Finance, Resources, and Corporate Committee - Wednesday 19 February 2025, 2:00pm - West Yorkshire Combined Authority Webcasting

Finance, Resources, and Corporate Committee
Wednesday, 19th February 2025 at 2:00pm 

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  1. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
  2. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
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  1. Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
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  1. Cllr Jane Scullion (Calderdale Council)
  2. Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  3. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
  4. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
  5. Cllr Moses Crook Kirklees Council
  6. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
  7. Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  8. Simon Warburton, Executive Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  9. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
  10. Cllr Moses Crook Kirklees Council
  11. Simon Warburton, Executive Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  12. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
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  1. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
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  1. Damon Lawrenson (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
  3. Cllr Jane Scullion (Calderdale Council)
  4. Damon Lawrenson (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  5. Simon Warburton, Executive Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  6. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
  7. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
  8. Jocelyn Manners-Armstrong Independent Member
  9. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
  10. Damon Lawrenson (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  11. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
  12. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council)
  13. Damon Lawrenson (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  14. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
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  1. Jo Dent (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council)
  3. Jo Dent (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  4. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
  5. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council)
  6. Jo Dent (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  7. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
  8. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council)
  9. Asma Iqbal, West Yorkshire Business Board (Private Sector Representative)
  10. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
  11. Asma Iqbal, West Yorkshire Business Board (Private Sector Representative)
  12. Jo Dent (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  13. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
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  1. Caroline Norreys, Assistant Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
  3. Cllr Jane Scullion (Calderdale Council)
  4. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
  5. Jocelyn Manners-Armstrong Independent Member
  6. Damon Lawrenson (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  7. Damon Lawrenson (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  8. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
  9. Caroline Norreys, Assistant Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  10. Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council)
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  1. Webcast Finished

Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:00:00
everybody for coming in today and I would start with the formal items at the
top of the agenda are there any apologies for absence please

1 Apologies for Absence

Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:00:10
apologies for absence have been received from mayor Braben and Councillor Denise
Jeffrey Wakefield Council and Councillor Carol Patterson of Kirk East Council
Councillor Moses Crook is attending a substitute for Councillor Patterson. Thank you I'll
Turn to the um, turn to the committee and see if there's any declarations of pecuniary interest, please.
I don't see anybody putting their hands up. Um, I'll move on to item three, which is exempt information, please.
There is one, uh, one exempt item.
Yes, the exempt item is within item nine. It's the corporate risk register appendix two.
Thank you.

2 Declarations of Pecuniary Interests

3 Exempt Information- Possible Exclusion of the Press and Public

4 Minutes of the Meeting held on 5 December 2024

So I'll move on to the next item, which is the minutes of the meeting held on 5th of December. Is everybody happy with those? Please.
I take it everybody is.
That's great. And I'll turn to item five, which is the corporate performance report. Sarah, please.
Thank you. And I'm not going to cough my way through this presentation. I really ought not to do that.
Thank you. So I think we came last time around with a slightly different kind of way of presenting quarterly performance to yourselves and to the committee.
Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:01:36
And what we've done this time around is follow that kind of similar kind of process.
I've got a short presentation really just to kind of take you through some of the key points really rather than kind of walking through the whole of the report really.
But just in terms of summary, this report provides an update on quarter three and that's
from October to December 24 -25 and we did the reporting in January to pull this together
for yourselves today.
I think what the report is also doing is continuing that thread around how we want to strengthen
performance reporting, assessment and management of this period and we've got quite a lot of
work in train which is trying to get us to a position where we're doing this better every
that we come to speak to yourselves about this
and require a lot of work
in terms of within the organisation.
So just key points really overall
is we're in a similar position to quarter two at the moment
with a small decrease in areas of work
where we were risk it to delivery and exist.
And I'll come on to that in a little bit more detail.
There's a clear theme arising in relation to resourcing.
This picks up on a similar theme
that we had last time round
where as part of a lot of the work
that's taking place in the organisation,
there's kind of been a rapid expansion of work that's happening and there's lots of
mitigations in place to address kind of risk arising. We've been doing a lot of work through
business planning for example to kind of address that. I'll come into some of the issues towards
the end of the presentation and we're also working on a new performance management framework
and I think that's going to be really helpful for us all across the organisation and the
partnership about kind of providing that structured approach to evaluating performance, setting
goals and monitoring progress. We have a lot of data within the organisation, we have lots
of information that we're considering and how we look at that and how we monitor progress
across the piece is really, really important so that we get a really good overview and
what the performance management framework will intend to do is try and get us moving
forward on that and having a really structured view of where we are at that organisational
level. So just to move us on, just in terms of headline outcomes I think if
you look in the report we've had some really good areas of progress over this
last quarter and you'll see in there that there's been quite a lot

