Finance, Resources, and Corporate Committee - Thursday 2 November 2023, 11:00am - West Yorkshire Combined Authority Webcasting

Finance, Resources, and Corporate Committee
Thursday, 2nd November 2023 at 11:00am 

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  1. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  2. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
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  1. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
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  1. Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  3. Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  4. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  5. Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  6. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  7. Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  8. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  9. Cllr Jane Scullion (Calderdale Council)
  10. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  11. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Chair)
  12. Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  13. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  14. Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  15. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Chair)
  16. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
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  1. Angela Taylor, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  3. Angela Taylor, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  4. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  5. Angela Taylor, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  6. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  7. Angela Taylor, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  8. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  9. Angela Taylor, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  10. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  11. Angela Taylor, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  12. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  13. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Chair)
  14. Angela Taylor, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  15. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  16. Angela Taylor, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  17. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  18. Angela Taylor, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  19. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
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  1. Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  3. Anna Woodhouse
  4. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  5. Anna Woodhouse
  6. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
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  1. Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  3. Angela Taylor, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  4. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  5. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Chair)
  6. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  7. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Chair)
  8. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
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  1. Simon Warburton, Executive Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Rachel Jones
  3. Randall Ghent
  4. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  5. Simon Linley
  6. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  7. Simon Linley
  8. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  9. Simon Linley
  10. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Chair)
  11. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  12. Randall Ghent
  13. Rachel Jones
  14. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  15. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Chair)
  16. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  17. Cllr Matthew Morley Wakefield Council
  18. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
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  1. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Chair)
  2. Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
  3. Webcast Finished

Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:00:00
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:00:01
buses and corporate committee, and it's good to see you all here, thank you for coming. So today's agenda is about finances and budgets and obviously it's in the context of a very difficult time for local government. I'm well aware of the scale of the financial challenges that you are all facing. I know we're all making pleas to government about the need to urgently resolve the challenge. Today's conversation is about the CIA's business planning and budget processes, and there's no doubt that devolution is working for West Yorkshire. The strength of our partnership working means we are delivering on our wish Yorkshire Plan as we create a region that works for all
despite the wider challenges together we've supported the creation of thousands of jobs we've landed investment from cutting edge companies lowered bus fares, help people get the skills they need to succeed using the freedoms and flexibilities of our 65 million pound adult education budget thanks to devolution we've received an extra 2.8 billion pounds for our region and the power to spend it on local priorities, this is crucial because we all know our area better than Whitehall.

1 Apologies for Absence

2 Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

so this flexibility has enabled us to step up and support the most vulnerable in our region during the cost of living crisis. It's enabled us to return over 50 million pounds to support you as councils and your budgets slashed by government. We're also getting things built and helping connect our region, and the wider north in Bradford were supporting the transformation of the city centre, making easier for people to walk cycle and use public transport in Calderdale. We've redeveloped Halifax Bus Station, making enormous difference in the centre of the town and beautiful. It is too in Coakley's. We're working with Kirkley to upgrade the Dewsbury bus station, amongst many other things, and in Leeds we're delivering the long promised new gateway into the city from Leeds City Station, alongside the Council and finally in Wakefield were delivering an expansion of Normanton Rail Station car park as part of our Rail Park and Ride programme. But of course we all are more ambitious and we want to go further. You know, I've written to the chancellor ahead of this his autumn statement, urging him to match our ambition through a commitment to deeper devolution, with a single funding pot, to enable us to deliver on our ambitious plans. Together we are going to continue delivering for the people of West Yorkshire going from strength to strength, to make sure this region works for all. So thank you for listening to the opening remarks and now any apologies Ben we've had. We've had
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:02:47
apologies from Councillor Jeffery and Councillor Scott and from we've got Councillor Morley and Councillor Davies, thank you, and you are both very welcome. Any declarations of interest, any interest anyone would like to declare.

