's point of view, I think I can happily say I'm happy with the direction of
travel with this.
I'm worried about the speed of it.
Cllr Cllr Stephen Place Bradford Council - 0:48:47
There's an awful lot of work here to do fairly quickly, and I'm sure you are, but
I'm happy and equipped for this and ready to go.
Because this is, from reading through this, it sounds like it's literally a shovel -ready
operation, and is it at that level now?
Or is there a lot more work to be done?
That's not a question, but I'm happy with the trouble with it.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:49:11
Thanks, Steve.
I just wondered if colleagues from DWP could comment on that in a second maybe.
Sorry to put you on the spot but it was about the pace of implementation.
It's working its way through the department at the minute.
I was just checking actually, that's why I wasn't engaged.
Ms. Helen Browne, Department for Work and Pensions - 0:49:39
We've got a devolution directorate now at DWP and I don't know whether command authority colleagues are aware of that but that just shows the
That's just going to be a space lesson
Yes, great, that's good, I was just checking my note there and that's being headed up by Chris Grey
So I think that just shows the interest that we've got at DWP but it is all working its way through so I can't really comment on the pace
I don't know if Helen's got anything to add to that.
Not really, but it is just working together isn't it?
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:50:12
Hello, I'm Helen, I'm the recently, quite your deputy director for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire
Ms. Helen Browne, Department for Work and Pensions - 0:50:15
for working age services. I'm genuinely delighted to be here.
And it is about how we work together to deliver that pace.
We have expertise in some areas, but so do you, and that's the whole point isn't it?
It's how we work through what the commissioning is.
We don't quite understand all the detail in that delivery ask at the moment.
We will do shortly I'm sure, but it's how we bring in numerous like the Milburn report, the devolution, it's not like a single programme is it?
So I think, you know, hopefully, well we will deliver won't we? We do deliver and I know that West Yorkshire always deliver don't they?
So it's about how we work together really to get it in.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:50:56
And I think that they have agreed on a certain
senior civil servant to come across, aren't they,
Ms. Helen Browne, Department for Work and Pensions - 0:51:01
to the combined authorities to help support,
aren't they, for that delivery and to try and help
through the policy and support that delivery in a place.
Thank you.
And Josh, did you want to come in on this point
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:51:14
before I go back to Stephen?
Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
Yes, thank you, Lindsay, for kind of the bit around
Joshua Rickayzen, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:51:23
the devolution unit, I think, symptom of writing
these papers in advance of this meeting is
the agenda is moving incredibly fast and there's
probably things that couldn't make it in there
that are very pertinent, such as that.
Yes, I think we all acknowledge that this is really
fast paced, I think the point Helen made around
kind of sharing expertise is really key.
There are some things that some partners know how
to do really well and have a lot of experience in
and other areas where partners can build up that experience
through sharing, so I think really welcoming
those opportunities to do that through the different forums
we have and yeah, just kind of share that capacity around
and that expertise around I think is key to this exercise.
Thank you, Josh.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:52:09
Come back to Stephen before we go elsewhere.
Yeah, I was just gonna say, the employment system
at the moment, support is quite fragmented,
so if this pulls this together and streamlines it,
the end user, then that's great.
Thank you.
Thank you Steve.
So, Helena, then Felix, then Paul.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:52:29
Thank you Chair.
I've been well briefed so I do have a comment on three questions if that's alright.
I'll try and be as efficient as I can.
So, absolutely leads Wellcome's greater devolution as long as there's sufficient local flexibility.
Cllr Eleanor Thomson (Leeds City Council) - 0:52:48
And Wellcome, this great ambition, but there's that fear and the continuity risk around trailblazer and accelerator funding and the cliff.
of Edge in March before we know what comes next.
So questions.
Is there an update on replacement or transition funding after March for the Trailblazer and
Health and Growth Accelerator?
How will the CA avoid a loss of skilled staff delivery capacity and the trusted VCSE relationships
during that gap before Devolve funding hits?
And also what flexibility are we seeking from government so that that devolution is genuinely
place led rather than a transfer of tightly prescribed programmes that are top down rather
than bottom up. Thank you.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:53:28
Thanks, Eleanor. Who can comment on that? Felix, thank you.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:53:35
Thank you, Chair. Actually, the response I was going to give earlier on dovetails quite
well with the questions you've asked, Councillor, so I'll put them together. One of the key
So what Josh was saying, we currently, the employment support landscape, and if you look
at, I think, in the paper, there's a diagram on page 43 of the pack, paragraph 3 .3 at the
end of that, which has those swim lanes, but the various programmes that are currently running.
It's quite a painful exercise for the team to pull that together, and that pain itself
is telling in terms of how things are run currently.
There are lots of different programmes focused or directed
at different cohorts within the system.
For us, locally receiving all of this, it's not an integrated.
It doesn't feel like an integrated system
with one coherent offer, even if it might feel like that
from a different viewpoint.
So we do have a challenge.
How do we design that, and the next paper picks this up,
design that integrated system with an integrated single
offer that is consistent across our labour market
so it doesn't matter whether you are in Coldedale
or Bradford or Leeds, you know what to expect
from the system and you can walk through the door,
pick up the phone or go online and you know
what experience you're going to encounter,
how do we design that at the same time
when what is being devolved to us is programme by programme
as the programme comes to an end?
