Scrutiny Committee - Friday 20 September 2024, 10:30am - West Yorkshire Combined Authority Webcasting

Scrutiny Committee
Friday, 20th September 2024 at 10:30am 

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  1. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
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  1. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
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  1. Cllr Mike Barnes
  2. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  3. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  4. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  5. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  6. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  7. Cllr Dave Merrett
  8. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
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  1. Mr Khaled Berroum (Scrutiny Officer)
  2. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  3. David Jenkins
  4. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  5. Mr Khaled Berroum (Scrutiny Officer)
  6. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  7. Mr Khaled Berroum (Scrutiny Officer)
  8. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  9. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
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  1. Kate Haigh
  2. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  3. Mr Khaled Berroum (Scrutiny Officer)
  4. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  5. Kate Haigh
  6. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  7. Geraldine Carter
  8. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  9. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  10. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
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  1. Cllr Dave Merrett
  2. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  3. Matt Edwards
  4. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
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  1. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  3. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  4. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  5. Cllr Bob Felstead
  6. Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  7. Cllr Bob Felstead
  8. Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  9. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  10. Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  11. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  12. Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  13. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  14. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  15. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  16. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  17. Cllr Mike Barnes
  18. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  19. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  20. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  21. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  22. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  23. Geraldine Carter
  24. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  25. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  26. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  27. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  28. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  29. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  30. Cllr Ralph Berry
  31. Kate Haigh
  32. Andy Rontree
  33. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  34. Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  35. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  36. Andy Rontree
  37. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  38. Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  39. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  40. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  41. Geraldine Carter
  42. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  43. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  44. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  45. Geraldine Carter
  46. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  47. Geraldine Carter
  48. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  49. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  50. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  51. Geraldine Carter
  52. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  53. Kate Haigh
  54. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  55. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  56. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  57. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  58. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  59. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  60. Andy Rontree
  61. Cllr Bob Felstead
  62. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  63. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  64. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  65. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  66. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  67. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  68. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  69. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  70. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  71. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  72. Cllr Mike Barnes
  73. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  74. Matt Edwards
  75. Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  76. Matt Edwards
  77. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
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  1. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  3. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  4. Presentation Slides
  5. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  6. Presentation Slides
  7. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  8. Presentation Slides
  9. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  10. Presentation Slides
  11. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  12. Presentation Slides
  13. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  14. Presentation Slides
  15. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  16. Presentation Slides
  17. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  18. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  19. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  20. Matt Edwards
  21. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  22. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  23. Matt Edwards
  24. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  25. Geraldine Carter
  26. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  27. Andy Rontree
  28. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  29. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  30. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  31. Cllr Dave Merrett
  32. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
  33. Kate Haigh
  34. Paul Godwin
  35. Cllr Ralph Berry
  36. Paul Godwin
  37. Cllr Mike Barnes
  38. Paul Godwin
  39. Cllr Betty Rhodes
  40. Paul Godwin
  41. Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  42. Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair)
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  1. Webcast Finished

1 Apologies for Absence

Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:00:00
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:00:02
scrutiny Board pitching for September of the authority.
we've got a number of guests who will be coming in as time permits, so we start with the former parts of the agenda. Apologies for absence

2 Declaration of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

I'll stay consultancy due any declarations of disposal book disposable, disclosable pecuniary interests.

3 Possible Exclusion of the Press and Public

none were declared if anybody thinks of something when it occurs Deadspin are that any exclusions of the press and public.

4 Chair's comments and update

London run right, match Councillor by opening comments.
I mean it's been a busy few weeks, there are a number of issues that have come up.
I've attended everything, while all bar one, why committing not to combine the that through the Transport Museum, in the business meetings?
the climate change meetings I've attended the voltage sorry I can see for myself how they are operating and some are operating well, others, I think, need to be tweaked a bit in terms of the motion enthusiastic meeting I attended was the business meeting, whereas business leaders in West Yorkshire are very enthusiastic about getting the economy going.
he assured that that there is welcome offered some particularly interesting briefings. There was one on the Bradford Interchange, there's one on mayor spheres, because of the potential financial impact is going to happen. We've also had briefings on the Finance performance information, hence the reason you've got that today. The assurance framework have also met with Debbie Simpson from the governance and audit committee to try and make sure there isn't duplication of the work that we are doing and the work that they are doing, because otherwise that would be a waste of resource and
what a good briefing on the local growth plan as well and Felix is here today to expand upon that, which is that something that is tied in to the government in this industrial strategy and also tied in to the final decisions that were made at the budget at the end of October.
Shielfield shall feel that all in on that and I've also got a partial update on the Gateway Review, those of you who were on the Corporate Scrutiny Board last year will remember that we were promised the outcomes of the review while they will hopefully be with us end of October beginning of November there what that's about is how has the Mayor spent her gain share money?

5 Scrutiny and governance arrangements

has it met with the obligations and the rules and regulations that are being set out and whether or not taken continue at the current level or whether or not, if it were combined into a single pot, some of the constraints that would then be put on it for that's basically all I've got to say in terms of opening comments right so if you know we want to Item 5 which is a scrutiny and governance arrangements,
I, as far as that's concerned, we need to approve the
the vice chairs being Councillor Richard Smith and Matt Edwards, so are we happy to approve that yeah, and in terms of the other governance arrangements know there are some points that have been raised so
Cllr Mike Barnes - 0:03:47
Councillor Barnes, do you want to just briefly outlined the issues that you raised, thank you Chair, yet as it is in relation to a call-in process, and it is actually more to do with the process of the call-in rather than this is so it's.
base at the moment a it will be very difficult for individual members, I believe, to comply with that without some form of process procedure. Had we contact all the members,
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:04:34
for instance, how is that undertaken and be very difficult to do within five days, and therefore I think there is serious danger of the call-in process being missed on that basis, I think we need to make sure that there is a proper structured process help and assistance in doing that from from from yeah from Scrutiny officers often working themselves thank you, thank you and Councillor roads also had some issues and were able to read as well.
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 0:04:41
in terms of the length of time once a recommendation, our
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:04:47
the length of time.
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 0:04:53
in terms of any recommendation, are advisory to WYCA.
at the moment, I understand its two months in some areas down the country and indeed local authorities, it's a wider between anything between three and six months, bearing in mind the different aspects now coming from different groups, subgroups and we set up there could be.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:05:30
more than one recommendation going through from those subgroups, and then wonder if the committee should actually consider extending that were at least three months to accommodate the issues that other Members will bring through the Subgroup six-way Colin will take that back to the relevant Chair pupils to discuss contributor I am the other one that was agreed, Councillor Mowat you and try to re.
covering, yes, it was about.

6 Scrutiny Annual Report 2023/24

Cllr Dave Merrett - 0:05:42
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:06:02
the gender balance of the Committee and also a equalities representation. We are receive where we are always quite difficult, meeting all the rules, but nonetheless I think it would be helpful if we did make a request to appointing authorities to try and bear that in mind in future. Sorry, thank you write every any other questions or queries on that. If not, can we approve that yeah, so we can then move on to Item 6 scrutiny annual report. Most of you who were on scrutiny last year. You may recognise
Mr Khaled Berroum (Scrutiny Officer) - 0:06:23
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:06:26
of you may recognise some of the activities that have been outlined, their so can we approved the Scrutiny report.
David Jenkins - 0:06:38
Councillor Jenkins, yeah yeah yeah, can I just dumb, unpaid 10 of the report talks about the the flexibility pilot in the final paragraph it says there were many lessons learned and in the evaluation report was due to be completed in the near future I just wondered if we could tie that down a bit and actually find out what the lessons learned were and,
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:07:04
actually give a date for that report because it could be part of bus, franchising and the future yeah, I know that it was one of the better scrutiny so that attitude Patient Transport Committee last year and what could understand those that were on the transport really enjoyed that one because he got right into the guts of the decision as to why it had a cough want to add anything.
what?
Mr Khaled Berroum (Scrutiny Officer) - 0:07:21
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:07:25
Mr Khaled Berroum (Scrutiny Officer) - 0:07:29
just to say that that is it's on the Work Programme and the current work programme for the next item for that to come back in future.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:07:35
yes, that's right, so are we happy to approve the report, yeah yeah sorry, Lisa supplementary, on the previous, the other issue was about the government's aspects, which were referred to the Corporate Scrutiny Committee to consider was that done before the end of last year always Aldhouse number