5 Q3 Corporate Performance

happening around Bush reform in terms of kind of the transition plan and actually
after quarter three, quarter into quarter four there's been some significant
progress around kind of the lotting strategy, around the depot strategy and around brand
and that works going to continue and obviously that will flow into quarter four reporting.
Even as we're talking about some of quarter three things, things have kind of moved on
and I think it's important to kind of recognise some of that. There's also been work in mass
transit which I'll come on to in a little while and there's been a significant amount
of work that's taken place around strategy development, so particularly around the climate
environment plan which is in quite a lot of consultation on that that's coming to
the CA at some point in the near future and there's been quite a lot of discussion
around that around our partner agencies. The local growth plan which was kind of adopted
in December, work around the local transport plan and also the police and crime plan which was kind
of approved in December as well. Lots of work on new business growth and skills model implementation
and you'll see in there in terms of summary some really good performance in terms of some
stats around key placements in employment and self -employment which is really good to
see and we're continuing on the business support. So these are some of the real key headline
pieces of work that the CA is working on as well as kind of us taking forward work on
multi -year business planning and our judiciary plans for this forthcoming year. I guess in
terms of headline outcomes for quarter two what you'll see there has been a small increase
in the number that have kind of moved up to blue from 39 in quarter two to 14 in quarter
three. A number, a small number increase from kind of 64 to 69 that have gone from up into
blue amber and then a number that kind of a decrease from quarter two from 19 to 11
of amber reds. But we have seen a small increase in the number of reds that are reporting as
been at risk to delivery and a barrier and one of those is an area that we picked up
during the last presentation to the committee. I think if you look at it across a
mission base and we are kind of doing this on a more regular basis now what
you'll see is that there's kind of a similar trend between quarter two and
quarter three so what you'll see is that in quarter two there were four missions
that were broadly operating at kind of that blue amber level and mission four
that was operating at Amber Red and that's continued to kind of move into the same space
for quarter three. And obviously in your pack you've got the full detail of all the measures
that are making up kind of that progress. But what I wanted to do today is just to really
pick up on kind of areas where delivery is progressing as planned, though we've seen
that upward trend really. So as you'll see there in terms of performance on the adult
Skills Fund, there's Deliveries Now, moving from quarter to where it was amber -red, moving
to quite a strong position in terms of being on track. To me, key performance indicators,
which is good to see, and actually in some areas, is overperforming, so that is, I think,
from where we're at quarter to there's been a significant turnaround there. In terms of
development at the growth hub, consultants have been working around the development of
work alongside us and our partners around what that might look like and there's further
conversations taking place now with partnerships but again on track for delivery and hopefully
that's going to be finalised now in quarter four and I think that's a significant move
forward in terms of that service in terms of how that will operate across the region
so good progress there. In terms of the culture, heritage and sport framework what you'll see
there is that kind of as we know really good progress around Bradford 2025, City of Culture
been launched and with the event rise and really great attendance I think that with
28 ,000 people kind of attending over that weekend and lots of events that are taking
place I think really good to see that happening within the region and in Bradford and lots
of you know estimated impacts there that will you know equate to kind of nearly 7 ,000 jobs.
In addition to that, the Cultural Heritage and Sports Committee approved the 2930 Action Plan,
including kind of pan -regional approaches to activity over 2025,
and what they're looking at is kind of how we sustain some of the work that is taking place currently,
and making sure that there's a legacy to some of that work over this coming period.
The Strategic Place Partnership, I think we talked about this last time around,
There's been some really good progress there from a partnership perspective around including
dementia ready housing criteria into plans for inclusion in policy development and that's
a really significant milestone across the region which is going to have obviously have
great impact for local people and we've also secured some resource around safer parts principles
through winning kind of some impact award from the University of Leeds.
Just in terms of moving on to Mission 3, well connected to West Yorkshire, obviously Bradford Interchange reopened during Quarter 3, 5th of January actually so it's just slightly outside of Quarter 3, but a lot of the work that's taken place to kind of get there has had a really big impact and I think that again is good progress from where we were in the last year.
There have been challenges around operation of lifts, but they've all been resolved now.
And there's remaining work to repair the concrete.
Of course, it's due to the completion in May 2025.
So again, that's improved from where we were during the last quarter.
I talked about mass transit just earlier on, but the mass transit public consultation has come to an end
and work has taken place to kind of do the analysis on that.