And there isn't an easy answer to this,
because it's just life, you know,
that we do have these programmes.
As they come to an end, they are then bequeathed to us,
but we actually want to take control of the whole system
so we can design it.
And so the question he asked about flexibility
and all of that is absolutely live.
We try, we work with DWP to get as much flexibility
as possible, even with the long -term unemployed,
so that we can begin to weave that
into a more integrated system.
Because if we simply take, and I know it's not a simple thing,
but if we simply take the programmes as they come with us,
we will then end up with the same streamlines just
localised.
And we'll have to wait till, I don't know, 2030 something,
when there is a break.
I'm not saying we will.
But we'll have to do that before we can then design
a fully integrated system.
So we're working together as a partnership.
This board will be crucial in its governance oversight
steering of that.
But that is the challenge that we are working through
at the moment, and we should all be alive to that.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:56:31
But within that, we're trying to get all the flexibilities
that we can put on the system.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:56:44
The combined authority itself is not setting up to itself be setting up, I don't know,
job centres or whatever for people to walk through the door.
That is not our job.
There are partners in the system that are much better placed to do that.
But it is absolutely our job, the job of the mayor and the leaders, to make sure there
There is an integrated, coherent offer across the piece for the region that does the job.
And we need to, the next paper begins to pick that up.
In terms of transition funding, I wrote to colleagues at DWP just yesterday pushing a
game on Trailblazer year three. I don't have an answer for you yet. I know colleagues are
working on that and when they're ready to let us know. I met with the city council yesterday,
officers and I pass the same message on. We are doing all we can to be able to give the
system as much reassurance as possible, but we can only give you what we have. And so
currently what we have and what we are giving is work well, is connect to work, it's all
the other funding points that we already have. What we don't have yet is Trailblazer, which
is the one with the most flexibility
and allows us to do certain things.
GW colleagues are working on this.
And the moment we have more information,
we will put that on.
If that falls through, then there
is a decision for all partners to make,
including the combined authority, about if, whether,
where we put some kind of, find some kind
of transitional arrangement and fund that into the system.
but we are praying and hoping that Trailblazer Year 3 gives us that,
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:58:28
just that bridge to be able to get into the new system.
Very final point I'll make, Chair, if that's okay.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:58:36
The long -term unemployed, and Councillor Place was asking the question about pace and our ability to move.
The current restart contracts in the system will stop taking,
as far as we know, will stop taking referrals from summer next year,
And then the programme itself winds up early 28.
And what we are doing with DWP is to as much as possible ensure there isn't a break.
But if there is a break, if there is a gap, then it's as short as possible.
So we pick up the new arrangement before the current one ramps out and we're able to mobilise
and commission and do whatever we have to do so that we if there is a gap, as I said,
we can minimise that.
But those are the timelines that we are working on and Michelle and colleagues, Josh and others
are engaged on a daily basis with DWP to make sure we are ahead of the curve in implementing
this.
Thank you Felix.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 0:59:30
Right, so that's helpful, thank you.
I'm going to go to Paul and then Jen.
So Paul.
Thank you, I think Felix has been reading my notes.
The question that I was going to raise is I understand the devolution side, we do well
Mr Cllr Paul Hawkaluk Calderdale Council - 0:59:50
and it's a positive step forward. Of necessity the Combined Authority is going to have to
adopt a consistent approach in how it allocates this support and what I was saying is the
challenge I see here is how do you have appropriate flexibility to tweak that consistent approach
and not basically breach consistent approach. But I think you've touched on those concerns
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:00:13
but no thank you for that, there's some really valid points you made there, thank you.
really. Thank you. And Jen did you want to come in? I thought I'd just touch on building
on what Felix has talked about, about the kind of consistent message that we are
sharing back with national colleagues around the risk that is presented by the
end of the funding. We're doing exactly the same with Department of Health and
Social Care in the kind of making that point around the accelerator, the health
and growth accelerator.
We have always anticipated that this was a second
and final year, that's been the message that's been
quite clear from DHSC.
We continue to make the point that whilst WorkWell
is welcome, it is different to the depth and kind of
complexity of offer that we've been able to deliver
across West Yorkshire with the accelerator funding.
So we keep making that point and highlighting that
But whilst we're, again, welcome,
it isn't going to be a like for like.
And so we really, really recognise that.
And we do make that point.
I think the other item on the agenda today
that Esther will talk to talks more about
in this time that we've had the health and growth accelerator
the ICB's role has fundamentally changed as well.
So what the future looks like for strategic commissioning
from the ICB perspective and how we'll build
some of the learning from the accelerator
into that going forward, but recognising, as you say, that funding does come to an end
at the end of March.
Thank you, thanks Jen. So we're slightly conscious that we move on to the next agenda item in
a minute, which is sort of connected, but in this item we're asked to discuss the approach,
which I think we've done, we're asked to note the updates, which unless anyone indicates
otherwise I think we're probably happy to note, so thank you for that.