3 Exempt Items - Possible Exclusion of the Press and Public

4 Minutes of the Meeting held on 7 June

5 Organisational Performance

thank you. Exclusion of press and public. There are no items that require exclusion. So, moving on to item 4 minutes of the meeting 7th of June, are there any comments, questions, additions or changes know where were content to confirm them as an accurate record Goldston Uchida, so item 5 organisational performance, and this is the regular quarterly corporate performance report for Quarter 1 and Quarter 2 of 23 24. This measures our progress as an organisation and delivery of our corporate objectives. So I'd like to ask Alan to take us through the paper in more detail
great. Thank you very much more so, as Mo said, this sets out
Alan Reiss - 0:03:49
performance against our organisational objectives for the first half of this financial year, and this is why this is a bit of a new format, so we'd really welcome views on presentation. There's quite a lot of complex information here that we're trying to present in a in a simple way until a story about what the Combined Authority is delivering with partners
it starts with revisiting the West Yorkshire Plan and the five missions which were published in the summer, it's worth just noting that performance of the region as a whole is set out in the annual state of the region report, not this one, this is about what the organisation has delivered and is delivering against its business plan, the organisations got seven corporate objectives which contribute towards the delivery of the West Yorkshire Plan and under each of those objectives as a series of business plan outcomes and the them that previously been set on an annual basis and in a later paper on the on the agenda will come into what we're doing to make that more of a multi-year process.
and performance against each of those objectives is reported on a monthly basis within the organisation.
in addition to those objectives which are about improving outcomes and lives of people in the region, there are also some objectives around improving the organisation across the organisation, there are 285 objectives and 90% of them are currently a blue or amber for the year we've also got a number of corporate plan targets which are specific, measurable, which were highlighted in the Corporate Plan and are set out at Appendix 2 and most of those are on track as well some particular highlights that will draw out some of which the Mayor has mentioned into introductory remarks so firstly good progress on our new business support programmes around productivity startups and sustainability.
delivery of the new bus station at Halifax on target to increase our m card sales by app
we're on track to complete a number of infrastructure schemes under the Transport Fund, transforming cities fund and the city original, sustainable city region, sustainable transport settlement this year, and there are a range of services that we are commissioning that are targeted to increase community safety and support victims and witnesses of crime, drawing attention to some risks, though so there are some challenges around delivery of 0 emission buses. That's not that they weren't. That's not that they won't be delivered is that they won't be delivered all this year, so some of the numbers slip into next year, so it's a timing thing rather than a rather than a it went, rather than a case of not being delivered
there's a and innovation programme which is behind where we want it to be because of the need to recruit staff into that programme, and that is a that is a theme that I think and lots of lots of partners are facing is the challenge of recruiting.
pig people with necessary skill sets in the current labour market.
thirdly, there is a need for us to review the operating model for access
bus,
on the delivery of homes 5,000 sustainable and affordable homes, the national figures on this will become available in later this month and then we'll have a better idea of where we're at and be able to be more confident about the delivery figures for the year and then there are a number of internal pressures to draw attention to around.
our our website and the way we are represented digitally our new financial systems which come on line this month, and finally, the organisations just in a huge amount of change, and we need to support our colleagues through that through that change, just finally, I mentioned for our equity diversity and inclusion plan which we've published which includes some targets and we've begun reporting on these they're also set out at Appendix 1 and we've got some reds in there.
there they are being mitigated through the new HR system which is coming on line which will improve our data around III, particularly internally, and also there's some training that we need to commission for but for colleagues across the organisation, particularly on equality impact assessments. So I just wanted to summarise the report. There's obviously a lot in there have very happy to to take questions and there are a number of colleagues round the table who can also
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:07:58
assist unquote and just on that front that last point dear that sort of timeframe of when
these will go from red to to green and obviously we're waiting for that used operating system to come in yeah have you got a timeframe so
Alan Reiss - 0:08:13
that yes, mezzo, the
so implementation of the new system which is called CIA anywhere, our integrated corporate systems, which brings together finance, HR and payroll, is in the process of being implemented now, so we are Ma, we're currently migrating all of our data over to that system, it will become live for colleagues across the organisation from the 13th of November, so just under two weeks' time will be the date when everybody in the organisation starts to use it, it's not a big bang, so there are
it will come online and then there will be a number of incremental improvements that happen over a number of months. So, for example, there will be new modules in there around training and development and progression, which will take some time to bed in and from a finance perspective, clearly the systems coming in right in the middle of the business planning and budgeting cycle. So whilst there will be some fruits that we get from it this year, actually it'll be future years
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:09:12
when the greater benefits are delivered and certainly just focusing on the is empty eatery yeah, the the great, as well as the success and
Alan Reiss - 0:09:19