7 Scrutiny Work Programme

Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:07:58
the protocol sending praising the Scrutiny protocol review and we're currently working through that to make sure that that is fully implemented, we're working with senior officers to make sure that that is all Fedden, okay, right, so we've we've approved that one, we now move on to the next item.
when she is anxious 7, which is the Scrutiny Work Programme you should see sets out, there is the first cut of the Scrutiny Work Programme and you should also find a copy of the key to see our major decisions that are going to be made by the Authority as well, it's just a 40 coppiced,
it will provides a dynamic document, so it will change, depending on the circumstances. We obviously in the pre meeting we were discussing the Bradford Interchange, that will walk or don't the schedule of work depending on the outcomes of the discussions, mystique police, both that the Combined Authority and at the Transport Committee, and you've also had of the number of briefings that we've had with senior officers and a number of issues, and some of those may come forward, and certainly after the October budget nationally, I think finance would come into sharper, focus both good, hopefully for getting extra money. I say we are going to be spent or if some of the anticipated Murray doesn't come through or things are changed in terms of priorities, we need to meet, and we will definitely be having a working group on the budget because it is vitally important that the the budget comes through. Sir Edward, with any questions on the work programme. Yes, Councillor Hitchen
Kate Haigh - 0:09:55
yes, Chair, this is an indication on here as to when we are going to be really neat accident, I just think that's helpful in terms of the understanding what we're going to be doing.
sorry.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:10:07
do is.
Mr Khaled Berroum (Scrutiny Officer) - 0:10:11
to approve these topics not happy with them once we approved these topics in you are happy with them, Kate and I will liaise with internal colleagues to saw a drop in the best timeline
for the Keep it where the decision points of progress points to report back to you, so you can side which meetings they go to or how to otherwise maintain overview of them of bringing forward or whatever.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:10:37
Kate Haigh - 0:10:45
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:10:54
the yet, if we can see roughly when Legate what meeting we plan to do that and also when without key decisions are being taken, so that if you want to look at something before the decisions taken and is, that would be the radiotherapy time to a matter of marrying up all the different documents and also looking at the work programmes of the various committees to make sure that we are not duplicating anything that they are doing so that we can, we can add value to the exercise as we go through, so that's all got to be done, but they've not set the agenda either. The work programmes either to applaud you, indicated Councillor Cotton's Chapman, it's just this one
Geraldine Carter - 0:11:29
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:11:36
as significant, and that's definitely Smith yeah that he's not gonna get from Councillor Karen Lee are then set priorities while we can set priorities for the ones that will probably be done in public, but there will be a number of bits of work being done behind the scenes by people who are gonna. Take on specific responsibilities shows they will get individual briefings from the relevant officer and they will then feedback to us, whether or not the feel that there is a need for further investigation or whether or not their reports that they've got are sufficient, so we're relying on, and that's why again you've heard from some Members and the pre meeting as to the work that they've been doing and you can see how we're trying to watch collegiately as we possibly can
to try and bring things forward, the people who have been given those rules officers have been advised that these people are in a position now so that they can give them due.
regard when, if the request a private briefing, then they will get one and that's been adhered to them without any questions or raised, so they will then come back to us and we will then change the priorities based on the briefings that we get them regain, yes, Councillor route, Sarah thank you.
Geraldine Stanford of my comments,
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 0:12:41
in terms of the issues that we've got here.
during the same, etc
yes.
why are we asking for the federal police officers of all the schemes that threatens to priority tax that's download will lead to the Authority WYCA and the appropriate officers will police in Salford prison to prioritise so that we know that the issues that are forefront can be dealt with?
taken out of the list, yet that will never be driven by ratings that really to, so I will leave that fits the office, should prioritise and notify the Scrutiny Committee through yourself, what their priorities are, secondly, in terms of the former Salford forward plans arise receiving for his reply to years,
yes, there is, I believe, a column missing and their comments soon instead of receiving from the due date, I think will lead on layer is delayed for a reason why Jarecki e-mail that programmes in their covering that you've explained if that particular property is delayed.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:14:11
then it should say one reason why it's delays and then, after that would be properly ongoing. That'll look out for extending the date. Yeah yeah, sorry, I'm in order to try and start addressing that a chief executive and I have agreed that we will meet regularly to discuss things and so that we can, both from the opposite side of things and from the elected members, said, we need to express our views as to how we can start prioritising these things are working together, so we support each other officers. I've got the time to prepare the reports that we need, but equally, we are making sure that we are working along with the officers pay pebbles so that we're not holding anything up while we have a discussion about whether or not the Building the Right of the wrong things and the first meeting of 0 or the phosphate re-enact to do please yesterday, but we will be meeting regularly thereafter, so hopefully that will address those points. We will be able to get the those parts of the boxes filled in at this stage, we can't until we've had a discussion, and also until we feed back to officers what we're planning to do, some of the officers may say well, there's no point in doing that until next March because we are not as Officer court would we addressing that issue and, as I said, I think a lot of it will be informed by the government decisions on the local growth plan for example.
if that the Mayor has won, she went has done, but I think it's end of October, I think she promised that she would get it done by, but we, as Felix will tell you, are waiting to find out from central government what their priorities are to make sure that we're all in lockstep together Felix is well on with the what we've got here but it is bigger than just.

8 Combined Authority performance and outcomes

what the Mayor's priorities are, so we've got to get all of the which time skills, soft-headed, vignette Yarrow correct on that one, and I can assure you I'm on with it, so we're happy to approve that yeah sorry, yeah manner,
Cllr Dave Merrett - 0:16:28
given the government's reform agenda in terms of housing and the National Planning Framework consultation, that's going on at the moment, which has proposals for the reintroduction of for strategic planning, I wondered whether the building homes
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:17:01
s suggested topic could perhaps be a little bit widened to have a look at those two issues as part of it, because, obviously is one thing delivering the existing, but that's gonna be an even bigger challenge, delivering the what much wider government's ambitions, but also understanding how you know what advantage is theirs, is that Iran to the Combined Authority. If we do get those strategic Pizien opportunities, yes, it would be good to include them. The reason it wasn't is that I am aware that some local authorities will not necessarily be totally happy if the government were to give some of these responsibilities during 2 acre, so I don't want to get involved in the internal machinations of some councils. We would welcome any other Council. To would say, Look, we're in charge, we are the ones you get the blame when things go wrong. Yeah, so that, but yes, the essence is correct. If these planning powers come to WYCA, then we need to get hold of them quickly to make sure that the strategic direction, because if the Mayor is going to be delivering affordable houses, we need to make sure that the Mayor, the moneys, that she's spending is in lockstep with what the local authorities are spending
and that the business cases are being made, there was one last week that I was involved with Rock planning side of things where money is being provided by the Combined Authority shall we need to make sure that that's all in lockstep as well, because
chat and the Leeds we are going to for our Leeds 2040 plan we are doing on all of our strategic look at Planning again at the moment, and it's important that whatever the mayor does, we can comply with examples would be.
if mass transit is going in a particular direction, should housing and debit and employment be built alongside that, to make it easier to access, so we need to think about the integration of all of these particular things, but yes, there is no doubt that if we do get those powers then scrutiny needs to get a hold of the issues very quickly because there is gonna be big implications particularly in relation and in your case how we're going to work with neighbouring authorities in terms of, for example in Calderdale the relationship with Manchester,
in Wakefield, and certainly saying Kirklees, what Sheffield are up to.
in Weatherby what North Yorkshire are up to our Kippax, for that matter, a sort North Yorkshire up to, so we need to work together and we need to look how we're going to do that, and that's one of the reasons why I'm looking to try and maybe allocate a person to become the liaise on for the Scrutiny Board with those other authorities so that we can find out so that we can work together and try and move things forward and make any other questions. Yes, you

9 Local Growth Plan

Matt Edwards - 0:19:48
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:20:10
it was more to them in relation to the climate action, a kind of fields, from my side of things a tiny bit like it's a separate thing are happening in the corner, whereas a lot of these other elements on a Hannah does need to be built him. So it's just kind of maybe broadening that out slightly to make sure that climate is being said, for example transport policy and strategy, making sure that you hate because carbon emissions transport is obviously is to contribute to the for making sure that that is really driving. Some of that sorry and I know it's mentioned which kind of the cross cutting nature of it is kind of a bit missing but point taken yeah, by taken on that one year okay happy to move on so if we can no move on to the item which is on performance outcomes,