So let's go on to item 8, which is West Yorkshire Employment Support Review, which is about

8 West Yorkshire Employment Support Review

the review that's currently ongoing, which looks at the support system across West Yorkshire.
So again we've got a paper, and again I'm going to hand to Josh to take us through this
item.
So Josh, over to you.
Thank you, Chair.
Yeah, this item is very, very closely related
Joshua Rickayzen, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:02:31
to the previous item, so I'm kind of thinking
of this as our West Yorkshire response
to kind of a shifting national picture
as previously discussed.
So this item follows discussions and steer
given at the last public meeting of this board
regarding undertaking an employment support review
for West Yorkshire, at which the approval
to proceed with that was given.
So since the last time this item was discussed,
a lot of work has gone into this project
and continues to go into this project.
The review has been supported by a steering group
of regional, local, and national partners
with extensive stakeholder engagement,
which is continuing even at this point.
It is expected that the review will report,
give its final report by December.
This gives opportunity to further build
stakeholder consensus over kind of the
forward -facing system that we're looking at,
whilst also being able to consider the recommendations
of some of the national reviews like the Milburn report
later this autumn.
The final report will present a long -term,
coherent and implementable vision
for an integrated system of support.
Recommendations, roles, responsibilities
will all flow from this resident journey,
or the idea of a resident journey,
so I think someone's already kind of mentioned
the foregrounding of the resident experience
in all of this, and I think it's really key
to keep in mind that that should be the first principle
of all this work, and everything else
should kind of flow from that.
You can see some kind of emerging roles and responsibilities for regional and local actors
that can be found at 3 .5 within the paper.
Obviously, we're very keen for this review to form that collective vision of a devolved
and future -facing system and to also inform some of those conversations that are happening
at national level regarding devolved employment support, as we've already kind of touched
on in the previous item.
So I'll pass it back to the chair now for comments.
Thank you, Josh.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:04:23
Any comments or questions in relation to that item?
No?
If I may say thank you to the team, it's not easy.
And as we've seen with all the multitude of strands, things have got to change
because we've had all this investment, all this time and energy from government
and from us, and still we have a problem.
So we have to look afresh and be really innovative.
So I just want to thank the team.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:04:52
It's not an easy piece of work, so thank you.
Thank you.
Just a second.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:04:56
Sorry, who had their hand up there?
Felix.
I'll just add my voice to the message really.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:05:05
The team's done an incredible job to get us to this point.
So a big thank you to them on the record,
and that includes definitely our colleagues in the local authorities
and other partners who have been at the various panel meetings
and played their part to get us to this point.
As always, the last mile is always the most difficult, and that is where we are.
So I'm not a runner, but I can see from the TV that it's here.
This crucial bit, and there's a paper that's going to the Combined Authority Board tomorrow,
and then in December we're planning to take the final one.
This crucial part is what is going to really determine
what our end state looks like, what our agreed end state
looks like in the region.
So conversations that are going on and some anxiety
in the system about employment in West Yorkshire
and the other bits of infrastructure that we've got
in the system, the next couple of, the next few weeks
is when we are bolting down what the future state
is going to look like in West Yorkshire.
What role everybody is going to play and what is our agreement on those roles?
So we don't end up squabbling over it when funding arrives.
Not that we do that, but it's important that we lean into this final bit.
Where we end up is going to be different to where we are now.
The system we currently have, the employment with the Yorkshire system, our infrastructure,
plus what the job centre offers, plus what our voluntary sector
partners do, what the ICB has been doing through the
accelerator, trying to bring all of that together into one
system, one model in the region.
It's very difficult, but that's what we're trying to do now.
It will be different to what we have currently.
I'm labouring this point just to make sure that we all go into
the next few weeks with our eyes wide open,
And when we come out and we agree what that final model is going to look like, nobody
is surprised.
Because the model we have right now, if it was perfect, we would not have the numbers
that we currently have.
I'll repeat that.
The model we have right now, which everybody is, you know, we all seem really attached
to, if it was great, our numbers will not be what it looks like right now.
So we need to grasp that nettle and make the changes,
remove the duplication, and really understand
who is doing what and what is the most effective way
for us to be able to do it.
Because there's a limited amount of money available.
And if we can all lean into that, embrace that opportunity,
the review that we've kicked off will give us
the outcomes we need so that we are ready
for when the revolution arrives,
and we are able to apply the funding we need.
If we try to, all of us, try to simply protect what we have,
we will only have the outcomes that we currently have,
and that is not good enough.
Thank you, Felix.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:08:14
Okay.
Sorry.
Yes, hello, I just want to echo your point there,
Felix, and what Joshua said.
Ms. Helen Browne, Department for Work and Pensions - 1:08:23
I think if we put the citizen at the heart of what we do,
because it's the whole point, isn't it?
When somebody walks into one of our job centres,
they don't care where the funding's come from.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:08:39
So, we're asked to note, provide feedback, I think we've had a little bit of feedback,
we've definitely noted, and discuss the next steps.
I think we've probably covered what we can on this particular item, so thank you, Josh.
Let's move on to item nine, which is an update on NHS reforms and alignment to healthy working
life.

9 Update on NHS Reforms and Alignment to Healthy Working Life Agenda

You've got the report in your pack, which is all about the changes to the way as an
ICB we are structuring and focusing what we do.