the impact that yeah, so the so with the eco training. So over the course of the last year we commissioned a company called in diverse to deliver some foundation, training and equity, diversity and inclusion, which we've just received. The report on which had been been very good and we've reached pretty much everybody in the organisation with that. There is a need for us to commission it again on a rolling basis and also for us to commission
a quality impact assessment, training for a range of colleagues across the organisation and and it's important that that that training is done, and the reason is empties mentioned that it's not just colleagues who are producing the business cases producing the policies who then have to as part of that process right on cue EIS it says that it's about leadership so so that so is is empty being the senior management team, the positive acronym. So that's all heads of service within the organisation. Everybody needs to be leading on confident in leading from and an idiot perspective and challenging their teams to make sure that they are properly considering III objectives right from
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:10:24
the beginning of the process great stuff. They will just be good to know when that might be rolled out across the senior management
Alan Reiss - 0:10:32
management team. Stop saying sorry, so I did add your I didn't answer your question, which is about timing, so we are right in the middle of Scoping. The
procurement for it, which I must say that will go live within a matter
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:10:41
of weeks, good stuff, thank you Jane,
Cllr Jane Scullion (Calderdale Council) - 0:10:45
thank you, I just wanted to say something I'm a bit more about a couple of items in this paper where there is a degree of slippage and what we're doing about it.
as the Combined Authority and as the climate committee and the first of those is the flooding schemes, got nine flooding schemes.
a couple got full approval, the couple are on site, one an appraisal and the rest still working on them, and one of the things I don't think is a problem for the other committees quite so, much as this is the nesting season that actually you know that there are windows there, where you can actually take forward some of these schemes, and if you miss that window and then planning permission and the supply chain, and so on and contractors slips, but I just wanted to imply. It might look poor, given the climate change that we're experiencing and the fact that we need the scheme. These are absolutely great schemes that compliment the schemes. Councils are doing, the Environment Agency and other partners are doing, but also they are difficult, sometimes very difficult and complex schemes. The other thing I just wanted to mention there was the retrofit schemes. We are looking very closely and we still think that we will get very near
the targets we've set on retrofit, but just wanted to say something it's being reported how burdensome central government are being around the scheme, asking for additional information asking for a re-profiling. Those kinds of things at the last minute and officers are having to spend time on central government bureaucracy rather than what we thought was the deal which was the money would come to us and we would make sure we would get it out there certainly in retrofit we're not letting that stoppers, we're carrying on focusing on as many as we can get through
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:12:33
thank you, thank you for your commitment to retrofit in particular, but the homes hub is our ambition and I spoke to the infrastructure bank yesterday about how can we work with them to turbo-charge the our ambitious plans, but if government are holding us back we have to find a way to circumvent government and just start doing ourselves we I and I feel for you because this is not devolution, we've got the money and we are tie our hands are tied Susan.
thank you, Mayor, yes, just the policy diversity.
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Chair) - 0:13:10
qpr's you've got in there, and they are very eternally focused. Really service delivery is where it's at from Bradford's point of view, so I have you able to develop more EDIS stats for service delivery in the future. Thank you.
yes, I'm sorry so that you know your.
Alan Reiss - 0:13:31
absolutely right, those are the internally focused TDI targets that are about the organisation, there are a range of other EVE targets which are built into the business plans of the programmes that we're delivering, so, for example, the business support programmes that we deliver have got targets in them around ethnicity and disability and gender, so for instance I can remember figures precisely but,
there are targets on, for instance, are our programmes around startups and innovation there are specific targets within there which are about.
how many how many businesses are we supporting that have either?
a female or or either a female lead or and led by somebody with a disability or led by someone from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background, so those targets are built into the that they're built-in elsewhere. I completely accept that that that table is about the
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:14:30
organisational objectives if I can just say the enterprise by Chalkshire scheme, the 6 million that has very
reassuring numbers, actually over 60%, it might be 62% of people have got the money of a female lead companies and
a B, A and E are at at pace with.
the reflects the percentage of people in West Yorkshire who have got her our black, Asian and minority ethnic, but we could get those figures for you to to reassure you, and certainly the Mayor's screen diversity programme 43% of the last cohort had a disability. You can't meet, you can't get change unless you have those targets, so I think it's really important that we monitor our ambitions and if we we've we're hitting those targets, then let's get a stretch target. Susan
Alan Reiss - 0:15:22
yeah, I mean that's great and I think we've made great progress in all
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Chair) - 0:15:26
that. I think I just wonder if there's a way of representing some of that service delivery canopies at this level so that we hold ourselves to account for it or in particular about, and I suppose about the volume of spend how much of that is also given by Eddie I targets, so obviously we have individual programmes, can we look at that? We have to spend as a whole and I just wonder there's a different way of doing. I don't have the answer, but I just would like us to have a look at that a bit further. Thank you