And that is being considered at the February 2025 Combined Authority meeting.
A lot of planning and work is taking place now for phase two consultation, which is scheduled
for January 2026.
But there's quite a lot of planning taking place to make sure that that kind of proceeds
and each time scales and goes well.
And I think at the bottom of the screen there on housing decarbonisation, 2024 -25, 852 properties
have retrofit measures installed.
I think you can't see it on the bottom of the screen, but we know that a lot of those
homes have had those measures put in place are in areas that have got areas of higher deprivation.
So it's really good to see that that work is progressing particularly from the place that it was last quarter.
We came to talk about that.
So just moving on to areas where perhaps progress
hasn't been
kind of gone as expected in this last quarter.
So top one there is around asset management
and there's work taking place around a condition survey at the moment and that's
been delayed really potentially because we've been prioritizing work on Bradford
interchange that delay does present some risks in relation to the condition of
our assets but there's some work, urgent work that is being instigated in this
current quarter to kind of try and progress that and move that forward. I'm
sure colleagues might want to jump in on that one as we get but what we've done is
read a slightly different start date for that work which will take place in Quarter 1 2025,
2026. The next two areas around the West Yorkshire Transport Fund and the West Yorkshire Transport
model, and as you'll see for the Transport Fund the expenditure target is currently £67
million for the current financial year. We're currently, as of the end of Quarter 3 we're
reporting, spending £36 .1 million due to projects not progressing to delivery as anticipated.
It's quite a lot of work taking place behind the scenes to make sure that we move that
activity forward during this next quarter and spend as much as we can.
I think capacity, so this is one of the running themes that we've talked about throughout
during the last presentation, this one is cited as a bit of an issue really and that's
not just within the organisation but with partners in terms of taking schemes forward.
But as I say, work taking place to mitigate the impact of that where possible.
And the third one is one that is around the West Shor's transport model and that model
is being developed. It's not yet ready for general use and some of the work that's taking
place at the moment is around engaging with partners on how that model might work and
again some capacity issues there in terms of strategic manager that there's some recruitment
taking place to try and get that person in person, move that work forward. That's going
critical piece of work when we get that, get that moving. And I'll just take one deep breath
because my mouth's gone very, very dry. The next one here is the one that we talked about
last time around, which is around carbon impact reduction. That type of is probably a bit,
probably not kind of reflective of what we're talking about here. This is around the tools
that we've got in place for developing and measuring carbon impact reduction and I think
we reported last time around that we'd had a movement of staff. There's quite a lot of
taking place at the minute around the toolkit for this and even though it's
reporting ready quarter three we're expecting that there's going to be some
resource kind of put in place to kind of mitigate this work in the next the next
quarter up until March and that works taking place in tandem with work on the
climate environment plan so we're open to see a bit of a shift in that in the
next quarter and then I think the West Yorkshire Housing Partnership solar PV
and battery storage project. I think here we are falling quite short on target. I think at the
minute the current position is around 120 homes that have kind of had the solar panels installed
by the end of quarter three and I think at the end of the year the target's 500. We know that
this is a two -year target so even though we're not kind of hitting the areas that we want to,
we do feel that there's time to kind of hit that by the deadline that we want to hit it. There's
challenges to hitting that target which which is also taking place so that we can kind of
really move on with that moving forward and then the final one is around zero
emission buses there so as you can see in terms of that data there that has been delayed
really partly because of battery supply chain issues which has meant that we've not been
able to kind of procure that further 15 buses that we've needed to during this time period.
So that's kind of just a snapshot of some of the key areas really and I think what we
did say last time around is what we're trying to do is be transparent about the areas where
we know we've got to make more progress and I think that's really important for this committee
to kind of have oversight of that.
We'll be doing more around this as we kind of move towards that new performance framework.
I think risk as we've just talked about, particularly around internal resource capacity and we've
a lot of work through business planning over the last few months around identifying where
we need additional resources to deliver some of the key priorities. There's a lot happening
at the moment and what we're trying to do, as you'll see there, is a lot of work around
that workforce planning to make sure that we've got the right resources in the right
place. As Joe has been working on, really looking at smart working policies and workforce
agility and looking at where we've got kind of cliff edge employment ending so
that we can really mobilize our resources and get people moving across
the organization in much more of a flexible way and that has been to some
extent in the past being kind of links to kind of funding streams has been
made that really difficult to kind of move people around and we are