So I'm going to hand over to Esther for this one.
Thanks, Chair.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:09:20
I'm Esther Ashman, I'm the Director of Strategy and Commissioning at the ICB.
The paper before you gives a really good overview of ICB transition into our new role as a strategic
commissioner and where the opportunity lies for improving employment and economic participation
in our role of working together across the system.
So we had an announcement last year in March 25 to reduce our running costs as an ICB and
to move into our new role as a strategic commissioner and that's part of wider NHS reforms, some
of which are still working through from a statutory footing in the health bill which
Ms. Esther Ashmann, NHS Yorkshire - 1:09:52
is now moving into the committee stages of that. There are two really helpful documents
that outline our work, that's the ICB blueprint which set out at a point in time I must say,
a list of what our role would be and the detail within that. Some of that is in conversation
at the moment due to changes with NHS England and the move into DHSC, but also our strategic
commissioning framework which really sets out the detail of our role and what we will
do as a strategic commissioner. We also have a dedicated strategic commissioning development
programme nationally which is trying to help improve some of our capability and that's
really important because it includes things like health economics which will be really
helpful in this field and working together. We had an informal launch of our structures
in September of this year in our new role. It's important to say those are structures,
the operating model and how we work collectively together is a really important part of that
and that will take a little bit of time in terms of the resettling of people who have moved across our organisation.
How we continue that work with partners is really important within that, but also we're carrying a few vacancies that we're trying to work through at the moment.
But it's important we retain and build on the existing good work that we've got, such as the work that's covered in this board today.
We do have still quite a lot of work to do around governance and responsibility and accountability
with certain elements of our role, so particularly with our places, our integrated teams and the development of our place provider partnerships,
which is the real sort of in a place perspective in each of the five places across West Yorkshire is the opportunity where our partners can come together,
in particular, to develop the focus around neighbourhood health, which is one of the areas I think is the real opportunity here.
So we have a three -fold new role, strategic commissioner,
in terms of commissioning for outcomes,
a convening role as to how we bring people across the system
together, and that integrator role in terms of how we develop
things at place.
And in terms of policy, obviously the long -term plan
really sets out to focus on prevention and how we can link
economic activity and health together.
That continues.
We have an existing strategic commissioning plan that has that
as a priority within there, and I anticipate in our refresh that
we're starting at the moment, that will continue and that crosses across the life course. We
have commissioning intentions that spread across the life course and each of the stages
within that but also across life course. But at the heart of this relationships are really
important to make sure that we can deliver within this. We have really strong relationships
and the important bit over the last 18 months has been trying to retain that through this
that's the opportunity where we can start to look at MDTs that bring together different
organisations that can look at some integrated pathways and I think that's where in particular
the work of this board can really make some progress.
and where we can start to align better wellbeing support and economic participation, particularly
when you think of some of the earlier papers and needs in terms of the percentage of people
who have mental health issues. That's an area we've not quite tackled in neighbourhood health
yet and something that we're really keen to move forward with. So I would just like to
reassure the board that obviously this is a core priority still for us. I think the
in the delivery and how we move forward in our places and at neighbourhood level to be
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:13:39
able to do the right thing for our population. So I'll leave it there but I have to take
any questions. Thank you Esther. Right, any questions or
comments for Esther? I mean obviously I'm quite deeply committed to this. And I think
just to underline the fact that from a health and care perspective we want to improve the
and population of West Yorkshire.
Part of that is through helping people who are unwell,
but a big part of it is helping people not be unwell.
And therefore, things like gainful employment, education,
being able to live a productive life.
I think as someone said to me,
once you have a friend, a house, and a job,
it makes a massive difference.
So we are really committed to this,
and it is really important.
And that's why this board and other things that we do and working with the combined authority,
working with our partnerships, with our partners in the local authorities, working with our
voluntary sector partners is so important.
So it's just crucial stuff for us.
Okay, right, so I've done my little sort of rant on that.
Felix?
Thank you, Chair.
I wonder if Karl might want to come in because of the relationship between support and prevention
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:14:58
and what you do there.
But my – maybe my – I don't know if there's a question really still forming
in my head is up till this point in the forming of this board, we've been very funding -led,
very funding programme -led, and we've come around – we've come together around the
money and tried to deliver what the money is asking us to do.
I think there's an opportunity now with the review that Josh has just put to us and the
paper that is coming after this for us to think about how we come together around the
system, around designing our interventions, you know, the commissioning, how do we actually
come together, so the money comes later.
It follows what we actually are agreeing to do.
So whilst we are, and when we are designing what needs doing
and thinking through who we are looking to support,
how do we actually do that together
and maybe do that together around this table
and other opportunities that we might,
platforms that we might create,
and then we apply the money to it.
I think that will be where we are hitting the sweet spot,
but I don't know whether that comes,
what wants to come in later.
Thanks, Jim.
Thanks, Felix.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:16:08
Right, so I'm gonna go to John next.
I think I'll just, what's coming on the back side.
Oh, sorry.
