Finance, Resources, and Corporate Committee - Thursday 5 December 2024, 11:30am - West Yorkshire Combined Authority Webcasting

Finance, Resources, and Corporate Committee
Thursday, 5th December 2024 at 11:30am 

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  1. Cllr James Lewis Chair
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  1. Sarah Naylor, Committee Services (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Cllr James Lewis Chair
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  1. Cllr James Lewis Chair
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  1. Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Presentation Slides
  3. Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
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  5. Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  6. Presentation Slides
  7. Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
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  9. Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  10. Presentation Slides
  11. Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  12. Presentation Slides
  13. Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  14. Cllr James Lewis Chair
  15. Jocelyn Manners-Armstrong Independent Member
  16. Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  17. Cllr James Lewis Chair
  18. Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  19. Cllr James Lewis Chair
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  1. Gary Dowson, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Cllr James Lewis Chair
  3. Jocelyn Manners-Armstrong Independent Member
  4. Gary Dowson, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  5. Jocelyn Manners-Armstrong Independent Member
  6. Gary Dowson, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  7. Cllr James Lewis Chair
  8. Cllr James Lewis Chair
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  1. Jo Dent (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Jo Dent (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  3. Cllr James Lewis Chair
  4. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council)
  5. Jo Dent (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  6. Cllr James Lewis Chair
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  1. Caroline Norreys, Assistant Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Cllr James Lewis Chair
  3. Jocelyn Manners-Armstrong Independent Member
  4. Caroline Norreys, Assistant Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  5. Cllr James Lewis Chair
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  1. Webcast Finished

1 Apologies for Absence

Cllr James Lewis Chair - 0:00:02
After half past 11, so we'll make a start on this meeting.
Uh, good to see everybody here. Um, as the mayor's elsewhere,
I'm chairing the meeting today,
so I hope everybody behaves themselves for me, um,
at today's meeting. So I will, um,
turn to the agenda and the first item is apologies for absence, please.
So the only apology, sorry,
chair, the only apologies we've received are from the mayor. Okay.

2 Declarations of Pecuniary Interests

Cllr James Lewis Chair - 0:00:31
Sarah Naylor, Committee Services (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:00:31
Great, thank you. I'll turn to the committee. Are there any declarations of pecuniary interest, please?

3 Exempt Information - Possible Exclusion of the Press and Public

I don't see any. Are there any exempt information, please?

4 Minutes of the Meeting held on 5 September 2024

No. Great. And I'll turn to the minutes of the meeting held on the 5th
Cllr James Lewis Chair - 0:00:51
of September.
and is everybody happy with those minutes please take it they agreed so
we're going to move on to item five on the agenda which is a quarter to