looking at how with the help of Damon and finance colleagues about how we can
move away from that kind of linking people directly to projects so we have
much more flexible, obviously. Our internal governance, looking at arrangements about how we can speed up processes for making decisions and kind of assurance and accountability frameworks. And what we're hoping is that over time that we'll see some of this helping with some of the issues that we've got around some of that kind of organisational risk.
Just finally, as I said, we do quite a bit of work around the performance management
framework as we move forward and we think that's going to be really, really helpful
in terms of making better informed decisions and ensuring that we've got alignment with
our organisational objectives. So a really clear link between the performance framework
and the work that we're doing around the corporate planning and business planning to make sure
that we're really clear about what needs to be delivered over this coming period. That's
going to be by called in terms of making sure that the resources are following the priorities
essentially and what we're also doing is doing it a little bit more around
ensuring that our relevant performance metrics are kind of consolidated which I
said earlier on you know actually when you've got a lot of data it's really
easy to kind of miss the key points and what we're trying to do is make sure
that we we've got an eye on everything really and that will include not only
progress around the business plan and corporate plan targets but also making
sure that we've got EDI measures and productivity and efficient measures
included in that which will give that single overview and what we will be
doing is bringing that performance framework back to yourselves for you to have a look at.
at the end of the year before we start reporting into the new financial year.
I'll stop there, Chair. If anybody has any comments, then I'll pick them up.
Thanks, quite a lot there. Cancer sculling, please.
Thank you. There was a lot there, actually.
Cllr Jane Scullion (Calderdale Council) - 0:17:18
And thank you for the report. And there are pleasing bits in it, definitely.
I read it in conjunction with the report we've got later on the agenda in relation to risk
And maybe some my comments might stray on to that
In some ways what the combined authority are facing is very much
like the dilemmas challenges were facing in local authorities in terms of
inflation costs
market forces and
capacity and capacity to deal with those things.
And I was interested that Sarah touched
on some of the ways in which things are trying
to be joined up, because it seems to me
that in this next phase of the Combined Authority,
we're really going to have to be a bit more agile in terms
of thinking ahead, because always with a performance
report, you're looking at past performance.
And as we move to a more consolidated, coordinated
trailblazer type deal as the organization matures.
I think we are going to have to think more
about how some of these things are joined up, rather than just
how do you meet the government's needs
for that particular spending pot with the constraints in it.
And one of my concerns really is about that capacity
within the organization for that thinking ahead.
There was reflecting on things like, I don't know,
electric vehicles, depot strategy,
the way in which technology is changing,
and how some of the people we have working here
in the Combined Authority need to be thinking ahead
to where we're going to be in two years' time,
five years' time, 10 years' time,
and thinking about some of the challenges
and benefits of that work, really.
But in some ways, that is part of the risk, really,
as I said before.
And it's about having people who are really good
modeling and forecasting. I'm not suggesting we employ somebody with a
crystal ball but if you could get close to that that would be really good. Thank
you chair. You missed it Meg's busy this week. Sarah please. I think I think that's a
Sarah Eaton, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:19:31
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:19:31
really important point I think it is one that we have picked up on in terms of
some of the conversations around perhaps thinking about scenario planning as well
and really getting into that kind of thinking about about the future but I
I think it's something that, as we move towards the integrated settlement and thinking about
how we implement that, we have got to be getting ahead of the curve because I think it's going
to be really, really important that we maximise the opportunities that we'll get from that.
That does mean thinking a little bit differently about how we use our resources, manage our
resources, but also how we're directing that resource to the priorities that, as a partnership,
we feel are really critical.
I think that's a really important point.
It's definitely something that we're looking at, but we need to do more work.
I think around that particular theme.
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:20:15
Thank you. Would anybody else like to come in on this item, please?
Moses, please.
Thanks, chair.
So I noticed a slightly more specific issue, but I noticed that there's
Cllr Moses Crook Kirklees Council - 0:20:27
that the West Yorkshire Transport Fund delivery, for example,
has moved into risk, and I want to have some reassurance that as we work out
how to manage that risk and get delivery done within the cost constraints
that have been identified around inflation that we won't lose sight of the projects that
are already in progress through that scheme, that funding scheme, and I'm specifically
thinking about projects in my area like Kuiper Bridge which have been delayed and shifted
and re -profiled but are still really important and strategically important for Kirklees.
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:21:00
Thank you. Who would like to pick that up please? Alan please, you can make a start,