If I may, I feel like a good spot on feelings,
because a lot of the money that flows
is about pragmatic activities,
and if I think about it in the context of sport,
you can run an activity and have bags and balls in a field,
but once that stops, and once the MGB
Joshua Rickayzen, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:16:26
or whoever else is running that leaves,
Mr Carl Hawkes Yorkshire Sport Foundation - 1:16:31
you don't actually improve activity levels long term,
so it's about thinking about what are the conditions needed
across all of our communities that enables
that activity to be sustained in the long term,
and that's about creating active schools,
that's about green spaces, that's about safety,
it's about active travel, and I think there is a role
to be played about how do we connect
all of those different parts of the system together
to create the conditions across West Yorkshire
that enable people to be active.
It makes it really easy, if not inevitable,
without them thinking about it, to move more,
and I think that's where the opportunity is,
rather than us thinking about things
in a programmatic sense.
Thank you, Carl.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:17:11
OK, I'll go to John.
We've been doing some work, Mark,
with the ICBs across the region as part of our applied
research collaboration, which is a regional NIHR -funded
collaboration.
So we've been doing that on mental health, frailty,
older people, end -of -life care.
And I wonder, they've been very popular,
so that the audience is health care generally,
Professor John Wright, Bradford Institute for Health Research - 1:17:35
So PCNs, primary care networks, primary care, secondary care.
But it's a good audience, given that one of the themes here is fragmentation,
to actually try and get this message out, which wouldn't normally hit their agendas.
Perhaps we could do a webinar on that.
So it brings in experts from across the country.
What's the evidence?
What can we do?
What should we do differently?
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:18:00
Yeah, anyway, there's a few, if you wanna catch up on those ones,
they're online.
but this might be one to choose for. That sounds like an interesting idea, I don't know if I want to say anything about that.
That's really helpful suggestion, I think what's been really evident is we're being asked to move very quickly into a new role and a new way of working
and how we can continue to work together in a different way.
Drop me an email and we'll set something up.
Absolutely. If I could just come back on Felix's comments as well.
I think you're absolutely right, Felix. In terms of planning, previously planning has
I think that's the real opportunity on strategic commissioning is this is about how we commission
for outcomes and we focus around that.
There will still inevitably be the things that we have to commission to a certain level
and we have targets we have to meet and are accountable for, but moving into that outcomes
piece and really thinking about the needs of the population is absolutely what we're
trying to get to.
and I think the convening role where we can bring people together, look at the evidence,
think about, to Karl's point, think about where the intervention decay model, where's
the impact we can actually make in the interventions, I think that's a huge opportunity for us.
It's a huge sort of leap as well and we're building that capacity and capability around
that, but that's absolutely where we need to be, away from a programmatic approach and
into thinking what's the right thing for our populations and actually what's the right
Cllr Eleanor Thomson (Leeds City Council) - 1:20:00
So I think for us, for Leeds, the key point around this is maintaining the strategic relationships
that we've already developed, so the Healthy Working Life Partnership, the ICB and the
place -based health, especially as WorkWell mobilises and those future commissioning decisions
are taken. A couple of questions if that's okay. So how will WorkWell and wider employment
outcomes be reflected consistently in the strategic commissioning and in the place delivery
arrangements? And how will local employment and skills partners be involved in the development
of those place provider partnerships and their neighbourhood pathways. And then one specific
question in addition, in terms of the delays and the commissioning of neurodiversity assessments,
both young people and adults and the massive impact that has on access to education, on
outcomes and on work as well, kind of where we're at with that. That's a huge elephant
in the room and a real challenge to navigate but has a massive impact on everything we
do.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:21:06
So, in terms of maintaining that focus on WorkWell, I mean, one of the wonderful things
about our new structure is we've maintained that relationship with the combined authority
by having Jen as a joint role and that, you know, we work very closely together. Jen sort
of anchored into the strategic commissioning structure, which is really helpful. But because
because we're looking at that needs analysis and really getting to grips and sharing the
data inevitably this is a priority for us, it absolutely is. The delivery is the bit
that I think we need to focus our efforts on quite rightly and that local involvement
in the place provider partnerships, they're still in development at the moment, it's fair
to say they're in a good place but there's still maturity that needs to happen over the
next year to 18 months. Local authorities are absolutely part of those place provider
in, it would programme and clearing out the
here.
Thanks, Esther.
Just wanted to reiterate the gift that is Jane Connolly, because obviously you're a
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:22:47
really smart colleague and you're incredibly diligent and innovative, but actually the
duality of your role also really is the north star of how we should operate because of those
different responsibilities and the way that that intelligence across different streams
or organisations is where we see the real change.
So I didn't mean to embarrass you, Jane.
Sorry about that.
But I think we could definitely do more of this, where we are sharing colleagues between
departments, and that's why I really welcome government's approach to seconding people
from teams to really embed in the CA as well.
So apologies, but also very welcome, Esther,
that news about SEND, because I know so many families
are really struggling, and thank you for raising it, Eleanor,
because there are families in Leeds
that have approached me about it as well,
so it's good to hear.
Thanks, Tracy.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:23:50
Stephen.
Hi, thank you.
Thanks, Chair.
I think it's a good thing.