5 Quarter 2 Organisational Performance

organization performance and I'll pass over to Sarah to introduce this item
please. Thank you chair so this this paper is to provide an update on quarter
Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:01:22
performance. I think at your last meeting you had a presentation about
quarter one and end of year performance for 2020 -2024. And obviously the
presentation here is just going to pick up some of the key highlights from from the
paper that I'll take it as that you've all read. So as well as kind of
Presentation Slides - 0:01:38
running through the quarter two performance, we'll also just talk a little bit about
the performance framework that we're working on to kind of strengthen the
approach that we've got across the organisation. So just in terms of
I think key points really are around that confidence in deliveries is broadly similar
to quarter one, but as colleagues will have seen in the paper, there's been a rise in
the number of work areas where the risk to delivery have increased.
And I think this is quite typical of a move from quarter one into quarter two during the
kind of financial year.
It recognises that kind of progressing actions and we've probably identified a number of
areas where we kind of need to kind of have a look at in more detail.
I think there's a clear theme arising in relation to kind of resourcing in the paper
which I'll come on to in a little while.
And I think that's partly to do with some of the big projects that we're taking forward and kind of the
kind of the growth in the organization.
And obviously what you'll see within the paper is that what we started to do is look at the mitigations that are in place to address
some of the risks that are arising around those areas where they're
Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:02:42
kind of being flagged up during this quarter.
And as I've just said, we'll talk about the performance
management framework, which is some work that we're taking
forward around how we further develop our approach
Presentation Slides - 0:02:54
to performance, setting goals and launching progress.
I think what we're also trying to do
is trying to make these reports really clear.
I think we did have feedback, I think,
particularly from the last report where we were reporting
on, both end of year and quarter one,
that it was quite difficult to navigate.
And so we are doing a piece of work at the minute
to try and improve clarity across the piece.
So just in terms of headline outcomes there,
there's been a marginal decrease in the outcomes which
fully satisfy key requirements that are below.
And you'll see there that there's
been a decrease from 44 areas to 39 and a quarter to.
A number of areas, a marginal decline again from blue amber
and a drop from 70 to 64.
And then in terms of amber -red, there's been an increase from 9 to 19.
And you'll see that we've got one area that is introduced into this quarter that is red.
And I'll come on to talk about that in a short while.
So just in terms of headline outcomes, the table that's in the paper and on the right
kind of shows kind of how we're delivering against the five missions.
and what you'll see there in terms of the number of work areas, there's been a
particular change in missions one, four and five and that's kind of those areas
are outlined a little bit further on when we talk about both improvements and
kind of areas that are in a bit of a downward trend. Approximately a quarter
of areas of work report a high level risk to deliver than in quarter one.
You'll see there there are 18 work areas that are kind of
in an upwards direction which is really positive. About 31 a quarter that are moving in a downwards
direction and about 74, kind of 60 percent of areas that are stables that same category
of performance this time around. And that kind of full outline is displayed in appendix one
that I'm sure you've all had a chance to have a look at. Just in terms of quarter two, not to kind
of run through everything but there's been a number of areas where we've seen kind of good
progress over this quarter. You'll see there the local growth plan is mentioned and I'm
sure a number of colleagues around the table have been involved in the journey of the development
of the local growth plan, but that final draft plan is coming to the December meeting for
endorsement, then December CA meeting for endorsement and quite a lot of work has been
happening over the last quarter to get that into position, particularly in terms of developing
the robust evidence base but also consulting with a wide range of partners to get that
where it needs to be. You'll see that in terms of activity around bus stop
accessibility improvements and there's been a number of kind of improvements
there which will kind of support improvement across 1 ,000 bus stops and
kind of 14 bus stations up so not to kind of go into everything but you'll get a
flavor there of some of the areas where we've seen some really good progress
over the last quarter and in terms of areas perhaps where we've got some
challenges. The Adult Skills Fund I think we had a report to the last meeting
as a combined authority and around kind of the Adult Skills Fund and some
particular challenges with procurement which were potentially going to lead to
some slight delays in terms of delivering across the piece there.
Brownfield Housing where we've got some negotiation with government about the
freedom and flexibilities about final year spend despite some really good
that has been happening across the piece around housing at the moment.
And you'll see there that the red is flagged around carbon impact reduction.
As we're developing our climate and environment plan,
one of the key focuses that we're looking at is about how we measure carbon impacts.
And one of the big things we've been looking at across the organisation
Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:06:39
is how we bring that together.
And it's quite a complex and technical knowledge and expertise that's required.
we've lost a member of staff to another job, so we've got a recruitment issue there that
we're trying to pick up. But we have flagged that because there is quite a bit of work
Presentation Slides - 0:06:55
that we're looking at at the moment to be ready to be able to support monitoring and
delivery of the climate and environment. Plus that's one that we have got some mitigating
actions there that are in place. So I'll just move on from that and can pick up any questions
later. But in terms of the issue that I raised at the beginning around the growth in the