Thank you.
Alan Reiss, Chief Operating Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:21:08
So, okay, so the, so we've changed, the combined authority in the autumn changed the way in
which we fund capital projects.
So and the reason that we did that was so that the combined authority, by that I mean
members, not the officers, could choose to bring forward and prioritize projects which
which were ready and take decisions based on things like,
say, bus franchising, which requires us to purchase depots
across the region.
It's enabled us to bring forward projects
and fund projects which are ready.
There is nothing in the transport fund schemes
which has been deprioritized,
but we have changed the funding model
so that funding gets allocated to schemes
at the point at which they're ready to go.
That said, we've also reported to the combined authority that the West Yorkshire Transport
Fund was established in 2014 and a lot of the costs were a mix of not entirely realistic
or have moved on significantly since then for reasons that have been articulated around
inflation and cost escalation and so on.
And so the gap we have reported to the Combined Authority
at the last time we did so was $400 million.
Yes, something like that.
So there is a big gap at the moment
in between the total number of schemes
which the region would like delivered
and the amount of money that we have.
Now, a key thing to remember though
is that there are a number of fiscal decisions
that the government needs to take,
which will take place before that program is complete.
So I put it like this.
We have an amount of, we've got an amount of money
at the moment to fund the West Yorkshire Transport Fund
schemes, the City Region Sustainable Transport schemes,
the Transforming City Fund schemes,
mass transit, bus franchising, et cetera.
And we have a pot which is currently constrained.
However, we also have the opportunity to go to government
at the next spending review, at the one after that,
through the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement
number two, to get additional funding
as part of the single settlement,
which will come in from next year.
So in summary, we currently do not have enough money
to deliver everything that we would like to deliver,
but there are opportunities coming up to fill the gaps.
Just to continue this double act.
Simon Warburton, Executive Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:23:48
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:23:48
We're also this year finalizing the process of producing an updated local transport plan
for West Yorkshire which is an incredibly important tool in terms of setting out both
our transport policy and also investment priorities to government in what is a statutory document.
So our ability to clearly articulate those priorities in the context of what
we are trying to achieve in 2025 and looking forward into the 2030s is going
to become incredibly important. There are from that I would advise that we see
there are opportunities for us to go further in terms of what the devolution
white paper then has to offer us. So for example within that capital pipeline
that we have for West Yorkshire we have a number of improvements to what's called
our key route network, our primary road network in West Yorkshire which actually
sitting in common with what National Highways is looking to achieve on the Strategic Road Network.
And one of the areas that the Government has signalled through the Devolution White Paper is our ability to set up
a new partnership arrangement with National Highways as part of a conurbation -wide stewardship of the Key Route Network.
I think that gives us renewed opportunities to look through national highways at other funding streams that have not previously been available for us.
So that we can deliver our pipeline through third -party funding streams and not always through what will always be a limited transport capital fund that we have directly available to us as the command authority.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Cllr Moses Crook Kirklees Council - 0:26:02
Quite a comprehensive answer.
I think I'm partially reassured in that this scheme, as you know, has been reprofiled within
the originally agreed scope of funding that was allocated.
We've done that so that the combined authority isn't overburdened by the inflationary impact
on our broader set of capital schemes.
but the Cooper Bridge one is and has always been at the end of the Agreed Delivery Programme,
but I still maintain that it delivers a lot of our shared priorities in terms of bus prioritisation,
economic development, the interlink between the M62 Huddersfield, Leeds, Bradford, you
know it's still a really important scheme. So I was more reassured, Alan, by your response
than Simon by yours, which seems to be shifting it towards other funding stream possibilities,
but thank you for the answer and I will keep mentioning it.
Just briefly to come back, so my point in terms of the relationship is that Cooper Bridge is a great example of the relationship between our key route network and the performance of the strategic road network and the performance of national highways on the strategic road network
as we know it is a regular feature of queuing in the evening peak in particular on that junction on the M62.
Simon Warburton, Executive Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:27:21
Where we would like to go in that role as steward of the key route network is to really get into the ribs of the discussion with National Highways around how it becomes a joint priority.
Thank you. Does anybody else want to come in on this item?
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:27:39
I don't see anybody so I'm going to turn to the recommendations on page five which is
that we note the report. Is everybody happy with those please?
That's great. Thanks. Shall we move on to item six in the paid policy statement?