6 Finance Update

Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:15:58
moving on to Item 6, the Finance update. This is the usual updates on finance and it provides the current position on Quarter 1 and a confirmation of the draft results for 2022 23, and it provides the closing position on capital and revenue expenditure and income for 22 23. That's still subject to external audit, and it then provides the Quarter 1 position with 23 24, which at this stage is showing income and expenditure broadly in line with the agreed budget. A later paper on the agenda considers the approach to 24 25, alongside business planning. So answer if you would like to just take through the paper
Angela Taylor - 0:16:40
in a bit more detail, I will thank you ma am, as you said, that this is the the regular item that comes to this committee. It's all a bit of a catch-up, bringing you up to date just the way the timing of these meetings have fallen, so it's a bit of an update on the year-end position cue opposition and Q2 we have, just in the middle of finalising and so as expected, as reported back in February, when the budget was approved for current year and the revised forecast was approved, it was noted that for a variety of reasons there was going to be a
are set aside to boss or transport reserve and are transferred to capital and arising from from surplus bank interest.
those did come to pass there, then we managed to get those figures up a little bit, and they are intended to transfer into those reserves to be drawn down during this year in future, years will pay that back out through the budget discussions and you'll see those figures and how those sums are utilised to support the the pressure on bus services, which is a whole separate topic in itself. When we get to the budget discussions and on capital, where I think you've already seen in recent months the result of the inflation reviews, where we've had to rethink some of the capital delivery, so this is is not a huge amount, but it does. Every little helps to support that in place on the capital programme, and there's a lot of detail there on the capital programme outturn, so it is out there for your information. The little graph hopefully shows the the trajectory is very much upwards and I think the MD said in her introduction about the amount of money that is coming to us and you can see some of that flowing through in that the capital spend figures, so there's some detail on each of the different programme areas. Obviously wouldn't have someone's beyond that and deliveries is marching onwards, but it's confirmation of where we got to and in terms of the quarter 1, as you said, we are broadly in line with where we expected to be included. The snapshot of the gainshare, which again will be coming forward as part of budget discussions about how we use future tranches of gainshare and how that's prioritised and justified, and caveat it. It's referenced in the paper that the the figures are presented for the March year end are still awaiting audit. A number of people in the Sevilla on all governance and audit committee, and are fully aware of the reasons for our audit being delayed, along with almost all other audits nationally. So they are draft figures.
but we are Con, we are comfortable, they are correct and then that we are happy to use those going forward, are happy to take any questions on any or all of that, but it is at this stage for noting and is
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:19:11
obviously giving us the starting point for the budget discussions
Angela Taylor - 0:19:15
which we are in the depths of and will be coming back to future
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:19:19
committees with, thank you, Angela and as I always say in this committee we have to deliver and spend this money we cannot be sat on money when we are saying to government we want a trailblazer deal we are mature enough to deliver.
so just on the brownfield housing fund, the actual spend was lower than anticipated, we know why, but would this potentially impact opportunities to get further funding for brownfield?
Angela Taylor - 0:19:49
we hope not, as you said, there are, there are a number of reasons why the brownfield housing spend has been extremely challenging, primarily many of the conditions put around that that funding we are currently in the midst of are quite a number of mitigations to try and ensure that we do hit the deadline of next March to get most of that money spent Suddenly we're confident that we are demonstrating, we can deliver, it's a difficult environment to deliver in, but we are making it happen and I think the team are confident. We should get a good amount of it through ahead of the deadline and nose, and everything else would be in contracting time, so it shouldn't impact on our
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:20:26
ability to draw down future funding. Thank you, and I wonder if there's any opportunities for alignment with HR the where the projects where we're not delivering because of internal vacancies, that that becomes a priority for HR, because we have got to make sure that just because we can't recruit doesn't mean we can't deliver
so I wonder if there's any opportunity to
draw those two bits of data together.
Angela Taylor - 0:20:52
yes, we could certainly look at how we represent that back to you, we're very much looking at how we do deploy people and can move people from one area to another. Some areas need specialist input. The Brownhill House is probably a good example, but it's not all specialists. Some of it is is good project managers and we are looking Alan an HR team very much looking at how we, how we use the people, we've got the best effect against the priorities that we've got and
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:21:16
hoping to move that forward, and just before opening up one more question just on the getting building fund, we always thought that this fund is an opportunity for training skills learners. Could you just explain why the number of new learners assisted the target was 200 and we didn't achieve any it's in the is in the box. I think some
Angela Taylor - 0:21:35
of this is a timing issue because some of the the spend had to happen in a certain time, but the outcomes are measured over a longer time because in many of these we input to the schemes at the beginning, and the scheme the full project was being employed, was being delivered with local authority, are the partners money, but I will do is just check that the future figures were chanting here. This has shown what we'd got at that point. It doesn't show the gap of what we're still hoping to achieve, so I'll make sure that gets added in in future.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:22:02
I am really grateful, thank you, and this is just my own understanding we can take this offline if you could talk to me about.
2023 24 Key 1 reporting the Combined Authority reporting quarter 1 overall position, materially in line with budget, with a net revenue position being expenditure of 6,000 compared to a budgeted position of net income of 23 I don't understand that.
maybe you could just tell me, because I'm sure I won't be the only person notwithstanding that that's fine, and we will happily look at
Angela Taylor - 0:22:32
how we present this to make it as user-friendly as possible what we're saying is we had a level of income and a level of expenditure that when you take one from the other we expected to have an extra leftover money of 23,000 at this point what we've got is 6,000 the other way, so the net difference we've only saying we spend 30,000
29,000 pounds different to what we expected, but will represent that in a different way, for you understand the question and we can make it
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:22:58
simpler for everybody appreciated, thank you simply is always best, isn't it any questions on the finance point, yes Susan
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Chair) - 0:23:07
thank you and it just says, obviously there's a been a expected surplus on bank interest, could you tell us how much you are budgeted for bank interest and how much naturally is projected to be this year, thank you.
Angela Taylor - 0:23:22
I can I'm just trying to think if I've got the figures but actually just check them quickly, in essence that the figures we've got for the year end March, the figures shown in the table is the surplus about what we would normally expect to get any direct startling, sorry, it's a 2.2,
so last year.
we got an additional 5 5 million of bank interest this year, we're
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:23:52
expecting it to be sorry, what are you looking at?
sorry, paragraph 2 point to the little table, that is his transmits
Angela Taylor - 0:23:59
capital that is in effect the the surplus on bank interest. So the
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:24:06
right, the 5.7 million transmits capital is what we're proposing is
Angela Taylor - 0:24:12
the surplus. That's last year correct current year, current year, we are looking we're expecting to get 20 million plus we didn't put that full amount in the budget, but I'd like to just check the figure rather than try and remember it, but I can look that up for you. Let
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:24:26
me know at the end of the meeting. Thank you thanks and have a very
very good point.