The theme around resourcing has emerged during quarter to and I think there's a number of
pieces of work that we're undertaking at the moment to try and look at this in much more
detail and one of those is around multi -year business and budget planning which is really
about us thinking much more to the future and planning across the piece which we think
is going to really help and that will be introduced from next year in terms of the 2025 -26 and
onwards.
We're doing quite a lot of work at the minute around workforce planning and looking to see
how we can make sure that we've got the resources in place to kind of deliver.
And we're doing that in conjunction with the work that we're doing around multi -year business
and budget planning.
Also thinking about smart working and workforce agility and how we can
Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:07:57
kind of really avoid
kind of ending kind of cliff edge employment.
And some of that has been previously linked to how we've been funded, where we get funding
for particular programs.
And that makes it really difficult in terms of being able to kind of keep people.
but there's quite a lot of work taking place
across the organisation to ensure that we're moving away
Presentation Slides - 0:08:15
from that cliff edge and that we provide surety to staff
so that we're not necessarily getting into a position
where we're having to lose people and recruit again.
We're also looking at internal governance.
We're setting up a performance board,
and it's in shadow form at the moment,
which is where internally we'll be providing
that kind of internal challenge,
but also around assurance and accountability.
And in the paper, it sets out some of the areas
that we're looking at in terms of doing that.
And what we're trying to do now is empower managers
so that we can utilise our resources and our budgets
more effectively, and making sure
that we're all competing next to time to focus on our priorities.
And we've got a number of those, which I'm sure you're all aware of,
Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:08:56
that we need to really make sure we deliver on over the coming year
and the following years.
Presentation Slides - 0:09:03
In terms of next steps, I've just mentioned the performance management
framework.
We think this is a really important piece of work,
Not just in terms of just looking at performance around our organisation,
but really thinking about how we measure our outcomes.
Also looking at how we bring in things like risk and compliance,
but looking at all of this in the round.
And the performance framework gives a really structured approach moving forward.
We're really clear about what we're doing and make sure that we've got that consistency
across the organisation that we think we can do to improve the current position.
And we're also making sure that we're gonna kind of
consolidate all our relevant performance metrics
into a single reporting process.
Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:09:42
And we've started work on a new tool that will enable us
to do that quite effectively.
That's showing great signs of being able to kind of
pull quite a lot of data into one place
where we can really have that clarity
of where we need to focus our efforts moving forward.
And what we'll do is we will be bringing back
progress reports at key intervals on development there.
And just the final one there is that
quarter through performance where it is scheduled to come to the committee for consideration
Presentation Slides - 0:10:07
in February and we'll be able to provide an update on all of this. So I'll stop there
Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:10:12
Chair and just hand over. Thanks Sarah. Are there any questions or comments
Cllr James Lewis Chair - 0:10:17
from the committee please? Jocelyn please. Thanks very much for that. Obviously it's
Jocelyn Manners-Armstrong Independent Member - 0:10:28
worrying when you see the trends going in the wrong direction but sometimes the more
information you have worse it looks and that but that's great because that means
you can make it better in the future. I am particularly concerned about the one
key staff member disappearing meaning that there's a big problem with the the
carbon impact issue. It's very concerning that there isn't a sufficient
resilience in that particular team because that's a really important area
for the authority. On the wider point of resourcing, I know that there was a bit
of delay in recruitment because of the new IT package that was being put in place.
There was a bit of a delay in recruitment last year wasn't there? Is that partly
why we've got this resource issue now?
Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:11:22
Thanks Jocelyn. So on the issue of the member of staff in the carbon
team. They were in a particularly key and technical role and we are looking to
backfill them. The carbon work is now moving again and we are intending to go
out to consult on the new climate and environment plan very very soon. So and
we've completed, we've recently completed a refresh of all the work around carbon
pathways which sets out what we would need to do in order to get to net zero
and so the work is progressing, but it's true that we have had a slight delay while we've lost a key member of staff.
In terms of the impact of the delays from earlier in the year, there was a particular gap around January and December of last year where we weren't able to onboard people.
that's now completely resolved and we have been, as is set out in the workforce data paper which we'll see later,
we have since then recruited at a decent rate over the year and we have also reduced the period of time that it takes to recruit people into the organisation,
which was something that this committee has discussed before.
Thanks Alan. Are there any more questions on this? Sarah please.
Cllr James Lewis Chair - 0:12:47
It's not a question, I think it's just addressing the first point around sometimes when you
Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:12:54
see areas that aren't on track we start to panic don't we because things aren't going
right but I think it is important that we do start bringing forward much more that kind
conversation around the things that perhaps we've identified and I think
that's good in terms of the approach that we take around the
performance framework so hopefully that's something that we can keep bringing forward.
Thank you. If nobody else wants to come in on item 5 I'll turn to the
Cllr James Lewis Chair - 0:13:23
recommendations on page 7 and take it everybody's happy with those