8 Combined Authority performance and outcomes

but hopefully you all had a chance to read through the papers what we're looking for from you is that there's a, there's gonna be a new performance framework being developed, what suggestions have you got for this framework development and also looking back?
is there anything at a strategic level, not rather than your mattress, the trains are lead?
at a strategic level that you feel officers can answer so before doing that, for the sake of the new members, if I could invite the three guests, although really guest or officer officers, of the to introduce themselves in case anybody doesn't know who they are, so can we start with Ben,
thank you, Chair and Ben still am Chief Exec of the Combined Authority.
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:21:13
hi everyone, I'm Alan recent Chief operating Officer of the Combined authorities.
Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:21:22
I love worry on Felix criminal perform Dr for inclusive economy, skills and culture of the Combined Court.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:21:28
OK, so anybody want to you've got the people to in front of you, there's no point in going through them all because it will take all day to go through all the paper, so anybody want to raise any questions or queries on any other information, any thoughts about how we can improve.
it or review any strategic concerns about the performance of any particular Department or Section, yet Councillor Belstead, you have got a good couple of his regarding the actual graphical data I'm sorry.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:22:00
Cllr Bob Felstead - 0:22:04
throughout the report, with the exception of a couple of things you, you've actually organise them from highest to lowest, and I don't think that makes for a very good read for us, would you know if you've got a blue, amber or loo?
are reaching the wrong Gordon kindly throws offer you have to go back and check something else before we can
interpret what's in the CHA Naylor, Section 3.2 5 there's a stacked bar chart this belief, least favourite char, I think, for the sake of ease of reading again, I think that could do with being a pie cha, because you can discern the information much more quickly from a pie chart that's really I'm having to look at percentages that are absolutely miniscule.
but other than that, in terms of the presentation, nothing else to add.
I'm able to deal yeah, certainly in as we develop the performance framework.
Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:23:05
and part of the purpose of bringing the performance framework and changing the way that we are doing. This is to improve the way that we are reporting about the impact that the organisation is having in terms of improving outcomes for the people of West Yorkshire. So we say so in terms of the the the the presentation of some of the graphs like that, absolutely if it's not, if it's not telling you something in an effective way, then we completely up for changing it and I can see why that one yeah that one need some needs, some improvement. The overall story from it, of course, is that against our business plan,
deliveries in a good place, because the majority of what's on that graph at 3.00.2 5 is showing that things are either blue or blue, amber Ursula 0 sorry, that's the overall message that the graph is telling you and then there was someone on a number of amber red issues which need which needs focusing on and present a level of risk against delivery.
the point about the ordering of the in in the table, I think you mean where we, I think, when we there's an appendix where we kind of pull out all of the things that are blue than all the things that Arambagh, all the things that are amber, red etc is that we are you referring to.
Cllr Bob Felstead - 0:24:27
Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:24:33
which will be changing.
yes, I can so I'm I can absolutely when you mean on page 66 yeah it goes blue-on-blue, amber red rock, and so it goes down in kind of yeah, how many outcomes are in each colour rather than going down from blue to red and it would benefit when completion rate and with it yeah,
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 0:25:06
Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:25:54
yeah, I can answer that, so so it's it's static, because what it means is that our assessment at quarter 1 2 and 3 of where we would be at the end of the year, was the same, so is blue, amber think.
it was Amber at the OBR, unfortunately I'm looking at this in black and white, but my point is that the wishes which is at an Khyra on thank you for your threat, so slight error so.
OK so at.
right, let me explain a little bit about the the ratings and this does appear in the report, so there's a cig, there's a difference between quarter 1 quarter 2 quarter 3 together as a block and Quarter 4 as a block, and that is that we change the way the ratings are done. OK sorry for Quarter 1 Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 of last year we had a 3 scale rating of red, amber and blue and we moved away from that because when you have red, amber and blue people go to amber and it doesn't tell you doesn't tell you what you need to know by forcing a for category racing
you take the middle one out, stops people sitting on the fence and they have to say it's either amber, red or amber green, so so in Quarter 4, everything changed almost everything changed because there was there was a new, there was a new assessment that the point about the
our about it being static.
this this isn't directly measuring.
are we?
achieving progress in building a sustainable nature, rich and carbon neutral region, what it's assessing is, are we on track to deliver the objectives that we've set ourselves by the end of the year, so the assessment at the time was we there are some risks but broadly speaking we think we're on track to deliver our objectives by the end of the year.
so we will have been making progress towards that, but that's why it's Amber and the reason that the the static is because we're saying that in Quarter 2 the assessment was the same as it was in Quarter 1.
I will.
the best.
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 0:28:16
of course yeah, why then have this report not gone on with another page is actually given us the information of what changed in terms of this looking static from quarter 1 2 to 3, because your quarter performance is equally important in your annual report and when I look back in some of these in the performance that you're expecting for the forthcoming year, it doesn't give me much hope of great movement and I think that the that measurement there
it is not informative at all. It shows a really strong aesthetic, HMO static placement, and my question is, if you go from Quarter 1 to Quarter 2 and he is still showing static and I can go down the report and do the same in in fact, in some of them you've got arrows going down right, so if that's the case, and this is supposed to give information about these protective these objectives here, why are we not seen not a page over here, as shows us, where the movement has happened in these particular static situations? But we've got on the next page under 3 21 are the colours again
and in that that doesn't give us the reasons why
for one and two of the stayed static.
3 maybe have taken some action to move them on which is Voldemort a quarter before, so why is not explanation carrying on to give us that idea that these have been accepted aesthetic within particular cup categories?
Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:29:58
yes, I am very happy to ask the questions, so it's because this the rest of this report is about the year end, so it doesn't, it doesn't repeat.
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 0:30:48
all of the reporting that has happened during the year at each quarter, so the the rest of the report talks about overall across 23 24. What other things that we delivered? It talks about the end position and then it goes in to talk about what progress we've made in the first quarter, so that's why doesn't go into the into my detail about what changed within each quarter. It talks about the end position and then also what it does in one of the in in the appendix is it does go through each of the objectives, in particular focus on those that are red and amber red and explains why they weren't delivered. Okay, Chair, then could I just ask yeah respectively, and then I'm going to come back to the the information level in here as well, and bearing in mind we hold that these documents pretty late, I don't know about anybody else, but the post delivery in Wakefield is an absolute disgrace at the moment it as Katie to send me another 1 3 pounds 38 and the document didn't arrive, so
in terms of the information in the yes, I agree this information it, but what I don't see in the report is the reasons why.
that that stayed static for so long.
I mean, surely the Committee ought to know the reasons why things were static and what improvements were put to her to move it on Mr still.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:31:32
I think it's a point well made and I think it would be more helpful, they're gonna recognises this in the
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:31:37
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:31:55
if we're where where we've got information, we presented that we explain the re, the rationale and reads as well, and any particular when it's a summary report, what action we've taken to shift that Daryl over the course of the year, so I think point well made we will pick this up in future reporting on Councillor Barnes then Councillor Carter thank you to you all are then actually mum signal rooms.
Cllr Mike Barnes - 0:32:02
this report is both too much information and not enough information or
in a lot of instances, yeah, yeah yeah, you've just been thrown information that you.
and there's an awful lot, and I think the consistency point is well made across across this, and I think actually he's later on in in some of the other item agendas agenda item for the lock-up as an element of a lack of consistency in in the way in which it is produced.
it's it's a very good document for those who will use it every day.
and I just wonder whether it's being tested, and this is this is actually true if you are a diverse society, yeah computer manuals written by people who know computers they're written by people who build computers, they're not written by people who have never used a computer or hardly use a computer and therefore it looks very, very complicated and on that basis and I think that's the inherent problem with this report, it's written by the users, not for individuals like ourselves, looking into it and trying to analyse them and find things, and I think that's the the thing that I'm taken from this
it's a, it's a, it's a wonderfully detailed document, but actually I just wonder whether it's too detailed and and focusing on the wrong items,
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:33:27
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:33:34
thank you, Mr still, things could be letting a plea for fair point and what we're trying to do this report, and I think, as you've seen from previous comments, we've got a long way to go.
is condensed down into a into a smaller summary document as we possibly can, the actions costs.
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 0:33:48
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:33:53
dozens, if not hundreds, of different indicators to try and give an overall sense of performance against business plan, I think we will continue to try and refine it this, the feedback that you're given this warning is immensely helpful in helping us do that, I think what you're I think we're internally.
because not all of us internally see these documents and live and breathe them and have many of the same comments internally we we want to shift definitely towards, but the point that Councillor Rogers made around nurse, almost less data, but more insight, more analysis and the rationale for where performance has been stronger well and where less so but also a stronger focus on outcomes and that the chain of actions towards those outcomes rather than in intermediate process steps so hopefully that will help going forwards.
paragraph
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 0:34:32
character.
Geraldine Carter - 0:34:38
Last year I'm sorry, but I under an elderly and trying to get rid of these documents on an iPad, I'm not received them well last Thursday is impossible and I'm sorry, I think this report is as clear as mud.
whilst I completely agree with what Councillor Barnes has said, if you're working with it on a daily, day-to-day basis in in each individual section then obviously have an understanding, but for me I've just found a completely.
meaningless in some respects, because each page as a different thing to the other page and I'm I'm not really what quite sure where I'm supposed to be, you talked about making a happier, happier called copy or West Yorkshire and would joke about.
sustainability for business. While I can assure you there, weren't a single store in Halifax town centre yesterday at P, and I don't think there were a single business because they flipping works, that's going on in the centre of Halifax are absolutely appalling. There's a sign that says sustaining sustaining Calderdale going forward, you won't have anything to sustain because there'll be nothing left and nobody will come in and nobody will want to know about it, and this is not this things like this are not mentioned anywhere.
these are things that are affecting people on a daily basis on the roads, are atrocious trying to get from A to B, H 3 Rees can't get into businesses, they can't get out, but this is not mentioned anywhere in enrich, said his everything's hunky-dory.
in response.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:36:12
what they are responsible for his mother's genomes, yeah, but that every switch.
so I think in terms of comments on the papers and understood.
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:36:22
we've we've all my reflected on the change that we're looking looking to make their, I think, though the what we're trying to do here is is assess the performance of the organisation and the outcomes that he has set itself.
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 0:36:32
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:36:38
I think many of the comments that that you've made there are absolutely kind of things that are being picked up through the Local Transport Plan, consultation and the work on that, because that is about the detail of transport planning, and that's a that's SSA partnership document rather than a Combined Authority performance document.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:36:51
being as well as I'm due to meet with kooky will be to discuss, because what I would like to do it in future is to give you all access to performance information so that you can use that in your analysis and to look at things that are of interest to youth and within the portfolios that you've got, so the idea isn't going to sit down with and we're gonna talk about what's the best way of getting that information.
two members without it needing to be brought to a formal meeting, so this should be an ongoing assessment, this set of information is taken to a number of other of the Committees as well, so if we end up with six different generations of the same bits of information for a heck of a lot of what for some officers to do,
and without criticising too much does not that many officers actually ended station show