7 Gateway Review Evaluation

how much that interest isn't, where can we use that to best effect Uchida moving on then to the gateway review evaluation? This provides an update on the progress to date with the Gateway re gateway review, as Members will remember it's a requirement of funding and draw to deals with government, the growth deal and the devolution deal. Our success in this process is crucial in unlocking the next five years' worth of funding.
under these two deals, so the work has an important role in demonstrating our ability to manage these investment funds, this strengthens our position in the context of our ambition to achieve trailblazer status. It also sets out the governance arrangements for this important work, the risks, the issues, the mitigations and a detailed project timetable which details key activities over the coming period. Effective stakeholder engagement will be needed in order to ensure success and the approach to comes is therefore also highlighted. Can I take this moment to thank our colleagues in this team who have really had to wrangle two different funding streams with
changing expectations from government, it seems on an hourly basis, so I want to thank them publicly for the work that they've done so far, because we have to prove we can manage large amounts of money to deliver on budget on time for the people of West Yorkshire if we're going to move to the next stage so Alan can you take through?
I can, moreover, I probably have very little to add to what you have
Alan Reiss - 0:26:08
just said, so if it's OK, can we bring in and I would have to go into
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:26:12
the detail and care yes, I'm really pleased to report that we have
Anna Woodhouse - 0:26:17
made very significant progress, particularly in the last three months we've now got small project team in place but treating this as a project at present, but the intention is to draw learning that will embed this as business as usual going forward because it is going to be an ongoing requirement so, as the mayor said, the paper provides
updates on progress, specifically around governance, risks, initiatives, communications activity and stakeholder engagement, and I'll just touch briefly on a few of those issues, so, starting with the government's arrangements, the project bod is really important in ensuring fading or shared ownership from key stakeholders as well as strategic steer.
it's important in mitigating risks providing assurance to government that the process is in hand and supporting wider stakeholder engagement, so, as noted in the paper and as the Mayor's mentioned, effective commerce is really important in engaging colleagues and partners to help us tell our story so we've been rolling out several streams of comes activity we've got the online stakeholder survey live currently which is part of the mid-term review work.
we've also submitted our local evaluation framework, which was an absolutely huge undertaking, as the mayor says, bringing those two funds into one single process, it's a very it's called a framework, it's actually a very detailed plan.
and this has enabled us now that we've got that finalised to move forward with work for the mid-term review which is currently underway, as well as the tender process for the final evaluation. So we've had to undertake several tasks concurrently to get us on track. There's been a bit of a delay on the mid-term review but with by undertaking things at the same time where we are on track now for the final reporting deadline, where will be, which is in October next year, but we need to submit all evidence really by July August next year, for review by the consultants that have been s appointed by government askew w there. They function as an independent evaluation panel who are supporting us through this process. They have devised the process in collaboration with government
and the templates that we need to use, so I'll pause there and invite
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:28:53
questions, thank you, and obviously others are going through this same pain who have you been working with other NCAs are going through a
Anna Woodhouse - 0:29:02
similar process, yeah, we had a good meeting last week with representatives from D-lock sorry, the Department of 11,000 communities s q w of the consultants and the other areas we collaborated previously with Greater Manchester Cambridge.
Glasgow
as part of the cohort 1, so we have drawn learning from that past experience that time it was just the gross deal, and specifically the transport fund that was in scope,
now we've also got the gainshare so we're Co Sotto got to different time phases as well for the two funds which adds to the complexity of the process, but yeah, we are collaborating with colleagues in other areas, they are experiencing similar challenges which is always reassuring in a way.
and were able to share
experience knowledge, insights of how we can navigate this process,
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:30:03
thank you so much, I think your approach to telling the story of what we're achieving is also as important as the numbers, sometimes isn't it.

8 Business Planning and Budgets

any comments on the gateway review, no lovely moving on business planning and budgets. This provides an update to the Committee on the multi-year business and budget planning adopted for 24 25 and sets out the approach that's being used timeline of activities to make sure our plans are ready for approval February 24 so Alan I'd like to if you could take us through the paper thanks re,
thank you ma so, as we have done last year, we're starting from the
Alan Reiss - 0:30:45
outcomes that we're looking to achieve and, in particular, looking at what the what, the what the ambitions are that are set out in the West Yorkshire Plan and what the organisations contribution towards those mission those missions are and so the entire business plan is linked back to the outcomes that were that we're looking to achieve.
we're moving as far as we can to a multi-year process, so partly due to the change that the organisation has gone through over the last few years, we've tended to run a cycle which is pretty annual, pretty short term. We're trying to move to a position where we're looking much more of the longer term. The plan as a method will bring an outline to the Combined Authority in December and then final budgets and business plans to be published at the February see. A is our first plans first time that we've done our business planning since we restructured the organisation. As you know, we went through a major restructure last year to focus the organisation much more around outcomes and as well as developing plans that are about the delivery of our programmes. Outputs outcomes, et cetera, we've also got a number of projects which are about improving the way that the organisation operates and, in particular, building the capacity and capability necessary in the organisation to deliver the major programmes that are coming, for instance, mass transit, so where we are at the moment in terms of processes, building an understanding across the organisation of what the various major pressures are, so we can understand that the key moving parts and what the choices and trade-offs are in in advance of providing advice to members
around the end of the year, so that's that's it by in terms of
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:32:30
updates, Bradford, Stephanie questions from thanks we've spoken on a number of occasions about how we make ourselves more self sufficient and in 2.7 it says current levels of income generation are being reviewed and challenged in order to identify ways of increasing the funding envelope.
be good to have some idea of what they might look like, would that be Angela Angela?
it is. Thank you. We are challenging this throughout the budget
Angela Taylor - 0:32:56
process, from different parts of the organisation where there is reap, whether it is charging for some of the services we provide, whether it is we can generate from the assets we own, but it's also the conversations that have been being developed over the last year with the likes of the pension fund with a UK, I'll be there with other people out there who have similar interests want to make things happen, and so it's any third party we can find who whose interests are aligned with ours, so whether its project on climate, with its projects on whether we can help co-fund things on housing so we are casting our net far and wide
and if anyone has any suggestions, they wish to do forward to us, happy to consider those as well, we're not saying no to anything, it's it, we're still in relatively early days of reaching out to different organisations, but that is a task within which you'll see coming through in the business plan across multiple different fronts.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:33:51
thankfully, we would be nicer, maybe, or in some time in the future, to have a paper on on the innovations around being strategic with our finances.
for future conversations, I think also government will potentially look to us with a single settlement to be able to use that money wisely, of course, but also creatively to make sure that we make the
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Chair) - 0:34:21
most of it Susan yeah I just obviously in all this we need to keep delivering, as you said and I will outlined and I think it has been, he said it had been reviewed by adults in the latest of it is that 600 million pound transport reserve
so how are we using that and how does that fit into this budget plan?
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:34:38
Angela
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Chair) - 0:34:42
yet the this 600 million is the cash in the bank which is generating interest yeah, which we do expect to be.
at least 11 million higher than what we expected at the start of the year.
the transport reserve is now down to almost 0 because we've repaid that back out to local authorities, as a great hundred million 600 million is cash, which 600 million is cash, which is the result of timing differences. So that what we need to show you is that money is actually it's a combination of see are SDS moneys active travel is grant money that is in that is in people's programmes to spend, but we have not yet spent it, but it is allocated out. So I certainly can give that reassurance that that money isn't free money in inverted commas, that it all has a home, it is going to across a range of different projects, but we can show you that, as part of the budget
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:35:35
thank you any further comments.