6 Pay Policy Statement

Thank you for reminding me. Everybody's had the opportunity to read through the paper.
I think the key point I would like to highlight really is this is our first paid policy statement.
So a learning exercise for us. We wanted to do this to provide transparency and accountability in line with local authorities.
It isn't something that we are we have to do.
but we thought that was the right thing to do so hopefully you will be
comfortable and agree with that with us. We would like to if agreeable publish
this on an annual basis going forward but in quarter two because that would
make more sense time wise and hopefully you will be familiar with the policy
statement because we actually did quite a bit benchmarking and working with
partners in terms of what you already do and we use that framework for our policy
as well as Greater Manchester and York and North Yorkshire CA and unless you've
got any further questions on the policy I haven't really got anything else to add.
Thank you Councillor. Thanks Jo. Are there any questions or comments please?
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:29:20
I don't see any hands up so I'll turn to the recommendations.
Um, I'll take everybody. There's no questions or comments to take. Everybody's happy with the recommendations on page.

7 Q3 Financial Performance

33 that's great. We'll take that as agreed and move on to item 7. Please. And is it Gary? Oh, Damian is using this place.
Chair, I can introduce the report. This is the quarterly monitoring
Damon Lawrenson (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:29:49
report Q3.
It's a build on, obviously, the previous quarters report, and we're reporting a slight improvement in the revenue out -term from 700k off -budget to an improvement to 500k.
We're still obviously not delivering to the budget.
500K is still a number that we have got to work on.
However, there's been a lot of work on looking at the forecasting
and the forecasting that I'm hearing that's not reflected in the Q3 report yet
because of timing will be reflected in the Q4 report.
And I'm confident that we'll bring in and deliver the budget for this year
of which that will be reported as part of the out turn and Q4 monitoring in the new year.
In the report it does detail some of the profiling on the capital program that has slipped
and again there's a piece of work that's been undertaken and that's looking at the capital projects and the program
and looking at actually making sure that the profiling is robust and removes any optimism bias
because if you start a project and with all the greatest intentions and you don't really
challenge that sort of profile you're setting yourself up to fail because ultimately you'll
end up slipping. So we want to use the word realism but some sort of challenge into that
profiling so that the capital program monitoring reflects and doesn't show a massive slippage that
actually was always going to be there but actually the forensic analysis should have happened
upfront so I think some capital monitoring works going on behind the
scenes there's intense forecasting behind the scenes however at this moment
in time the q3 monitoring position showing that we slightly off off
delivering to budget but I'm confident that we'll bring that in in q4 and that
the capital monitoring again will be an improvement in the next report any
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:31:47
questions thank you cancer sculling please thank you I just
wanted to prove the director's confidence really in terms of some of
Cllr Jane Scullion (Calderdale Council) - 0:31:57
the risks really
in terms of this year obviously there was a release from reserves to help bolster the
budget and I'm thinking particularly of the risks relating to buses, the fact that there
is a revenue consequence of buses having to be supported where the operators are withdrawn.
There's obviously the mayor's fairs, but that's particularly for the next financial year.
The work that we've had to do in Bradford in relation to that and the general challenge of the bus operators' reimbursement.
And those are the in -year risks for this, that we're bringing home this quarter four.
I just wanted to just touch on those and surface them and just ask for further reassurance.
Damon Lawrenson (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:32:52
I think you're right to point those risks out.
In terms of the transport pressures, that is something that we are constantly challenging with regard to the evidence.
I think the business partner has been strengthened with the addition of Jane Close and she's really getting under the skin of those transport pressures.
and that evidencing because obviously we've built that into the budget for five six that those transport pressures are
Not baked in but we're carrying them
So so very mindful of that and that's part of I suppose the zero basin of the budget for next year
At the same time what you do is you look at this year's out turn and you've got to look at the budget adequacy
As it's out turning and what you've built in so that exercise is underway Bradford interchange
We have built in some risks, you know the number that's in the report, however, some of that we're hoping to manage behind the scenes when you talk about settlements and whatever else.