6 2024-25 Quarter 2 Financial Position

recommendations. It's great. Thanks. Shall we move on to item six,
which is the quarter to financial position, please. Um, Gary.
Thank you chair. I'll provide the headlines of the report.
Gary Dowson, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:13:43
So it provides the revenue on capital position for the second quarter
of the financial year and the forecast position to the year end. Um,
we'll start with revenue.
The position at a quarter two is one of net expenditure of 4 .7
million against a balanced budget at this point and the variance is as it was for quarter one largely due to
timing differences across the project portfolio
the members will recall that while budgets have been profiled and
To reflect the expected incidence of income and expenditure
Some differences do remain and as a quarter one we continue to work through with directorates to improve the profiling
and we will take that forward for the rest of this financial year and certainly into next.
You'll also notice that in response to feedback from the last meeting, I've included a glossary of terms on the table,
so hopefully that provides further clarity as to what's in each outcome of income and expenditure.
The forecast revenue position at the year end shows a small deficit of around £700 ,000.
So we have identified during the year
currently financial risks of over 28 and a half million pounds
and managed to mitigate around 21 million pounds of those
through current funding. That leaves around 7 .4 million
pounds of pressures which have been included in the year end position.
The bulk of these pressures, some 7 .3 million are in transport
and largely relate to Bradford Interchange and concessions
and a small pressure of a hundred thousand pounds relating to software in
DTS. So in terms of funding those pressures we agreed a release from the
Transport Reserve at the July meeting of the CA of three and a half million and
there's also a forecast overachievement of income of around 3 .2 million by the
year end which is largely driven by additional enterprise zone income. In
In terms of forecasting, we're now focusing on risks
and opportunities to further inform
the expected year -end position.
The mitigated risks, both for this financial year
and into 25, 26 and beyond,
are largely centered around transport and are still moving.
They are largely related to bus -tended services,
Bradford Bus operations and operator reimbursements.
These have the potential to result in further cost pressures
as we move through the year.
And we are of course keeping all of these under review
as we go forward.
Moving on to capital then, so expenditure at quarter two
was nearly 115 million, which is around 29 %
of the total forecast spent for the year end.
Just for comparison, at this point last year,
spend was 103 million which was 32 percent of the forecast were broadly in
line with where we were last year in terms of in terms of spend. The total
forecast spend for the year is expected to be around 396 million pounds which is
a reduction of around 80 million pounds on the indicative forecast that we set
out in February. They are across all of the major programs and further detail of
these reductions is set out in the paper.
Stop there.
Thank you.
Thank you, Gary.
Are there any questions, please?
Cllr James Lewis Chair - 0:17:13
Jocelyn, please.
I feel like I raise this at every meeting.
Again, we seem to have an overspend on consultancy
Jocelyn Manners-Armstrong Independent Member - 0:17:24
and professional services.
And you helpfully put out what that is made up of.
But even on a quarter, it's a million pounds.
and it seems to happen every quarter that we're consistently under budgeted.
So what's going on here?
Gary Dowson, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:17:42
I don't necessarily think it is an under budgeting in total.
I think it's probably something that we need to look at in terms of the profiling of the spend and the incidence of that coming through.
I accept that we do need to do further work on that and that's part of the program that we are undertaking.
So I think it's something that it's something that we absolutely need to look at in terms of working
Working closely with direct routes to understand the profile of their spend and how it links in with the various the various programs
Jocelyn Manners-Armstrong Independent Member - 0:18:14
Is it related to the fact that we seem to be under capacity in a few areas anyway, so exhale consultants are filling in the gap
Gary Dowson, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:18:21
Only in part that this line in the budget and it's one of the pieces
Cllr James Lewis Chair - 0:18:26
we're trying to put some better
the descriptors against it because part of this is where we're using external
third parties help deliver some of the projects so it isn't that that back
filling of gaps there is an element of that and certainly some of the key
projects at the moment and have been moving at pace because we've had to
bring in some sort of specialist mass transit's a good example but that will
get recovered through the capital program and it we have a look again I
we present our staffing figures is probably an interesting one. We're looking to continue
to build on the reporting, as Gary said, as one of next year's targets. We have previously
done some work on staffing budgets, vacancies, and how those gaps have been filled. And I
think your helpful continued line of questioning on this is highlighting we probably should
do that. And I think it would probably be really helpful, and we can work with Joe's
into the HR role as well, but it was quite illuminating to see where we've covered gaps
in staffing with either interim people, temporary consultants, or let them to just find their
way. So we'll take that way. I'll give that as an action to the team for next year to
make sure we do improve on that. Thank you. Are there any more questions from
the committee please. I don't see anyone so I'll turn to the
Cllr James Lewis Chair - 0:19:48
recommendations on
paragraph two and take it everybody's happy with those. That's great thanks

7 HR Management Information Quarter 2 24/25 (Including Pay Gap Reports)

shall we move on to the item 7 the HR management information is this Joe you

4 Minutes of the Meeting held on 5 September 2024

leading on this please.