9 Recruitment of Independent Member

no brilliant. Thank you moving on to Item 8 recruitment for the Independent Member, this relates to
as I mentioned, a recruitment to the finance resources,
and Corporate Committee, this was agreed at the C, A A October 12 you'll remember that, as a member of the committee, the former lecture gave us that a really invaluable financial and business expertise and advice, which added real value to the work of this committee.

10 Project Approvals

I'd like to see a similar role supporting our work, and I'm pleased to say that I at the last meeting the CA agreed to recruit and co-opt an independent member to F R CC, to provide that expertise and that check and challenge to to our roles. As you heard earlier, what does this mean? It would be helpful if we had somebody that could talk me through it. Early on. Recruitment is currently underway with a view to see them make an appointment in December to make enable the successful candidate to attend the January meeting of this committee. Can we note this decision of the CA to recruit an independent member to the committee and the proposed timeline? All noted lovely. Thank you right. Moving on to the meat of the meeting which is project
Simon Warburton - 0:37:06
approvals, I will pass over to Simon for that. Thank you, so thank you ma so, as per your introduction,
at the start of the meeting, we are continuing to make really good progress across what is a very wide ranging transport investment programme that is supported by a number of funding sources, as we just touched on before this paper sets out three updates and a request to progress across the development of a them card, app or delivery of a new cycle superhighway in Bradford and the expansion of our bus service improvement plan and what I am now going to do is to hand over to a project leads to further set out the proposals for the committee and starting with Randall Ghent, who's the project lead to the on card app.
Rachel Jones - 0:38:00
thank you very much up, as some of you may know, in the PCEP there was
Randall Ghent - 0:38:07
a plan to invest in name card, mobile app, it's an increasingly important retail channel.
means for customers to to easily get on bus and rail and improve that the overall experience so this this is a C or SDS funded scheme intended to make a suite of enhancements to the app.
since the app's launch in September 2020 weekly ticket sales have gone from about 6,000,
per year to 381,000 in 2023 and now 85%
actually it's more like 87%, now of them card of bus sales are through the app.
this investment will allow the Combined Authority to establish the app as the best source of bus ticketing and information in West Yorkshire and improve the passenger experience at the pre journey and boarding stages, as outlined in the be CYP total cost of the scheme is 525,000 including evaluation The Combined Authority is asked to approve the
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:39:20
total sum. Thank you, thank you. That's a great outcome and I'm always proud that the M card is the most sophisticated travel card outside of the Oyster.
and I managed to make a great deal of the fact that they now have and integrated cards at where we're ahead of the game, so I'm glad to see the Grove, have we got any comments on the him card, are we happy to approve?
we are good stuff moving on, thank you at the superhighway.
Simon Linley - 0:39:50
OK to get the full West Bradford cycle superhighway extension scheme will be approximately 7.5 kilometres of high quality cycle infrastructure, with a sniff, significant, proportionate route being segregated, using a combination of by directional and unidirectional, segregated cycle, civic facilities. The proposals also include improved provision and segregation for cyclists at key junctions and crossings along the route. The route follows Sawbridge Road from the City City Centre and then continues on Thornton Road from the junction of City Road. The scheme consists of two core sections. The first running between the city city centre to just west of Cemetery Road, which is phase 1, and the second between Cemetery Road and Thornton Row and Thornton, which is phase 2. Phase 1 is at decision Point 4 for business case and phase 2 is at decision point 3 outline business case. Overall, the scheme is aiming to improve or encourage
Modeshift and the reduction of car trips by 10% by 2036 increased number of people are able to access breakfast at his city centre using sustainable modes within 30 minutes by 25% by 2025, contribute to an net 0 targets with a reduction in carbon output from travel along the corridor by 25% by 2036 and also improve air quality along the Thornton Road corridor.
phase 1 of the scheme comes forward with a total cost of 12,064,063 636 pounds which is an increase of 2,924,636 pounds from the OBC estimate, and needs to be fully funded by the Combined authorities transfer transforming cities, fund delivery of phase 1 is scheduled to be fully completed by June 20 June 2025 for breakfast City of culture.
development of phase 2 full business case comes forward with a total cost of 1,064,793 pounds and will be funded by the Combined Authority, transforming cities fund funding for delivery of phase two is still to be secured, so today we're asking for approval for the following.
West Bradford cycle Superhighway phase 1 proceeds through decision Point 4 full business case or work commences on activity 5 delivery in terms of second bit West Bradford cycle, Superhighway scheme phase 2 proceeds through decision Point 3 to outline business case or work commenced on on activity 4 for a full business case.
approval to increase the combined authorities contribution from 9.140 million for the scheme to 30,129,429 pounds and obviously for the Combined Authority 20 into Ed addendum to the existing funding agreements for
with Bradford Council for the expanded expenditure for the scheme of
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:42:58
13,129,429 pounds thank you, Simon, the increasing costs is that
Simon Linley - 0:43:02
inflationary, yes, there's this, there's keep the 3 T3, it is inflation, and also there is a cost increases from the design whether it's gone from.
outline business case to full business case because, obviously, in terms of the scheme, we are ensuring that schemes aligned to the
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:43:21
latest cycle quality standards with all T M 1 20, and just my understanding is the first phase from the city centre, out irritating threat to yet to the should just west of Thornton Road junction, and wouldn't it be great if we had that obviously 2025, it's got to be delivered by, we could have the electric bike scheme rolled out from Leeds to Bradford by then so that people can actually use it
if they're not confident on a bike.
Simon Linley - 0:43:47
yes, Susan, thank you, so I am really obviously welcome this
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Chair) - 0:43:52
investment and it is something we've looked at over a few months now, of course, as well, because in fact your travel England and you know they're work increasingly now with the Combined Authority and also that the measures are a level 3 or something didn't lay out of trouble. England are, and I think largely that's also alerted and a lot of work in this area. We obviously need to catch up on that, I think as well, so we need to make sure that we're serious about this for cyclists and active travel walking. You write them that they have changed the rules a bit recently, haven't they are and that Councillor D F T, I think rather natural travel England, so that obviously, again going back to Councillor Scullion's points, it increases the cost of our local schemes when the change in rules nationally, and that's something we can ill afford at the moment
so great to see this progressing to the next stage. I think it's just both mentioning as well for people out there that obviously a lot of our councils around the several all of us are very stretched at the moment in terms of finances and and people wonder why we don't spend this money on things like children and adult social care, but I think we need to make it clear that we're not allowed to, and this money is being given to the Combined Authority for this purpose, and it can't just suddenly be switched onto things which are very pressing social need for all councils at the moment. So really welcome this one, just to sort of give a bit of context for why it's coming at this time and
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:45:10
and why it's been delivered, thank you, thank you, and schemes like this are also part of my wider vision on vision Zero which we launched this week for to make road deaths and serious injuries to lower that number Alison Lowe is chairing that board we have invested in it working with partners and the police because the the litmus test is, would you be confident letting your 12 year old daughter cycle on the roads?
well, no, unless you've got these schemes, where you know that they will be safe, so it's really important that we invest in this infrastructure to ensure that we have less road deaths, as well as obviously tackling the climate emergency, so are we happy to approve, we are, thank you OK moving on to the final,
projects, Simon
Randall Ghent - 0:46:01
Rachel Jones - 0:46:06