But we're hoping that by Q1 next year there won't be any legacy costs that we're carrying in and that we've got actually business as usual.
However, it's right and prudent that we build in any of the risks that we've done.
Hopefully they don't all materialize, but in forecasting world you've got to be
prudent and put those risks in there and they'll hopefully reduce in Q4.
And then the private interchange, transport and the third area was bus.
And it was bus?
Yeah, well I think bus services and transport were interlinked.
It's the same answer I give overall transport programme.
Thank you Simon please.
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:34:43
Simon Warburton, Executive Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:34:43
Just to add an initial member, so we are continuing to engage very very closely with bus operators,
encouraging them to identify as early as possible up front where they think they face challenges
on their network and we were what whilst that has not always been successful we
have worked very hard to try and encourage the market to step forward
where it can it does remain as a significant risk for us and is the
reason why we have identified a specific program of activity which is being
overseen by Tim Taylor our transport services director that is focused on on
a very clear network continuity plan through the next few years we recognize
that whilst bus franchising will bring as it matures the benefits that were
agreed in the case that a period of transition towards bus franchising will
introduce the potential for some turbulence in the market and we're
looking to make sure that we're as far upstream in terms of managing those
risks as we can be.
Thank you Sam. Any more comments on this report? Take Jocelyn and then Anne -Camphail
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:36:08
please. Just a quick one. I wanted to say that I appreciate the glossary and the
increased narrative in the report is very helpful but I still want
Jocelyn Manners-Armstrong Independent Member - 0:36:17
more
detail so can you reassure me that future reports will have more detail? I
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:36:23
We can and that is part of the change programme that we've got in
Damon Lawrenson (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:36:27
place. Q4s will have a lot more detail.
We've got a model report that we're going to be working towards. Much more forensic analysis.
Every line of variance will have an explanation that will be cross referenced.
We'll also have some treasury management information because we have obviously got interest on investments that needs to feature,
reserves draw down and any further grants that we actually attract.
The challenge with Q3 was that we were setting the budget at the same time that the Q3 timetable was happening.
So some of the timing of getting the narrative changed and the structure of the report needed a bit more time.
That's why I'm confident that Q4 will have a much more detailed analysis for scrutiny and for reporting.
along with making sure that that report reporting if you like is all in place
for Q1 next year because we're going through an implementation plan of the
CIA project the finance system so we we are forensically and are analyzing our
project our reporting to make sure that we are fit for purpose and we've got the
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:37:41
right analysis. Thank you. Councillor Innsbrough please. Thank you yeah just reflecting on the
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council) - 0:37:45
table two where enterprise zones have seen so if I've read it correctly have
achieved significantly over budget in fact in terms of income and two things
really first of all if that's true that's great because the few years ago
they weren't making much progress but actually combined authority really pulled
things around and later start delivering on those so that's good to see and
obviously it brings in an ongoing revenue but what's that we obviously
just my accounting point of view we're a bit out there on the budget and I'd have
thought business rates are pretty easy to predict.
So I didn't quite understand why we're out.
Thank you.
David, please.
Uh, if I may, um,
Damon Lawrenson (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:38:25
this is all part of the zero best budgets and exercise that we started earlier,
um, to make sure that the budget is in the right ballpark based on evidence.
I can't comment really on how the budget was constructed last year. Um,
but part of zero base over a number of years,
there's a number of budgets that actually don't align with the reality of what's
happening.
If you did a zero base every year you would have a base budget quite constructed and could
be monitored in the right way.
Starting this process early will make sure that we get the budget right, the profiling
for 5 -6 and it is the reality that we've got increased income.
So that will be reflected in the budget for 5 -6.
Thank you.
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:39:09
Are there any more questions on this paper please?
I don't see anybody else with their hands up so I'll turn to the recommendations and I take everybody is happy with those recommendations.