It looks to me reading through this across the board this has been really successful,
Cllr Cllr Stephen Place Bradford Council - 1:23:58
particularly Trailblazer, and I think it's recommended for this.
So thank you very much indeed.
Thank you.
And Mike.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:24:07
Thank you, yes.
From Kirklees Council.
Cllr Cllr Michael Simmons Kirklees Council - 1:24:12
I see employment and health both as two pedals on the same bike, both going in the right
and they're both supporting each other a whole lot.
By the way, I'm very interested to see the new neighbourhood health centres opening
gradually over time in Kirklees and West Yorkshire as well.
I wanted to thank the Governor again for raising that question about neurodiversity.
I'd like to follow up on that with you as well.
And other issues with health assessments or even surgeries and procedures
that are starting to have minimum waiting periods, and that's slowing down the progress
on health and therefore employment and people's lives.
What progress is there on other minimum wait times for things like basic, not that basic,
but surgeries like hip cataracts and knee surgeries?
Is there any positive progress on that?
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:25:12
So, Esther, do you want to comment or?
Ms. Esther Ashmann, NHS Yorkshire - 1:25:21
Yeah, just rather going into detail on individual contracts and specifications, work is always
underway on these things.
We're constantly reviewing that part of our contracts and planning processes.
We're in the beginning of the planning round for our services for the coming year and obviously
that will play a key part in that as we understand what capacity is out there, what our demand
and need is and how we can best use the capacity out there and how we can also try and push
for efficiency and progress and sort of improvement as well.
So rather than going in, I mean obviously I haven't got the detail of all of the contracts
but I would just say that that is underway and is part of our planning process.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:26:00
And I think it would be worth saying that as a general principle we don't want people
to wait for anything.
So our absolute focus is to provide health care as quickly as possible to the people
that need it, who need it.
So there's no button, there's no other than that.
Sometimes it's quite hard depending on what the demand is, but that is our absolute focus.
Thank you.
Okay, any other comments or questions?
No?
So thank you for that section.
we're asked to note the changes, which I think we can probably do.
Are we happy to endorse the principle that good work should remain a key health outcome?
Yeah, I see lots of nods, that's good.
And support the development of place partnerships, neighbourhood health, et cetera, again, are
we happy to support that?
Yeah, great, thank you.
Thank you all.
Right, let's move on to item 10, delivery overview.

10 Delivery Overview

And this paper is an update in terms of progress of the Healthy Working Life programme.
So I'm going to hand over to Polly to take us through this one.
So as I understand it – no, it's Michelle.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:27:12
No, sorry, my colleague Anna, to whom all credit goes to Anna and her team for this work, is Polly today.
Ms. Michelle Burton, Head of Employment and Skills, West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 1:27:17
So I'm happy to speak to the item, but Polly will take any difficult questions on the numbers, which I think –
So Polly, sorry for putting you on the spot there.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:27:25
I think it's a good division of labour.
Ms. Michelle Burton, Head of Employment and Skills, West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 1:27:28
So this paper aims to summarise the delivery for which this board has oversight.
And I think programmatic has been the word of the day so far, and it would be difficult
not to use that word when talking about the delivery that we are summarising here.
So what we've tried to do is reveal as little as possible of that wiring, is to kind of
get across the scale of what in partnership is being delivered through the Healthy Working
Life Programme. So those suite of interventions that we've talked about already today come
under that Healthy Working Life name with ambition, as we've said before, of making
West Yorkshire the healthiest workforce in England by 2040. The programme covers some
really, really key strategic interventions, including of course Employment West Yorkshire,
which we've talked about already today, which is the principal delivery mechanism for employment
support across local authorities within West Yorkshire, really key part of the delivery
infrastructure for healthy working life. We've also delivered targeted support for individuals
and for employers through this suite of interventions, particularly to address barriers to employment
for individuals, so including health -related interventions,
where there are specific health -related barriers to work,
removing practical barriers to employment,
and creative health support as well.
And then in regard to support for employers,
we've looked at all sorts of different things,
including financial interventions for employers
to both recruit and retain people experiencing ill health
in the workplace, the development of resources
different schemes, from services to
toolkits to support employers, employer training, et cetera.
And we've provided an overview of the performance of the
different schemes which I don't intend to talk through, but
we're really, really happy to take questions on.
The one that I will highlight is Connect to Work.
So connect to work is a large -scale intervention aimed at supporting people into work.
And I wanted to update you that the procurement of a regional deliverer is coming to the final
stages of that procurement and we hope to have a delivery partner on delivery very soon.
I will draw your attention to appendix one, which provides a dashboard across the different
suite of interventions, showing the scale of people supported.
And there is a summary as well there of the different schemes.
And I think what that summary does, that summary really shows the distance between where we
are now and what a default employment support system would look like.
So I think it's worth drawing your attention to that, just as a demonstration of the distance
that needs to be travelled. Back to you, Chair.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:30:31
Thank you, Michelle.
Thank you. I think this is a really good summary, thank you. Obviously, this is quite strategic,
so we don't see examples of actually what we're doing on the ground. The creative health,
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:30:43
for example, it's a very high level, which is what we expected. But could I just ask
about employer incentives, because I know there's been a bit of tension between the
government's employer incentives, take a young person, you get 3 ,000 pounds or whatever,
and our version of it, which is taking a person who is unwell or is coming back from ill health,
and businesses potentially waiting for the government money because then they can take
a young person that's well, rather than a person that might need a bit more support.