thank you very much more so the change request that has come forward to you today for the decision is an awful lot of information provided around our bus services improvement programme, which hopefully you are all aware of, and it's my job to try and crystallise all that great information in the report into a couple of minutes by you, so I will do my best. So, as part of the national bus strategy, there was a requirement on all local transport authorities to have to develop a Bus Services Improvement Plan or be CYP. I refer to it from now on. If you don't mind, it's a bit easier and we have to do it, we had to do that, we're told we had to do that in order to be eligible for future funding or to invest in our bus network in West Yorkshire and the focus. We were told that this day was that it had to be focused around cheaper and simplified fares and increased service frequency and expanded bus routes as well
so we submitted a West Yorkshire, be CYP.
in late 2021 and it was finally approved and published in October 2022 and it focus on interventions across five key areas, one of which randall's mentioned this morning already in the decision you took a few minutes ago and the five key areas around an enhanced bus network cleaner and simpler fares, which is where the M card and app came in improved a more inclusive customer service and priority for buses on the highway and then looking at getting more and more green and better vehicles in the bus network as well and there's a number of objectives through Abbey sic that we're working towards trying to achieve by 2025 which will soon come round them.
it should be noted, though, that obviously, you know was still operating in a world where the suppressed patronage following the COVID pandemic.
and obviously even before the the COVID pandemic, there have been a number of years of decline in the use of of the bus industry and the number of passengers accessing it, so earlier this year back in May, the government announced it was replacing its existing funding mechanisms to the bus industry that had sort of come about during the Covid pandemic, the most recent of which had been the must recovery grant and they were gonna replace it with something called biscuit pus,
and following that announcement, they then announced, through d f t that West Yorkshire was gonna be awarded just a little over 3.8 7 5 million.
for this year, for 23 24, and then we are expecting a similar amount next year is as well, and it should be noted that this money, this sort of money, is for three basic buses in addition to what we've already been awarded through our beach, sick payment basic, which was just under 70 million pounds of revenue funding, as I say it in October 2022 since the papers have been published, I know there is a shop or a small reference to it through the sort of more recent announcements by government, with the northern network plans,
we are also expecting to be in receipt of them around 30 million pounds additional basic money in 24 25, so that's the next financial year as well, but maybe needs to bring something back to this committee a further date around that so the change request today is trying to stop bring all that together basically fire approval this morning so that the the recommendations that set out in the report on page 94 is it is a change request to the Bassett SLC that was approved towards the end of 2022.
and so just to refer to those recommendations and obviously the BCPs being managed as a programme by the Combined Authority, so what we want to do is extend that programme to incorporate the basic plus moneys that we've had awarded to us as well and manage it within that that programme governance approach, so the the recommendations are to accept the additional funding from basic plus that's been awarded to us and incorporate that into the basic programme, taking the total basic programme cost to 77,724,512 and also because we didn't get the
be CYP our original basic ward of just 100 under 70 million, until October 22, and the BCF programme started from April 2022, we are also seeking an extension to our basic programme, a total of one year, so instead of completing delivery in March 2025 we complete delivery in March 2026.
are seeking approval to incorporate the basic plus monies which is focused on protection and restoration of bus services, as opposed to the basic money which is around enhancement of the bus network, were seeking approval from yourselves to incorporate that that is a separate project within the basic programme so that it can be managed more collaboratively through a common governance and and also looking at how the money is used to best effect. On the network that sought balance between protection, restoration and enhancement and a across the the network of West Yorkshire and you know, including a total of 700 sorry 7.7 5 million I'll I'll summarise to add into the the basic programme overall and proceed through decision Point 2, which is strategic outline case in into delivery, and then the other two recommendations is that the Combined Authority provides the funding to the bus operators for the basic plus monies and then through the existing mechanism, this or compensation arrangements that we have in place at the moment with the bus operators
and because of the agile nature of this funding in terms of it being used around product protection and restoration, we're seeking approval for the bus routes to be supported and the exact amounts of money that each bus operator is delegated to be delegated. Sorry, the each bus operator is awarded to be delegated to the Executive Director of Transport and then the final recommendation is that future approvals are made in accordance with the insurance pathway as set out in this report and obviously subject to the programme remain in its within the intolerance as identified within the report and, where required, any future committee level approvals are delegated to the transport authority. Thank you very much
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:52:50
thank you, Rachel, that just shows the sort of Pepper Pot approach from funding for the bus network from government that you know we just get in announcements where LG has a bit more money when we could have actually planned, had we had prior knowledge with time to organise so it's not working we are obviously out to consultation with the public.
to see what my decision will be in March,
but thank you for having to work so at 0 on an agile basis because moniker coming in obviously throws things into.
intuitive J, not chaos, but.
different challenges,
but also to thank partners for prioritising your routes and letting us know what
your communities need from this money, so it is a team effort to make sure that.
while we're waiting for that decision that we use this money to make sure we have a better and more connected transport network that is reliable and cost and affordable as well, so I'm really pleased that the 2 pound fare we are able to continue that.
and
that we were one of the first two doctors, so I'm very proud of West Yorkshire that we understood that what was really important for the public in the cost of living crisis was cheaper travel, has anybody any comments on this Susan?
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Chair) - 0:54:21
yes, thank you, librarian, I think one thing I just mentioned on that, as thought is you right, we were one of the first to do that, but we're not included de facto in the national skills when they say something, it doesn't always apply to us. We have to say actually remember, we're also in this country, and we also need our share of this money for the 2 pound fair because you are at its. I think it has made a difference to the cost of living crisis to people, find it easier to access the bus to offset the cost point if you've also simplification as well, but that costs money to continue and it costs a lot of money. It was when we first put it forward. It's like half the basic one, it wasn't it, I think, and that's that's a lot of millions of pounds, so I wanted to be able to continue that, but people need to know that you know it is something that we defined here, but it does make refunding this money is finite.
I think just to bring wingsuit for us to take off offline, probably from a transport. From its point of view, is often asking for the extension at quite and somewhat we're doing that which needs, I will look at how it profile those activities up until then. Don't know, because there are some things that are really important for us to be able to increase bus patronage, like the the bits of junctions and things which might not be very glamorous but as you can get on with those that made a huge difference, so let's just check how high-profile in those those schemes
to make the most benefit quickest for BA travelling public, thank you,
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:55:39
thank you, and it's something I've raised with the bus Minister that we can't lose out because we were innovative.
we can't we can't be the ones that are losing out just because we should on that yeah, exactly exactly so, any further comments, Matthew is surely something on buses.
Cllr Matthew Morley - 0:55:58
go on the doesn't moan, but you are right where the government Angels, the buses will be delighted with the annual crisis, when we have winter weather the announce. After the winter, weather has gone 100 million pounds improvements to roads, but you know you are still very low, it comes out to council levels and it's just the same of the bus network is perfectly women's, but I think we do need along the strategy from government now for a Labour government, give us that that we can improve the services as I keep saying desperately needed in Wakefield