we've are finding it very difficult, but the points made the that's why I've rocket today, because I want to know from you what format you want this information in, so that I can get it to you regularly.
so that you can see what's happening so Councillor Ron tree
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 0:38:00
thank you Chair looking at this and wondering what we're Mo, the the context behind it is something that will see that we've come today and presented them for ourselves, and God or colleagues of had made him her comments about a highly I owe their use, I'm just think because this is something the a kind of feel that in a previous life I've had involvement with collecting data and present presenting at an
Cllr Ralph Berry - 0:38:29
Kate Haigh - 0:38:32
Andy Rontree - 0:38:37
management, information reports, and will have done quite a bit of this, I'm wondering from your organisations point of view, where you put these together and what kind of use your managers and project leaders might make of it, and how.
Harriet, inform how it informs the de the way that they resort, reflect on what they've done on what they need to do next.
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 0:38:59
can you give give us a bit of background on that pubs yet shot so?
Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:39:02
so everything starts from emissions that within the West Yorkshire Plan, which sets out the objectives that we're trying to achieve and the improvements that we want to make for people who live and work in West Yorkshire and everything that we do is driving towards those those aims.
we then, on an annual basis as an organisation we develop a business plan and the business Plan explains what objectives were trying to achieve over the course of the year.
in helping to deliver those missions and everybody in the organisation, their roles are about delivering their part of the business plan, so this when this paper talks about this, is business planning, having 350 outcomes in at what that means is that in this year's organisational business plan there are 350 different lines or some of them are we have different scales and that's one of the things that we need to work on but,
essentially what we're reporting against the here is, how on track are we to deliver the things that we said we would at the beginning of the year and the way it's used internally and we are making some changes to this and can you continually trying to to improve the way we do things internally it is used as a tool,
so that we, as a leadership team, can identify where the areas of the organisation where there is good progress towards the delivery of the business plan and whether or other areas of risk, and whether areas of risk managing that risk, what's in, why is it that might be performance issues there may be resourcing issues, there may be partnership issues, there may be government issues et cetera.
and that's how he.
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 0:40:57
Andy Rontree - 0:41:02
thank you, so it's obviously it's it's important to leadership senior managers, and that is this something that's go you are going to their makers, albeit in the consciousness of people throughout the organisation, I wonder as.
I care pe people in the front line. Are they going to be thinking about key performance indicators? I'm just wondering about the bluntness of it, that a as only four categories, and I'm sure we all know the story of a single word assessments in Ofsted and backhander. Thank you, so we we, we can I you can end up with something that's not really giving a full story. I'm just cut guidance, sort of thinking about what kind of impact it would have on individual teams and how they do their jobs are and how they feel about the performance of for that. There is of activities reassessed in this way. I mean I appreciate that
the majority of these are performance indicators are not the responsibility of a single team or individual.
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 0:41:58
Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:42:05
OK, so so the they are initially a self assessment right, so so individual teams and their the leaders of those themes, the heads of service.
assess where their teams are against the business plan, and they will then challenged on that assessment by their peers and their director, OK and then bow, and then they agree I these are the things that this is the rating that we think we we want to apply to this to this particular objective and there is always narrative that goes alongside that.
and then, if there is a part, then then all the information gets curated and then, if there is something that the leadership team wants to drill down into, then it can do so, that's the, but the other point I would just make is that everybody in the organisation has a set of personal objectives and their personal objectives are geared towards the delivery of the business plan.
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 0:42:52
OK, thank you.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:42:57
as confident.
Geraldine Carter - 0:43:05
thanks Chair and just to say that he talked about the Local Transport Plan you've got to in year in your transport plan and Supplementary statutory is on Page 1 0 9 is on blue and amber, is there nothing in this document at all that tells us where we are with the existing transport on?
do we have do we have any documentation to tell us where the existing transport plan isn't safe from what the outcomes of it are question?
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 0:43:32
that's it doesn't look like, should reassess for treatment.
not in this document.
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:43:37
the, but the the current consultation documents on the Local Transport Plan has got an assessment of the performance against the previous business plan.
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 0:43:47
Geraldine Carter - 0:43:55
the Chair can I come back yeah, so how can we don't want going forward if we don't know what the issues out of the current pontiff it?
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:44:01
Geraldine Carter - 0:44:06
I mean, I think the thing that springs to mind is the salsa rebel project has been going on now since before forward. Instead, isn't finished, you know, I know it's a partnership with a local authority and I know it's money that's given to the local authority, but it doesn't seem to me to be a really good use of public funds money when it's taken so long to do, and surely the costs now, at the end, is gonna be far more than it was expected to be at the start and I would have thought that somewhere in among all this documentation, there was something to tell me whether that is on on scheme or not, with all the transport plans throughout West Yorkshire that currently in that document,
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:44:42
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:44:51
so can we have check and we get a copy of that, then, if it's not initially will hopefully give us an absolute yeah sorry to performance on transport capital programmes is presented, grateful get this wrong, Alan bit script is presented to the Finance and resources committee and that information can be provided of course occur and we are looking.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:45:10
Geraldine Carter - 0:45:18
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:45:23
going forwards to being to try to give more clarity to individual schemes, unless the overall performance to to meet the kind of comment which I think is completely for now, chairman to their such circumstances, it possible for us to have a look at that to see where that sit somewhere. Our garden budgets have been done so that we can have a look at that from the perspective of scrutiny. To what do you think there may be somebody? I don't know whether it would be up to Cala dot woke me up to another officer to regularly send through to members the links to the the papers when they're gonna be discussed at Finance, for example, and then you can act, you can access them, you can decide whether or not you want to see them or you don't want to see them
Kate Haigh - 0:45:57
no yeah, so rather than from our inboxes with it, is making it a quite easily accessible from those members go on to that, if you have an interest in a committee, just need to go on some of them for the web Serbia and find it I say I think yeah if if an individual Members contact us if network and then perhaps I could just speak to Colette that feel that we all need to be told all the links as if it's not duplicating work, that's already been done.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 0:46:15
right, Councillor roads, yes, I've been listening and going ahead in the paper and I put squiggly lines and question-marks and leaves turnover.
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 0:46:24
on page 63, it says, where outcomes were not fully achieved, and 23 24, these have been reviewed as appropriate to ensure that these can be action for delivery 24 25 targets which have not been achieved, as outlined below each of these, have been known issues throughout the course of the reporting year.
well, OK.
the warrant 223 24, that's information is very useful to us or
and then it says they are going to be reviewed, so there can be actioned again in 24 25, what it doesn't tell us are what those outcomes were, there must be somewhere in the report.
what are the applicable to in terms of the whole business case?
and is the achievement on target that's my first one, these are the actions in terms of business plans and comments made.
what action over Chair and move on through the report, if I may?
I've I am really because of my my role in health elsewhere.
looking at always to see what is built into the wellbeing and health agenda in everybody's annual report, and I've gone ahead in this one.
and I think, on page 88 here.
and I'll bringing Felix on this one as well, if I may,
Felix, I've wrote down that your skills and culture.
yeah, major part of wellbeing a person's life indeed, so on that point I am looking forward here and have gone into the issue to do with two decades in terms of working age population.
which then goes on to the next page, that's 88 is the working population, and 89 is the prevalence of child poverty is a key measure of progress towards an inclusive economy.
on page 88, it says over the last two decades, West Yorkshire is working age, population has steadily become veteran qualified, but there is, if there is a continuing attainment gap with the national average question.
how will WYCA looking to support authorities or through WYCA to deal with that gap
and if I look over a page again Chair, if you will make we let me.
the prevalence of child poverty is a key issue of progress towards an inclusive economy, I think the report is excellent and pointing out all the measures and issues that affect economy and of our population, and it has to be commended on that, but what I have to say is this,
first question as to feel except follows on in terms of child poverty.
and then it goes on to housing and are all interconnected, if I may Chair, it says, on page 91.
the average ratings of personal well-being improved in West Yorkshire during the year, ending March to 22. Well that was good,
we're now in 24, has that been, has that been attained or have we had an increase in it, and then we go on in terms of those paragraphs which are excellent in their description of you know, life expectancies, two thirds of adults in West Yorkshire physically inactive in terms of activities walking cycling, we all know that.
and then nine out of 10 West Yorkshire authorities engaged in 22 23, with more of the Twofour's visiting a heritage site and providing local people with access to nature and it's right of health and wellbeing, that's a really good paragraph in their statements that we can all pick up in our own Authority or any information from the government to their agenda.
I'm gonna put all those together, if I may, because we have had.
delivered to us here before, in terms of targets, Alan in particular, told us there was a delay in determining reverb of houses, it was, it was quoted, I believe that you were hoping to do 7,000, but that didn't happen.
in terms of the issue of the proportion of children aged under 18, an absolute local income families.
we have relative measures here again that date from 21 to 22 and the amazing thing is this we have had knowing we have no further information because it then says but they remain higher than the respect of UK averages in both cases the when we make a statement like that it means that we are relatively informed about the state of the nation within WYCA and local authorities because I know they all work together but with that information there why we had no further detail because that was in an annual that was in an annual plan for 21 22.
so that means nothing has changed their relative to Felix.
and indeed WYCA is as a whole,
so it pie tin all these together, I then go back to a comment that we had here when we had to Lady representatives from the carers through education you may recall.
COVID your certainly here and I always remember a comment that was made.
in terms of careers programme getting into schools and colleges, how difficult this was, the expression, they're used, how difficult it was to engage in sixth form, et cetera, et cetera, to try and engage with promoting skills and further skills and further enhancement in their ability to life.
right, Felix, your skills and culture skills are actually a major part of the education programmes. Children who do not want to go on to college are you are you involved at that stage with those kind of skills or is or is this all down to educational attainment because we have a lot of young people out there who are wanting to get apprenticeships, et cetera is that part of viewers and I talked about and if you are selling at a chance to respond to what's being said feelings
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:52:49
thank you very much that there are a number of questions there, I'm sure I got all of them very well, but you please come back if I have misinterpreted annually, so from the skill side I suppose the first point to make it.
the Combined authorities responsibility when it comes to adult skills is from 19 years onwards we we, we have responsibility for post 19 and nothing below I've yesterday, we have some influence, we we, we are involved with schools, we have people that are going to schools to support of carers one another such areas but,
a formal devolve responsibility for skills from plus 19.
the information the data, you have gone through the absolutely spot on where what we've provided is where the official data runs up, to add up until this point, so it's nice if there is information for the year after that and we are withholding it that information is not available yet the annual population Survey which is,
I think that I was trying to go through other pages as we are flicking through, and I think that is the main source for a lot of what you are quoting there when it comes to skills data, we don't get the information sort of month by month is at the end of the year and this about a year and a half lag.
to get to the point where we actually get the information, so what we've got here is the latest information available. I accept, of course, it's not today's information or you know a few months ago, but is the latest information we have from the Office for National Statistics so that where we've gone, if we've gone beyond that to make a statement about what we feel the situation is right now is likely to be a subjective position based on information were picking up from our training providers and colleges that we work with, but it's not official data because of the latest official data is what we've provided. There was a points made