So I just want to make sure that our, that as we move forward, hopefully we'll have a
a line of sight to what government are doing. We're not replicating and we're not, whilst
we're innovative, we're often ahead of the government and then the government copy us,
the two pound bus fare, let me tell you, 2022, and they copy us, but then we're left sort
of in the slipstream of that national programme that gets more airtime.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:31:50
I think that's a very fair summary of what we saw happen here, where I think the intention
Ms. Michelle Burton, Head of Employment and Skills, West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 1:31:52
to test the impact that employer incentives had on employer appetite to hire and retain
people with health rate barriers to work was impacted by that subsequent announcement from
government around young people. And I think it does demonstrate the need for MSAs to be
part of that conversation with government about what's ‑‑ with government departments
about what's coming so that we can plan together. Because I think you're absolutely right. And
I think what we're particularly concerned about is how complex the picture is becoming
for employers.
I think that employers having to navigate a system where there are different types of
incentives is not ideal at all.
We are hearing loud and clear from employers that there is a need for simplification but
also support to navigate what is becoming an increasingly complex picture.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:32:54
So, we're asked to discuss the progress, which I think we've done, and we're asked to comment
and it actually says provide strategic direction, but I think we can take the paper that we
have in terms of providing that.
Are we happy to approve the item?
Yep, great, thank you.
Right, let's move to item 11, which is future shape of the board. This is an item which
is looking at what we are in terms of this particular board and what we do going forward
and how we fit into the developing agenda. I wonder if I could say a few words first.
Just to say, this board has proved really instructive in how we can collaborate together,
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:33:48
But with the new responsibilities, devolution, there is the appetite to widen the board.
So we have the full 360 to solve these wicked problems in West Yorkshire.
And you may remember that when I first became mayor, I committed to it becoming a region
of learning and creativity with every young person having access to grassroots sports
and a cultural life.
And we know so much of that is wrapped up in the problem that faces us, that we have
too many young people falling out of school that don't have the qualifications to move
them into work.
And we have too many young people with poor mental health because they don't have access
to grassroots sports.
So being able to sort of draw this together under that overarching headline where we can
actually move money in and out as well, where we have that greater freedom and flexibility.
So we don't have one board over here, one board over there.
We have that streamlined approach, which is, you know, creative problem solving.
It's innovative.
It's sharing all our best talents across all of our local authorities and the CA and government
so we can get better outcomes.
Because if we want to get better numbers, we want to change the lives of all of our
citizens on that escalator of education from, you know, from early years right through to
people who are getting back into work after caring for kids or being made redundant at
60, we have to take a holistic view. So I'm really excited that this is on the agenda
and really interested in people's thoughts on it. Thank you so much, Chair.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:35:24
Thanks, Tracey. Okay. So let me go to Michelle in the first instance to just take us through
the recommendations and then we'll open up to any comments or questions.
Thank you, Chair. It can be very brief because I think that the case for this has been sort
Ms. Michelle Burton, Head of Employment and Skills, West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 1:35:36
May throughout this meeting and the mayor has done so.
What has been very clear at every one of these meetings is how interlinked this agenda is
with other parts of devolution.
And so what we're setting out here is a proposal to expand the remit of this board so that
we can take more of a so that you as a board, perhaps bolstered with additional members,
can take a strategic view across the broader agenda.
And that will enable us to refresh the governance
in line with anticipated,
devolved, the anticipated direction of travel
under further devolution as well.
So what we're setting out here is a proposal
that the board's scope could be expanded
to cover expanded devolution responsibilities
And we'd like your views on how the board membership might need to adapt in order to
do that.
Thank you.
Thank you, Michelle.
Okay.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:36:40
So any comments?
Eleanor.
This might be a long one.
I'll try not to repeat myself.
So absolutely supportive of the strongest strategic join up.
And then how do we connect that up between the local authorities and make sure it reflects
the best of everything.
Jennifer Connolly Consultant in Public Health - 1:37:06
So, particularly how senior officers from each place can provide that structured input
alongside political and partner representation.
Ms. Helen Browne, Department for Work and Pensions - 1:37:12
I do have a few questions if that's okay.
Yeah, go ahead.
Cllr Eleanor Thomson (Leeds City Council) - 1:37:17
So about how those, how each local authority place partnership would be represented and
connected into the new regional governments.
That one repeats, the previous one, so I'll go to that one.
What will be delegated to technical groups and how would their advice inform decisions
and accountability at board level?
And then how will the broader board retain a sufficient focus on work and health, including
oversight of work well and programme continuity?
And then just one little note that the paper mentions February 2026, which possibly ought
to be 27th.
I didn't spot that as somebody else did.
Thank you.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:37:54
Thanks, and it's nice that you or somebody did read the paper really carefully, so that's
Ms. Michelle Burton, Head of Employment and Skills, West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 1:38:15
I think that officer working in the background of these public meetings is really, really
important. We have put in place a really strong senior
I think that one of the things that we do need to consider is whether the right parts
of local authority structures are reflected in our joint working because devolved functions,
of course, take us more into that sort of education, into the children's space.