7 HR Management Information Quarter 2 24/25 (Including Pay Gap Reports)

Jo Dent (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:20:21
you
I also wanted to highlight the ED &I papers, the Equality Diocese papers, which show and
We are also going in a positive direction.
And for the first time, we have in the gender pay gap median
managed to get down to 0 % and recognizing
that is a point in time.
And we need to continue to work really hard on that.
But we still feel that's very positive
and have an action plan to make sure that we continue
to build on that and address, not get overconfident about it I think is
what I'm trying to say. We recognize there is some work to do around disability
and that is something that we are focusing on in as part of our AD &I
and Pinard board.
And I think the final point to highlight,
which just really is in line with what both Sarah
and Gary are saying, is the focus from my team
around workforce planning and that agility piece.
And that is something that is a priority.
It is something that we are working on
as part of the new business planning rounds.
And only today we are starting to do
some far more in -depth workforce planning,
having more agile teams who can respond to work as well.
Every single role that's coming into the organization
is scrutinized thoroughly to make sure we do need it.
And if there isn't skills that we've already got
that we can't move to actually address that,
we're on a bit of a transitional journey for that,
but that is something that we will continue to do.
And I will find a way to report on that
if that's required in the papers.
And that's it from me as well.
Thanks Jo.
Are there any questions please?
Susan please.
Cllr James Lewis Chair - 0:23:06
Jo Dent (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:23:06
Yes, obviously welcome to the report.
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council) - 0:23:10
Just like workforce planning I've often advocated in the past as well for working more closely
with our local universities.
Bradford University this week, or was it just last week, was announced to be the most socially
mobile university in the UK yet again.
And it just strikes me that obviously there's I think there's 73 civil engineering undergraduates
there if we take every one of those on because we're so short transport planners then that
would absolutely improve our diversity of our workforce as well as giving us a tapping
into a really rich talent that we need so more closer working with our universities
and just making those opportunities for young people coming through because we really need
those skills.
I fully support and massively agree.
Jo Dent (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:23:53
Our top five universities for Equality University
are in Bradford.
One of them specifically around girls,
they are absolutely on our radar, my list,
to make sure we build relationships with those people
from every level, from that graduate intake
for our apprenticeships and for recruitment,
full stop for jobs that we want to encourage them.
So completely agree.
Thank you.
Cllr James Lewis Chair - 0:24:23
And the more questions on this item, please.

8 Employment Panel

I take it around, so I just turn to recommendations again in section 2 of the report and I take it.
Everybody's happy with those. It's great. Thank you.
And we'll move on to item 8, which is the employment panel.
Alan and Jordan who wants to speak on this one. Caroline please almost right.
Caroline Norreys, Assistant Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:24:51
Thank you chair yes this is a paper that's come to this committee following
a period of consultation and adoption of a new approach by the combined
authority at its last meeting and part of that consultation that did take place
with members of this committee so those that were able to take part in that
session a little couple of months ago now.
Hopefully, this is reflecting back, I think,
what was endorsed at that session.
So we have put in place now a framework
for how we deal with the HR procedures
that relate to our statutory officers
and our most senior leadership team,
so from directors upwards,
and provided transparency around that.
And that consultation has taken place,
has included consultation with Unison,
and has included consultation with the heads of legal
and heads of HR at the five partner councils as well,
and has been supported by all those groups.
So I'm really pleased that we've got some transparency,
and we've got those processes in place.
This is playing back to this committee,
the consequences of that,
in terms of the setting up of an employment panel.
And primarily because the employment panel, as you'll see,
will be drawn from members of this committee
in the first instance.
So members of this committee will have a role to play,
certainly in the appointment of our senior team,
and should it be required in terms of the other HR
processes that could come into play.
We have, in addition to the membership of this committee,
recognizing that processes could have a number of stages and we might need more
members and we've got availability here we have put in place an arrangement to
have a pool of co -optees to call on and we are currently in dialogue with each
of the five councils in terms of nominees to sit in that pool should they
be called upon and we'll be looking to bring that back to the combined
authority in January for approving that and so there's there's quite a lot of
information here and there's quite a number of appendices. I'm very happy to take questions
on any element of that as members need. Thank you.
Cllr James Lewis Chair - 0:27:13
Thank you Caroline. Are there any questions please? Jocelyn please.
Yes, am I to understand that terms of reference have already been adopted by the combined
Jocelyn Manners-Armstrong Independent Member - 0:27:20
authority? Yes.
It's just I had a couple of comments on the drafting so it's possibly a bit late now.
But I did think that there were a couple of areas where there was ambiguous drafting and it could be possibly made a little bit clearer.
I'm very happy to have a conversation with you outside this meeting, if that would be helpful.
There is always scope for us to revise and update our terms of reference.
Caroline Norreys, Assistant Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:27:51
and as this is going back to the CA in terms of the membership in January,
if there are ambiguities that we can clarify, we could take that opportunity to do so.
Cllr James Lewis Chair - 0:28:04
Thank you. Are there any more questions on this? That's great. I'll turn to the recommendations,

For Information

9 Date of the Next Meeting

and I take it everybody is happy to note this report and obviously we can come back to combined
authority. That's great. I will close the meeting then, and I'm not here for combined authority next
Happy Christmas everyone if it's not too early to say that.