about wellbeing and.
in life expectancy, and it got again, I'm afraid that the the explanation there is the same. We rely on information from the Office for National Statistics the publish, especially with well being data. It started off as experimental data that was published through the or awareness for a while which they are continuing to improve, but it's not localised in a way that we are able to provide information at a very granular level, is still fairly high level and there is quite a lad is based on surveys. The best information for this is the sense of what that is every 10 years. So by the time we get the the analysis from it, it's already out of date. We have a lot of interaction with our schools and colleges. Here we have responsibility, as I said, for the adult skills budget is about 67 million pounds a year, plus other funding that we get from a different funding posts from Central government which would apply to enable people access the skills that they need. There is particular piece of work going on on the back of that look OK with plant, which are I'll talk about later on, which is looking at how we can simplify and clarify that technical and vocational routes for learners admitting accepting the, as we all know that traditional academic routes are often much easier for people to navigate the people understand you do on at GCSE go into a level you go on to university if that is we want to do, but if you want to do it technical or vocational qualification a system tends to be unnecessarily complicated for both Lena's and for employers and for parents and we're working to clarify that as best we can and we hope to be able to present something to you due some suffer the example that's you used hopefully in situations like that we'll be able to respond to that
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 0:57:04
terrible for this display.
Barney, thank you, the implication in information given in this report.
actually gives the impression that West Yorkshire WYCA
has steady flow of information rather than being based, you've told me, is obvious on the national census and how that equates national information and how it equates with the national average.
now this is a point I think, in reports that does need some more detailed information about you'll may be awaiting reports or you may be waiting awaiting the survey and different parts of the information. For instance, over the last two decades West Yorkshire is working age, people has steadily become better qualified. But my question is this. There is a continual and attainment gap with national average, so this is saying that there is a gap within West Yorkshire that needs to have some work done at it from WYCA and possibly through local authority support as well. But it doesn't say any more than that of what you do wonder what you can't be done and what you want to wish to do.
and it's very negative, as well as there being some great points in a very, very negative plus.
you mentioned the WYCA, don't have any responsibility for anybody until the 19 years of age that is total news to me, offering sit in here for nearly eight years.
that WYCA as an organisation, even when you determine in terms of educational attainment here.
the the percentage of people aged 16 to 64 are the ones who are looking at the great forward level 4 qualifications, which seems to be the norm now.
so what are you doing between the 16 and 19 them within West Yorkshire, where we know we've got a gap, not just paper talk, but what actually happened, I'm I'm always interest to see outcomes and a doughty many outcomes in any of these at all in terms of this wasn't the the gap is there what we've done or what we're trying to do?
for the 16 to 64 years of age,
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:59:26
sorry.
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 0:59:31
Andy Rontree - 0:59:42
Cllr Bob Felstead - 0:59:50
lessons suspicions I'm not dealt in that book, so there is this lack of moral, some experimental data series and there's all sorts of things that go on unless otherwise looks at poverty across the entire abrupt districts at street level and accordingly the House of Commons I could do it for every district it just takes forever to do it, so that's the first thing I totally agree where you going.
it's just that there is this lag in information, echoes some of the stuff, the working on the actually changing a lot of systems, unsure Felix will tell you this and the way the report data in it.
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 1:00:19
we put our experimental data sets and they expect feedback from people, so it's what it is really well, and I'm very, very aware of it, having spent 30 years in local government that the issue about data, what I'm saying here is there are areas that have been identified quite rightly,
the age group of 16 to 64, he said no responsibility other than those over 19, I know that the the the gap in terms of information coming through from statistics, but what we learn in locally.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 1:00:52
what are we doing locally? He said there's no problem getting into schools to the Education Department Trident locally, explaining what the position was, thank you all other matters,
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:01:01
you raise very, very fair points, as grown-ups by the detail, if you look at the trends over the last 20 to 30 years.
our gap with the national average in terms of attainment is broadly improving, but we still have a gap, we have a higher than average properly percentage of our workforce with no or very low qualifications.
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 1:01:43
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:02:19
and a lower than average share of our population, with what we call higher level populations Level owes qualifications Level 4 as you said, what are we doing about? So when I said we do our response to provide those skills for 19 years up, what I'm for adult skills are devolved. Responsibility is post 19 for adult skills. Yeah is is post 19 0 below. It does not mean that what happens before somebody hits 19 is none of our business. We just don't have devolved responsibility for that, we work with schools, we work with partners, we put skills or training programmes on we work with. Local authorities have specific statutory responsibility for needs, for example, and we work with them on that, but when it comes to adult skills, our responsibility settlement, now what are we doing for the this is the third year running that we have. We've had responsibility for the Adult Education Budget. What is currently now called the adult skills fund
and with that we fund are 7 TREE.
further education colleges and training providers to put skills, training and employment support opportunities. Are there for residents and each year, and I don't have the numbers right now, but we could definitely gets you the numbers. They are several thousands of our residents that goes through this programme to get the skills they need, and we have a fund that we put aside for. We call the responsiveness, but where, if the evidence suggests that we have to particularly respond in a particular way, because there's are keen to need here, we we can deploy the resources to do that. So, for example, we've deployed a lot of resources right now towards English language because we find that so many people in our workforce do not have the language skills to be able to interact and get get on Stephen static, carry on it and want to get on with it so we able to respond were responded when the bus companies said they have no bus drivers and saw that buses that leads, because there's nobody to move it
we deploy funding to get people into that occupation and they get the training they need, so we have a responsiveness support that allows us to skill people up, depending on what the evidence says, but there is also less than that bit of funding that we put out for our further education colleges and training providers, whether that is a digital skills or numeracy or others. So we're doing a lot of this, but the fact is we do not have the funding to deal with all of this at this scale that we need to.
year on year, and this is a wider budget,
wider conversation that we have every time with central government
around this, the funding we've got vis-a-vis the scale of the challenge, the population we've got in the need, there's always a gap, so you know it's the proverbial having a.
a blanket over you during winter, you put it this way and your feet get cold and you put it the other way and your fingers your cold, and we will do our best to respond as best we can working with all the partners, but there's only so much there was results, we've got will only go so far, which is why we are now working very closely with employers to lever in private private employer funding as much as possible where they are. It's in the vacancies in the interests for, for results to be deployed in a certain way, because it means they have, there is the the the labour market skilled in the way they need it and they can respond and be successful, so we need to tap into all the results we can without public or private. We're doing increasingly more, there's always more that we can do, but that that is what's happening and we're more than happy to do have, or are they a private briefing or to give further information in other reports that might be useful
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 1:05:44
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 1:05:48
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 1:05:54
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:05:58
no one wants to come in and all your questions now that Jacqueline collusion solicitor still to further question, thank you very, very briefly, just just to add to Fox's comments, I think on on the or what we call the state of the region report and the data sources we will address that, so we will make it clear in the reports.
great sources that we're using and their limitations, I think that's a public for comment, I think the the next point is the the Councillor roads has been has been making his around the same issue that we talked about in relation to our corporate plan of how far the presentation of data is then followed by insights and in this case action.
now we can't do all of that in one document and keep it concise, so we just need to be clearer what we're where we're talking about information where we're talking about insightful information and then we were talking about what we do about it in terms of how that impacts on our on our programmes and so will endeavour to to make that clearer the the only thing I'd say in terms of the the the other challenge is that we need to be clear where we're talking about the system, what what what is the public sector and other partners doing to improve educational outcomes in West Yorkshire compared to what any individual part of that system?
in our case, now, before a Corporate performance report, what part are we playing in that, and sometimes we dots between those things, we need to be really clear when we're talking about a system level, which is what we should all care about, versus what any individual partner it is achieving in that space.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 1:07:33
we are trying to push that system of approach through something called the Local growth Plan which I know you you you know about, and that is an opportunity to relook at the whole system on and then pull together a partnership approach and you you'll be involved in that over the course of its development over the coming months, so I've got two questions to go with one from Councillor Edwards known for Councillor Barnes and then we'll bring it to a conclusion.
Cllr Mike Barnes - 1:07:40
thanks for it was more, I mean, so page 107, the table Appendix 1.
but also Appendix II at the top of the page, as well as Appendix 1 I'm here is that a comprehensive list of
however, the the objectives.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 1:08:03
yeah, so if a VAT that list are
Matt Edwards - 1:08:06
Key objectives that we are.
that we're looking to achieve during 24 and 25 against the West Berkshire planned missions. It doesn't cover absolutely everything that the organisation is doing, but they are a higher priority things. Yeah, I mean just for the purpose of the report, and so if I want some further detail on the soap safe, for example, the fourth one down, Ian s, to adult supported to upscale, I can search that in the report and it has about three or four of the references to it. So you can kind of drill down, which is great. That's a that's rated as BLUE, but say that if I just pick the first amber red 1, so if I wanted to sorry if I served empty for, does not single reference 24 and the rest of that report,
now, obviously, because that's amber-red, it would be useful for us as office emphasis the Councillor scrutinising it, just to kind of get a flavour, what the risks are with that, because somebody out of Wi-Fried, the number at, because there are references to other S other sections so if you scroll down there's another section which kind of talks broke down a couple of examples of reference.
risks, but then, when I searched that reference against the table, there's no reference, it just presents this as a risk about the subjective, but I have no idea what that objective is, because it's not mentioning out in the report, just as here as the Randon risk so.
it would be useful when presenting his information effectively only.
things in the report, only things mentioned in that that, if you like, the key objectives are being referred to.
or would prefer to everything odd or give them all objectives.
Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:09:52
yeah, I absolutely of we will take that away and and look at it for next time, the just to just to assist.
Matt Edwards - 1:10:40
and what you've pointed out is is is very helpful, the the appendix that you're talking about this Dorset, page 107, which has got all of the the principal objectives in there, is then a nother table in the main body of the report on Page 68, which unpacks some of those but not all of them, and I think that's what you were referring to. That is that there's a, so the references to, for instance, the inner Ian is one which you pulled out that's expanded within that that type of us in the main body of the report, but not all of them are and and we we will absolutely address this in the in the future. Going forward, I mean if I'm being really cynical, every single one on that table rated as Amber or Red, there's nothing or reference to it on the report, but there's a lot of references for the Blues, so that's just me being a tiny bit cynical, but I appreciate
although I would I would appreciate, some of them may not be key objectives, but then again upgrading transitions, delivering transitions and pocket right scheme might actually does actually seem quite important.
ring there are some.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 1:11:11
positive comments, but there are also some concerns being raised
by members in terms of the quality of the information and the layout of information College is taken a note of them and will certainly full follow up with them and, as I've said before, it is my intention to give somebody that responsibility for following through on these one sort somebody's got a nice little gift going down the line to be the Scrutiny Member who is going to lead on these things, so thank you very much for that.