So we will continue to take advice from local authority colleagues as to the right representation.
but absolutely take that point.
Thank you.
Thanks, Michelle.
Any other questions?
Tracey?
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:39:02
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 1:39:07
Just one question for me, and I really thank colleagues for the distillation of this challenge.
There is the expectation that through devolution there will be a deputy mayor for health on
the ICB, so where would that person sit in this structure?
And secondly, I have a couple of thoughts about who is part of this jigsaw and I think
housing and maybe a rep from West Yorkshire Housing Partnership.
I also think because of our Fair Work Charter and the investment we're making in Union Learn,
maybe it would be useful to get a representative from the trade union movement as well to speak
for the workers' voice.

11 Future Shape of the Board

So there's a couple of suggestions I have, but I'd really welcome once people have had
to think about it who they think is part of this 360 exam question, who do we need?
Obviously it can't be massively unwieldy and we will have working groups underneath it
and health is absolutely running through every part of what we're doing under this board.
but I just thought one question about the deputy mayor for the ICB if anybody's
had any thoughts Jen
I'm happy to comment on that and then also a bit of an idea about the membership or making sure that we get appropriate play in as well.
On the, we're just exploring at the moment the role that that deputy mayor, the Commissioner of Fert Health can play in the system and we've done some work together collectively
to really identify what we think the opportunity of that is, which is about that retained focus
on population health. So the real commitment, holding this to account collectively on how
we want to improve the health of the public, not specifically on the health service offered
to that, but how we collectively keep that focus on population health outcomes. I think
that's well understood and supported by the system.
I suppose it's in that spirit that I
think one of the things we should be considering
in the membership going forward, whichever the appropriate level
is, is the role of our directors of public health
from across the local authorities who really, really
bring that expertise, but also that ability
to see things across the authority,
across health service, and really
play in that public health expertise, which
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:41:45
I think that's something we need to reflect upon.
Take that away.
Thank you.
I welcome the evolving into the regional board.
Mr Cllr Paul Hawkaluk Calderdale Council - 1:42:10
My only comment really is that it needs to maintain a clear strategic focus on outcomes.
My concern is that often a revamped board, an expanded board almost ends up duplicating
existing governance processes and I think that's my concern so I would want it to be
extremely focused on outcomes.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:42:33
I think that's wise words, we need to take that as a steer.
It's an absolute given, it can't be a talking shop, we've all had enough of those, haven't
we?
Thank you.
Michael.
Thank you.
Cllr Cllr Michael Simmons Kirklees Council - 1:42:50
It's good to hear the emphasis on the health side of the board continuing into the expanded
version.
Has there been a proposed membership or term of reference or accountability structure in
this yet?
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:43:02
I don't think we've seen that yet, no not yet, but clearly we will share that.
I don't know whether, shall I want to comment on that?
It was a question whether we've got terms of reference yet.
Ms. Michelle Burton, Head of Employment and Skills, West Yorkshire Combined Authority - 1:43:14
No, so we wanted to take this here for your view, ahead of a formal decision and we will
take what you said today into account to help us develop that.
The intention would be that a decision would go forward to the Command Authority Board
in December.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair - 1:43:50
Inst publisher there.
See the
admin sweet details to the content does marounded by the individual list.
that we have before us.
Any other comments or thoughts at this time?
And I think also I would say that we've, you know, I'm sure Michelle will be very open
to hear any comments offline if anyone wants to think about it and sort of submit things.
But any other comments anyone wants to make in this particular meeting?
Okay.
Sorry.
No, that's fine.
Not yet.
Not yet.
No, that's okay.
I try to, it's like being an auctioneer here, I have to try and watch the little tells when
people watch the screen.
Okay, so we've been asked to discuss the content of the proposal, of the recommendations, I
think we've raised some points, so that's good, some of which I think we can absolutely
factor into what we're thinking about, and to consider about how the board membership
will reshape.
And I think we particularly talked about, you know, who, which organisations need to
be represented, if I use that terminology also.
Obviously, we've got the health commissioner piece to think about in that.
So it's pieces and pieces of work to do offline and I think come back to us.
But are we happy that this piece of work continues and continues to develop?
Yep, I'm seeing that, so thank you.
Okay, so that takes us to the end of our meeting.
I suppose I will ask just before we get there, is there anything else that anyone else would
like to raise as any small items of the business?
Not seeing any, so that's helpful, thank you.
Date of next meeting, I think we've just agreed that the 2nd of December meeting probably
won't go ahead.
We'll formally confirm that out to everyone.
But the next public meeting is scheduled for Wednesday the 10th of February 2027, so we
look forward to seeing you then.
It almost feels like I should say have a great Christmas.
I can't quite bring myself to do that in October.
So thank you everyone.
There's some slides Robert and John Lewis.
Yes indeed, yeah.
You've got 11 minutes back in your diary.
Thank you for coming and contributing to a productive meeting.
Great, thank you everybody.
Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair
West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership
View profile Mr Mark Chamberlain Chair