11 Autumn Statement 2023

Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:56:27
thank you, and your voice is always well heard, so thank you, are you a great champion for Wakefield Uchida, are we happy to approve this item, we are lovely, thank you moving on to Autumn Statement 2023 this updates members on our submission to Treasury for the autumn statement in November sets out our position in respect of this fiscal event are demonstrating. Devolution is working for West Yorkshire and that we're serious about going faster and further to bring about even more benefits for the region.
also, it emphasises are proven track record of delivery, demonstrating we are ready for a trailblazer Divo deal, to grow our economy and to improve lives. We need government to work with us to meet our ambition and we're urging the chancellor to provide the necessary powers and investment to help us build that fairer, safer. Just West Yorkshire that works for all. Our submission was produced in partnership with local authority, colleagues and signed off by leaders and myself, demonstrating our shared commitment to devolution, and can I just particularly highlight my call for certainty, stability and fairness in local government funding with a request for longer term funding settlements. Because we know successful, devolution can't happen without strong and sustainable local authorities. So they was part of your Park. Are we happy to confirm and to note the West Yorkshire submission to Treasury for the autumn statement?
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Chair) - 0:58:02
Susan yes, absolutely, it's exactly what we need and, as you say, Mayor, if the local authorities can't cover their finance combat.
at all so.
the economic growth ha, in a puzzle, if you like, in West Yorkshire and all moving parts, needs to be working well together, so absolutely endorse this approach, thank you, thank you team, West Yorkshire.
Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire - 0:58:22
any comments no happy to noted, thank you so much, that's the end of the meeting, thank you for taking the time today and welcome to the officers that I've not met before, and thank you for your contributions as well Wednesday next meeting then is the 18th of January 18th of January, so are we ways away and by then we will have our new,
I advise her to also support the committee. Thank you, everyone has been a pleasure,
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Rachel Jones
Interim Head of Transport Policy
West Yorkshire Combined Authority
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