9 Local Growth Plan

we move on to Item 9, there's a local growth plan, Felix yeah or you've already given us.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:11:56
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 1:12:05
acute conversation, but can you know explained to us where we are received by the Local growth plan, where it originated back from the Ellie WYCA meetings and the iterations it can now working through and where you hope to be, if the government give you clear guidance
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:12:17
thank you very much out, I'll do that and I've got a couple of slides that our run-through, quickly, just to give an overview.
Presentation Slides - 1:12:18
but just to say, as the Chair has just sent out, we are in the middle of a process to deliver.
local growth Plan, the Local growth plan, it's an imperative for us for a couple of reasons, one would be three reasons why we are overdue.
we were always overdue an economic strategy, a refresh of our economic strategy, secondly, the Mayor made a commitment during her re-election campaign to deliver a new Local growth plan within six months of re-election, and the new level governments also had in its manifesto and has had as a commitment, since you know as part of his growth mission for all local areas, combined authority areas and others to develop low-carbon growth plans which will then,
leads to the delivery of the development of a national industrial strategy.
so all these things for form the context for where we are.
from the context for where we are and the work we're doing.
during the next month, we will make a submission to government of what are West Yorkshire's contribution to the national industrial strategy will be, that will be.
then look at growth plunder we submit, through governments which will articulate a set of priorities up to five priorities that we want to engaging with governments and which will form a key part of any results, allocation that follows to enable us to deliver that growth plan, we will continue that work to them.
deliver and and publish
a full growth plan which will pick up all the other activities and actions that the Combined Authority and all our partners will want to embark on to make sure that we grow our economy. So you've got a paper and a set of slides, which summarise where we are and are very quickly. Just give you a flavour of the story, as we've got it, those who were of a Combined Authority meeting yesterday. These are the same slides at are used, so you you might want to tune out for a little bit if you want, but I'll just go through this really quickly, so West Yorkshire as we know it, and I have clicked from a slight change, but it's taken a while. It's a bit of luck in the system
let's Yorkshire as we know it and you know it much better than most, I'm sure.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:15:13
an area with two and a half million people, and about 100,000 businesses 1.2 million people in employment with a very
proud heritage and reputation when it comes to our industrial past and prowess and topography geography dictated what happened way, I'm sure over over the last few decades, absolutely the centuries that I've come up until this point, and so it is no coincidence, given the rivers and the type of water, we've got that the wool industrial grew here and on the back of that the Services Industrial grew very well in Leeds and Leeds is now the second largest financial centre outside of in England, in outside of London, and as a result of all of this, we have significant strengths that we should always be very proud of we. We are an area with
over almost 300,000 people working in.
Presentation Slides - 1:16:24
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:16:34
the financial sector, financial and professional services over 100,000 people 112,000 people are last count working in manufacturing.
we are the home of the NHS, are UK's health policy and a lot of the health tech and med-tech companies congregate here because of the expertise that we have.
and out of these, we also have significant opportunities that are opening up in imagined tech lie in are largely in fintech. We have great institutions that are based near the Bank of England has been here since the 18 20s financial Conduct Authority as here the UK infrastructure bank is bays here and because of these financial technology, legal technology, even new technology and conveyancing all setting up here because of the expertise in the heritage that we have in manufacturing. As you know, we've got. We are really well known in wooden furniture products in making component for automotive industry, for aerospace and others in speciality chemicals in textiles. We really well normal all of other world. For all of this I don't know what happened to the this as we own so
are our strengths are very well known, but as some of the conversation we've had before shows for further varies in a slight and we're now moving on but as asked for the conversation we've had shown, we also have significant challenges to overcome.
Presentation Slides - 1:18:13
we don't have a workforce skilled to the level that we would like them to be, so this is still not lagging the system.
are or even though we have 100,000 businesses in West Yorkshire, that is about 2000 fewer than it should be for a population of our size if you look at the
business density in West Yorkshire, the number of businesses we have per head of population, again we are about 18,000 businesses shot of where we should be and this false vigorously across the different places in West Yorkshire, so really they are, there is a job for everybody Leeds the Leeds economy,
is doing well enough for every lies resident to have a job elite, if only everybody who weren't here also lived here, so a job density in Leeds is just about one to one, but in Bradford is about 0.7 2 1 and in the other areas of fall somewhere in between that so we have significant challenges spread across.
the area that we need to address, we're talking about skills earlier on, and we have a particular challenge where you know about.
I think when we need about 50 about 50,000 more people trained up to what we call level 4 and above so we've got all these challenges.
we have about 680,000 homes in West Yorkshire and all of these need to be retrofitted, we have significant two significant challenges when it comes to public transport, one of the members stocking about transport challenges encoded in earlier on, we know that connectivity is a particular barrier to growth so the work we've done crystallise is the key barriers to growth that we have around a lack of investment over a period of time in infrastructure and business over time, the skills and the labour market profile that we've got and connectivity those are the three broad
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:20:39
Presentation Slides - 1:20:50
barriers to growth in challenges, as the evidence is laid out in response to these, the diagram on the screen sets out five broad priority areas that they look, our growth plan is then look into focus on, so I think this, in terms of very, very quickly on the top left you know unlocking growth.
through to targeting our key sectors, we are looking at how we work to make sure our businesses and entrepreneurs, innovators with great ideas, are much more closely linked to our universities and other centres of knowledge so that these ideas can be tested and rapidly developed and commercialised so businesses can improve, can grow, comes scale up here and be more successful and create jobs, good jobs that will will support people and lead to greater prosperity, we're looking at how we can ensure that businesses coming in to land more softly,
income can get to grips with that area and sets out very quickly and what we have to do them for that to happen, part of the work we're doing is to completely look Havill, root root and branch review of how we engage with businesses, making better use of what we say, what we call the ecosystem of the partners in the system, who are already well engaged with businesses. How can we work with them to ensure businesses have the support they need more readily and at more effectively in a way that makes makes sense to them? The evidence is very clear that when a woman said sets up a business, the the trust about one or two part two pennies in a pond when it comes to the investment that goes to businesses, that there's really no logical reason why that should be the case. Female founders under-invested in likewise founders who are from the black and ethnic minority community under-invested in
this means we are under-investing in a huge chunk of our population.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:22:47
and that sets our economy back. So again, the evidence is very clear on this, and we, through the lookout with plan working through what our response should be in skills and making sure people have the skills that they need to be able to Saxon. We've talked a bit about. This has made a commitment that all young people and or everybody looking for employment will have the opportunity to acquire the soft skills that employers saying really matters to go alongside. You know the hardcore qualifications that it might get in a certain we looking at early years, so I know we talked about
Presentation Slides - 1:23:09
a formal risk devoured responsibility, satin at 19 and and over, but that is not that doesn't mean that is the limits of our. There should be the limit of our influence or our ambitions. We know that early years really matters it matters in terms of the workforce matters in terms of young people having the best start in life, which says them up to then be prosperous later on. It matters because of economic participation for parents or guardians and others. So again we're looking at that. We're looking at technical pathways. As I mentioned,
earlier on.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:24:06
and many other areas. So I won't go into too much detail with on skills, but hopefully that gives you a flavour on transport, we, you know what is going on when it comes to mass transit and building a tram network, about bus, franchising or by investments in at train stations, are always stations and have a transport infrastructure, and finally, when it comes to places, we have significant opportunities when it comes to our key employment sites are housing sites to alleviate the housing need, but also as a key way of growing our economy and making up plays a small, more attractive and linked up such attraction, making sure we are not degrading our environment, but is that regenerate our environment? Even as we identify economic activity,
Presentation Slides - 1:24:40
and grow and grow West Yorkshire all of these coming together along some key, the key corridors where economic activity takes place in in West Yorkshire, so I'll say talking earlier on about how our places to shape of others in the centuries before.
it, the evidence is really clear that, working alongside you know between Leeds Bradford, there's sweeping towards Manchester, Leeds, Dewsbury back and forth, arrow going both ways towards Huddersfield and Manchester in economic activity heading in the other direction and then heading south between Leeds and Wakefield, further up South or South Yorkshire, and making sure that economic activity along these key corridors are enabled when it comes to the infrastructure needed people able to access opportunities that they need.
and I
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:26:09
activities, especially, are also going north very soon. All four sort of quadrants of Worcestershire of of Yorkshire will be headed by mayors with our decision yesterday from Holland, the Humber, the former is working together, and particularly with North Yorkshire, where we have really strong flows of labour between York and Leeds, for example, higher level skills, but also complete mentality with the nature of the economy. That means we should not lose sight of what happens in North Yorkshire in our relationship there working along these corridors and shows that we can place the activities that I mentioned earlier on in some of these key areas and lung them in these places in a way that makes sense to due to the people that live there
Presentation Slides - 1:26:17
so, in conclusion, we have a good understanding from the detail of what our strengths are, and we should celebrate this.
we should not lose sight of what our challenges are and we should then craft our priorities to build on those strengths, but to respond to this barriers and the challenges that we've got, and we should make sure that that these things land well inland properly in the key places where people already congregate or tend to congregate and that these places have the infrastructure they need for for economic activity to flourish and this will then form the basis of the investment decisions that we make which I'm sure will be interesting.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:26:59
due to this committee, so hopefully that is helpful to give you a sense of what we are grappling with and what we are developing when it comes to, they look up with plan, thank you.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 1:27:19
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:27:23
I might be cheeky and throw it back to needs are what role the or wants to play, so we are, we are really willing and ready to engage with you in ways that's you to you, because we know that the meeting cycle being sometimes these things for in between the cycle so we have sessions underway and some being planned engaging with a wide group of people and we would love for you to be part of that.
Matt Edwards - 1:28:00
sorry, I've had to take a few notes on that.
one of my main concerns from listen to that presentation, as a prophet Councillor, was there was one place mentioned more than any other in that report, and that was a very leads, centric economic model, the target at a far lights, had it that was how can the other authority areas are residents support this course if the that seems like a business strategy?
so if you're thinking what the implications loss for some of that earlier, the Golf for WYCA so, for example, climate, one of the aspects of climate that is kind of underplayed, is trying to reduce emissions from transport, actually trying to reduce tram travel, so by that we actually should be supporting more and more more devolved localised economy so supporting so, for example when we talked about the financial services industry Halifax for example,
health, the Halifax head office, cyclists in Halifax town centre.
that Yorkshire building society's head office site is in Bradford this echo Ecology, building, safety and salesman.
the Yorkshire and Humber West Yorkshire is an economic is a banking hook, not Leeds, if you like.
and I think we need to try and find a way how we can.
conveys acknowledge the other the other economic, the other local authorities are there to kind of Feed Leeds because that does have other implications for local authorities in terms of that, so, for example, council tax business rates where we got our income from a for businesses moving into one of the authorities them and then the map you showed with the current it's illustrated again with the the diagram shows the corridors so in Leeds that really important corridors the like effectively funnelling people to lead.
whereas there was nothing really for me how we're going to encourage safe business of the economic.
the economic benefits of safe, for example, Huddersfield and Bradford, while that's a journey I used to do, and the commute is it's quicker for me to travel or was quicker for me to travel from Huddersfield into Leeds and Bradford than it was just to get the direct train from Bradford because that training so awful.
Bradford to Wakefield
I let us just in basis, I wouldn't even consider that journey, because it's just so complicated for me.
sorry that that is my principal concern from what you've just presented and I'm sure some of the other.
members from other authorities, but I mean it does have implications for Leeds as well, like whether being, for example, whether these are with his wife out in the corner.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 1:30:45
one it is, there was no really reference to how we're gonna spot the whether the economy without people coming into Leeds Link, thank you very much, it's really for challenge and and and one that.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:30:50
I completely understand just to alleviate some of the concerned, though the map was habanero both directions, the idea is not to funnel people to lead in the way that you put across.
if, if I may say, it's not, but it is acknowledging though.
that, for example, you you mentioned financial Services, said he'd given a really fantastic example about the Halifax in in Bradford absolutely spot on the fact those that 290,000 people are employed in financial and professional services in about 80% of them are Leeds, so we completely acknowledge that in some sectors,
the bulk of that economic activity happens in certain places just like in manufacturing, a lot of our manufacturing is in Halifax, Huddersfield other parts of of West Yorkshire depends on the sector if was admission wood and furniture products that are seen as another part of West Yorkshire our our reference satellites cluster that is in Bradford.
this is not about saying leaders, pre-eminent of everybody, and I everybody's should funneled to leak, not all.
it is acknowledging that the corridor between Leeds and Bradford is really crucial. There are 1.3 million people that live in those two goes to sit in those two cities, it's more than more than half of of the population of West Yorkshire. It's crucial. We believe, according to the evidence that we improve connectivity between those two places, so people can move in and out quickly and easily. It's currently only 20 minutes on the train when people need choice and options, if you live in between the centres of those two places and we improve to to densify and to make the economy a lot more complex when it comes to redouble services, so it's not about just funneling people into Leeds. That would be the wrong thing to do, which is why, as I said, the arrows are going both ways and their corridors practice. Acknowledging its is acknowledging that the Leeds economy is the strongest economy we've got, and how do we make sure that there is access because police station is. The busiest station outside London is at least busiest train station outside London, and I think Ben is a transport expert here. What we will say you know I supposed to be responsible for is at a third of the delays in the north of England and when it comes to the train network, so we need to acknowledge that, but we also need to be aware of the fact that there is the economic strength across West Yorkshire. How do we grow that? How do we make sure people have access to the opportunities that challenges you know travelling from Bradford to Wakefield, as you say absolutely absolutely spot-on, and we this is not so a big part of what we are talking about is the Brayford station.
Matt Edwards - 1:34:21
the new station in Bradford this, the Southern Gateway in Bradford City, village in Bradford and investment to be discussing in Keighley. You know the Arif and space cluster in in in that in that valley. These ask fundamental to what we are talking about here and if they did not come across in what I was saying that this might bad and I take that on board, but it's you know, yeah, that's hopefully that sort of just to finish I, I agree, everything milky sap that was missing from the report and that worries me that if you are present fairness, economic plan, when I come to you and presented that's that's scale becomes the focal point and lack that can't be the case
yeah, there's a diagram, the arrows with two ways, nothing in that report suggested without the areas of two ways, it suggests the Barrett was one, that's what the reports headsets, regardless of what they're saying in response to this it's a it's about a sabbatical representation, but the contents of the report does not met. Flipback reflects a one way out.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 1:35:07
Geraldine Carter - 1:35:24
thanks Chair, I have to concur with everything that Councillor redwoods has said you're said as well, also that there was a ratio of one to one for for for employment in the Leeds area and in the other various, it was a lot less than that so a young person living and where I live.
match struggled to get a job, other I wanna been Calderdale and I might need to have to come through to Leeds for that job, so just out of curiosity, I thought you might like to know that the absolute fastest time you could get from Lee from ripened in bus stop to Leeds that's without any traffic jam just two hours 32 minutes
and it takes 40 minutes in the car without any John's.
there is no connectivity living where I live in a rural area of West Yorkshire Choppington being worse than me, but there is no connectivity with Leeds, this report is is so Leeds centric, I think you need to be looking at as Councillor Edwards said other parts of this work if even worse from on further direct to the economy to debt from all for you know you can't you can't write a report to sort the Combined Authority?
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 1:37:07
tick-box. There says our wonderful were doing when, in actual fact, it's only about fleets and nowhere else, and I think if you start put in every other buried together within this report, you'd end up with, we're not doing very well, so I'm sorry, or I think it should be a better, a better report on on the state of West Yorkshire with regards to transport infrastructure and connectivity. I think you feel due to note. This is his report to
so anyway, Councillor Ron tree, if you want to come in it's 3.3 in the report that I'm looking at.
Andrew that's not our.
the first keep it civil if she was all over who is entitled to their view, there were what would do to Councillor Ron, try thank you, Chair, and I am a Leeds member, I do have some sympathy with the the.
so I'd drift of what Councillor Edwards and Councillor Carter will say saying that, because extra
Andy Rontree - 1:37:46
one phrase that leapt out at me was the reference to unlock growth, and I always think to myself in view of that sort of what we've had before, but there's a little key challenge here is to unlock growth in that the the other parts of West Yorkshire there is more scope for doing so there is, I suppose, a danger of
the sort Leeds overheating, given what we've meantime, what I wanted to ask was, when we say, unlock growth through a targeted approach to pay key sectors and specialism. At do you have any specific examples what we're actually doing, or are we actually intend to do a week thinking about particular, so supporting particular types of F E ulcers or facile facilitating businesses, woven input into planning pro process wow what specifically, is it that you've got in mind that and I do have a second one actually, which has just
the there was the phrase their increasing economic complexity, and I wonder what in what you meant by increasing economic complexity and why that's a good thing.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 1:38:58
I think again, Mr still, first of all, Philip, can then comment afterwards.
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:39:08
thank you Chair, I just wanted to make a general point that the that what Phoenix has got here is a really tough job in that he's trying to presents a report that is true to the challenges that West Yorkshire face faces which are in in in a region out of our size multifaceted and complex and often deep-seated while being true to the expectations of a growth plan that celebrates the celebrate West Yorkshire talks about the opportunities here talked about the the the based on which growth can most likely happen, and so I think,
what I would ask if the committee is
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 1:39:45
we do need to focus on both but bear with us if we don't get it exactly right to your liking first time round, but is it is a tricky it is tricky balance to to, to find I Felix or did you want to try and address one or two points from Councillor Ron 3 is made.
together just wanted you to work, OK, well, we'll go to the next one, then actually what Councillor Merrick next, thank you, I wanted to ask some sort of wider question, so in terms of for your your priorities,
obviously the priorities that you've you're indicating here at the same priorities of yeah your existing strategies, but my understanding of the government's gross initiative is actually it's about wider ambition.
Cllr Dave Merrett - 1:40:27
broader, broader approaches, yeah, the opportunity to strategic planning and other things to to to to think bigger and make a step-change in what's going on, and I suppose.
obviously recognise your prime focus on developing existing businesses, but in order for existing businesses to succeed and did how, in order to deliver much more housing, some of the other things there are secondary support mechanisms, which are going to be vital where we know there are existing big blockages. Yeah, I think yeah, you think of the electricity distribution system are using golf Yorkshire Water's poor performance in terms of facilitating connections for new housing developments. Yeah whole set of issues. I do wonder, whilst yeah obviously understand that transport is the biggest, the Combined Authority's biggest function, whether actually having a transport as opposed to a general infrastructure
priority is the right choice for the new situation as opposed to what what's being done in the past, sorry, I just flag that one to you, I I, I think that's actually what the government wants and once we obviously don't control a lot of those other infrastructure areas nonetheless, if we're to succeed in a step-change in grows, we will have to address those and I think the plan that you submit needs to pick that up.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 1:42:04
thank you, Councillor, he yeah, thank you have got a general appointments and his specific on skills.
Kate Haigh - 1:42:07
people don't liberalise by local authority boundaries and I think will sometimes forget that, so I think, yeah, the fact that some people come deletes, work or leave leads to work or go to Bradford Road or even leave West Yorkshire or come into West. Yorkshire is not some whoever gonna have any kind of control over and I'm I'm a recent input to needs. I've lived in in southern and for most of my working life and things I didn't know, for example, is that Leeds is the third biggest city in this country, people don't know that they don't know the graph is in the top 10
and I don't see that here.
yeah, people, PSA isn't Manchester bigger, no flipping, isn't it really isn't, and I think those accounts things that in a planning work where we're trying to attract people in which we really talking about?
you know it, we have a heft, that's not just population but is actually yeah economic and all the other good things that are that Owen this region, so you know I I've I've got a slightly out out of out of the area perspective to Britain to that I think,
I will move on to the skills he now, which he talked about soft skills in your in your presentation and perhaps work readiness pe especially if there'd been out of work for long periods that have the skills and confidence even to write job application and interview, I've certainly done more people in those situations myself in the past and I see that the government is talking about.
reforming job centres to support that work, readiness also to reduce risk so after a period to employ risk of losing benefits.
being able to take on work and and then, if it's not a good fit, there's no penalty.
so where are we, in terms of building that into our planning and working with Job centres and other employment agencies to to make sure that we're aligning with them, and also you know, they're going to be investing in it if we're going to be invested in it, let's invest in things that work together well.
so I would say,
Paul Godwin - 1:44:37
Cllr Ralph Berry - 1:44:46
just finish working age maybe one to one in Leeds but her hills were worthless five-year, so I've got the same economic challenges at home now working within Birmingham but you've referred here to something quite important as a new era for which is when we're looking at a good level of development children, both the three that dictate.
in quite remarkable by lifelong outcomes and the early years and childcare sector has taken an absolute hammering in the last, we haven't got a daughter is an early years Montessori practitioner, so I would like to see how, because there's a lot of evidence, if we have to invest in that and really rebuild that we can build capacity in communities and build and ambition and hope that's not something that has ever falling within the remit of this.
footprint of governance, specifically is I welcome it, I accept there's a tussle with local government, but the join for me as obvious right and then the other bit on transport, sorry people in troubled and go to Manchester.
paper and whether we go to York, because that's a logical and sensible thing to do people who Fitzwilliam probably go to South Yorkshire, we are connected, so something about the connections with the other mayoral plans as well, because boundaries are boundaries, but I really welcome the proceed. Health and well being in that, because the distance in wellbeing and life expectancy, firstly, life expectancy is going down at the moment, child
height of children is going down, obesity is going up and the distance between money and where I work immense them is 13 years in lifestyle, so I actually quite like your framework, I want the people, the young people, I'm working with Monighan to get jobs in links.
I want businesses to happen in Bradford as well, but if they're going to get a business and finance qualification I don't want them just dying in Bradford, I want them to get on and we're trying to Skipton I want them to get on goods transport but early years place because I think we were beginning to put a long term agenda and I'll be dead by the time this is fully achieved probably, but this is where we ought to be investing because we'd be doing short term damage limitation for years early years place.
Paul Godwin - 1:46:55
I would like to thank Councillor Barry for that happy note at the end of the speech there.
I just minus very quick on page 1 97, the last bullet point, surely we should be aiming higher than a Level 3, and actually that should be level for.
Cllr Mike Barnes - 1:47:17
I would prefer to be sitting here in a few years' time with you saying we've achieved 95% on level 4 than 101 100% on level 3, if that makes sense, I think that I think, aim Amy you miss it.
I would be happy with that and I would be happy to be monitored on that for future reference if ever came back. Thank you.
some of
Paul Godwin - 1:47:32
and then the final work.
sorry, I think you actually go ahead.
Cllr Betty Rhodes - 1:47:45
on the riff on the the draft, until I've lodging you know, in particular this one, it looks like the hub and spoke model that will be speaking about for years in terms of reaching out across a corporate level which I agree with.
I have to say I totally endorse the comments that have been made here, because if it were, if Leeds wasn't on this agenda today for debate, I don't think we would have had, and there are authorities out there and Wakefield mentioned Fitzwilliam,
reaching out and joining in terms of the needs outside of Leeds is equally as important as the development of draft people it.
we have Southeastern to restrict in in Wakefield.
where the skills attainment and everything else that goes along with it have either got to consider to go into Barnsley or, if they wanted to come into Wakefield, it's the connectivity of the ability to get to them for to get to Leeds now from Whitfield, which is one of the oldest cities around in this West Yorkshire area.
or to get their anybody around now, have to try and afford let's gifted ask, illustrate, afford the ability to get out of the pass or the train fare to get to where you can get a train, because the buses do not go after night if anybody has long delay in their drilling here.
we have a situation where we have one bus every quarter of an hour, down a main road into Wakefield from the accommodation to the other side which is offered Harbury Netherton all going out of that side, one bus we used to have a bus was 1 1 7 that was taken up and that service everybody from that side of the district to get to Leeds.
if they so wished, but we have got to and I support this, the emphasis has got to be yes, we have lies as a situation now which have the major, maybe the major.
employment but add to that the people that work in our hospitals, they are the second major employer and for people to get connectivity to appointments outside of where their lives for the appointment time, that's given to him with reduced connectivity that we have around our district is virtually impossible impossible, so let's go with the big picture, what's going to take pictures and let's look out there because not everybody has the qualifications that we've gone to go into the financial industry, we don't our manufacturing base like we used to do, we don't know we don't not generally across West Yorkshire I'm sorry, let's get real in areas to be thinking about Leeds all the time we don't have the manufacturing base that we used to do.
we have popping Robert what we have pockets of it, but people have to get to it and when we haven't got the connectivity that we want for people to use the facilities and employment in Leeds, let's look outwards and see what can we do with connectivity around the district to promote people being able to live, work and enjoy their local district is at the moment I know people that are working going to leagues and have to go to Wakefield to get a train.
to get to deeds now this cost of living and is the increased fares, wherever about the 2 point going to 2 pound rule for bus fare going to go, which is a big border contention on people who live lived within a lesser rate. Gonna have to pay more now, so at a really do support what's happening in innovation in skills in hopefully attainment for people that want to increase their skills capacity, but to do that you have to connect people with the rail and bus system that they can actually get to it and I feel very strongly about that. Your review,
comma
we just.
let me with lots of positive legal ruses and what have been from our.
let's go to the
Paul Godwin - 1:51:58
I will give it a very good goal.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 1:52:02
the last point on connectivity, everybody agrees thus wides on here we know connectivity so challenge, we know it's one of our main barriers and if we do not improve that, we will not grow the economy, so we take the point completely and is a central part of what we have what we are talking about.
there was a question about unlocking growth and you know our key sectors and some specifics there. I tried to set out some of them, as I was speaking, these are the slides you've got our attempt to present to you in a simple and clear way very quickly in a meeting like this, you know that the general story of what we're trying to do, there's a lot of detail that that sits behind this. I mentioned some of our key sectors all year round finance and manufacturing, and health and other areas, and the evidence very clearly coming through around advanced manufacturing and some of the key specialism where they are in the businesses there, which I mentioned unimagined technology. So we really strongly with finance, as I said by the growth is an emerging technology. The technology enabled applications that is taking Finance and legal Services and others into other areas. So those are the kind of sectors and specialism that we were talking about in the businesses there and that businesses that we're looking to to bring you about happy to share a lot more detail if that's helpful, but I know we're struggling, be struggling for time, and it's in doing that in growing those those clusters. That is what we mean by increasing complexity.
so a lot of the time. What we
the services that we have done tend to be tradeable services outside of our area, the Chain Bridge after one or two links, making them more complex, is introducing more services where businesses trade with other businesses, treatment that businesses and add value along the chain which grossed more rhythmic more prosperity and challenges businesses to be more innovative and sought to be more productive and areas that AMAP project prosperous have more complex economies because of the chain links between the businesses and the activities that take place there.
so there was another point about what our priorities are being brought out, wider, thinking, bigger, I think you make a really good point.
Councillor Mowat around you know, electricity and power generation, water and other infrastructure, so we take that away and considerate more. We see where we are. You can see from the slides you've got in what are presented today, how quickly these this is moving on, so we take that point on board haven't said that it is acknowledged well, there are many who also believe that the transport connectivity challenge is so strong and so important, and that deserves to stand on its own, and we then look at other infrastructure we need in some of our places, so we'll keep wrestling with this and we'll see the best way to represent to represent that by we take. The point says, is a very fair point.
because I made a point about acknowledging and celebrating what we've got and then talked about work, readiness and confidence implements approach, this is really critical to all we are where we are talking about, when we are talking about the West, Yorkshire promise and the work will be doing their on on a soft skills it's all about helping people to be ready to be work ready but,
it's not just a supply side thing is bringing employers acknowledging what employers already do, there are many employers that actually doing this and doing it very well, and we don't want to just steaming and say we have the answers, we know what we're doing, it's actually acknowledging what people are doing and then bringing them round a table to say what more can we do?
how do we get this to a point where, if there is a soft skills accreditation that we can give to jobseekers, that is recognised so that less safe as that's putting one up and somebody goes through that and they get an accreditation, they contain up. Our Morrison said it is recognised there, so how do we recognise that and then other levels to this or not? So there's a lot of work going into it and hopefully you you see, you see more of this and he talked about our employment support. Couldn't agree more, we're doing a lot of work. The yesterday of a Combined Authority there was approved, foster can the funding that would go for implements West Yorkshire, but to make sure we don't miss and customer made the point about health, we don't miss the Health led economic inactivity, which is growing and is particularly significant, so these are some of the key things you mentioned, the Job Centre and the changes there again we're talking to government and we will make sure that the All Age careers Service are we talking about here,
does not cut across the Government's plans for a working a job and carers service, which is at the change that they want to bring in early years. I couldn't you know, that's what does the work we're doing? We're working with the strategy will University were working with the demonstrates are sent out, working that access to Children's Services, we bringing all the key partners together, acknowledging that we don't have the formal powers,
while we have the Mayor's office and the Combined Authority as a convening role, that we can play to bring these partners together to achieve the outcomes that I am put on to all of us and very finally the point of our Level 3.
I am never won and we we, you know we we do, we will not be under and I sold when it comes to our ambition, however, the ambition to make sure that everybody in West Yorkshire has a minimum Level 3 is as transformational as it gets given that the bulk of our population right now is level 2 and below.
to let everybody to a minimum Level 3 is absolutely transformational, so I take the point about level for level 4 is degree level, but Level 3 is whether technical skills, live and and that route serves our population and economy, and if that is the minimum that would have transformed our or Oliver market within a generation,
can I can I just say that.
Cllr Barry Anderson (Chair) - 1:58:26
what a great to be annoyed God, but heated at times I accept that, but there's nothing wrong with that, and hopefully you can also see that inflicts, we actually have someone who knows the area because he was able to cope better, give examples of what's happening and someone who is fighting.
for what's happening and he hasty dodging of as impossible God

10 Meeting dates

and he will take note of what you've got, I think there's definitely a role for scrutiny, will we get the next iterations of this plan to come back to us now, whether that comes back to a formal meeting or whether it comes back to our were rue working group or a workshop fine will make a decision at the time because we've got as we had earlier on, there are other things that we've got to try and get through, but thank you all for your attendance today. Thank you all for coming along and
Webcast Finished - 1:59:33
if it was ways' at night and see what would be the best thing note, we're doing the public, we can all share a drink together, but it's only a lunchtime so we've still got sort of half of 84, so thank you all for your tank fibre