8 HR Management Information

That's great. Thank you. We'll move on to item eight please Jo.
Jo Dent (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:39:30
Thank you chair. So again, updated figures for quarter three have been presented.
I think it's really quite a positive story. We are pretty much above the average and benchmarks in most of the areas.
So obviously happy about that. I think the only three additional points I would like to take you through over and above the report are
Um, being at this place is not where we're resting on our laurels.
We know we've got work to do and our trajectory, um, tells us, particularly around EDI, that
we need to work, uh, faster and harder in terms of, um, meeting the, the, the targets
that we've got, uh, in the future.
So this is something that we are continually working on and will continue to do and, and
try and mature in terms of our approach here. So we are going for our disability
confident level 3 which is in the report and we'll hopefully be able to start
reporting on that more more clearly after we've done the waiting period. We
have also identified that we have a gap in terms of our employees and our
disability figures because we've got mismatches in things like our staff survey.
We've got a higher percentage of people reporting as disabled than we have in our
system. So we're currently working on how we can do a positive campaign across the
organisation to try and really encourage people to actually put that information in.
And that's based on a real positive message around why it's important and to the
confidentiality aspect of it because that's really key here and is clearly from the feedback that we've had one of the
biggest blockers
So we will also continue to work and are continuing to work in terms of an
ethnic diversity both in recruitment and in development and I know we've talked to you about our solace training course before which has gone that
Was really positive and we've now also engaged with another organization
tile Hill who have
have pulled together something called Different Leadership
Development. And it's for much more senior levels. It's around
how trying to actually encourage and pick future
senior leaders, CEOs, directors. And we have nominated
somebody and they've been successful for that. That's
quite hot off the press. So that's really great and we'll
continue to develop whatever we can in those particular spaces.
I think that there are lots of active there's lots of active work going on here in addition to that after
Council hinge cliff introduced me to Bradford. We started doing some work with Bradford and that is because that
University is the takes on the largest amount of disabled
Students in our region without doubt
I hadn't realized that as well as a lot of a lot of other excellent work that they're doing
So we we've now got an account manager with them and are working with them. Likewise. We've also met with
Leads
City Council to in terms of sharing our workforce plans and all of us trying to mature together
In terms of how we develop those
so I think that's my second point really is is in line with what Sarah was saying around our
focused and initiatives and our outcomes our workforce plans have been
uh, developed and redeveloped with that in mind too.
And we, we are looking,
we are taking that three year longer outlook, um, exactly as your,
you pointed out council Scullion in terms of what does the future look like?
What we need to look at that in terms of our internal resources,
in terms of our requirement, um, from an introspective to,
and our workforce planning is, is, is definitely got that in mind.
And we are, although we need to mature more in terms of how we do that.
There's no doubt about that. We are definitely on the right trajectory for that and we'll continue to go and share that with you
And work at a local level with with partners
And I think the last thing I want to share with you was our good news that we've actually just won an award
Which I didn't know whether I was going to share this which was
About gender equality champion
for
So the awards are based on self -nomination, they're not sorry, self -nomination or panels.
They're earned through engagement from job seeking public so it's really important to us and we have just won.
We were nominated for authentic content, well -being champion and gender equality champion and we won the gender equality champion.
So that's something nice to celebrate.
Any questions on the report?
Counting so please. Thank you very much for that. Obviously I mean first of all
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council) - 0:44:58
good to see the sickness levels are so low isn't it? I mean that's pretty good really isn't it?
But just going through obviously with the sickness ones you've got the big
other there I'm just wondering if that's that suggests that there may be other
stuff going on although that perhaps we do back -to -work interviews and stuff
like that to really get onto the skin of that yes we do and we also and trying to
be more mature in terms of two things here one is our reporting in terms of
understanding what that is and I think sometimes it's a bit uncomfortable people
are maybe not asking, they feel uncomfortable,
the leaders feel uncomfortable about actually asking people
certain questions when they return to work.
Jo Dent (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:45:44
So the second thing is our development
of leadership qualities, so not just managerial qualities
in terms of how we can actually really give
our middle and senior managers competence and confidence
to be able to lead in these particular areas.
And sickness and sickness reporting
is just one of many that we're picking up in that area.
Thank you.
Counting to Cliff again, please.
Yeah, thanks.
I'm just obviously just seeing the EDI targets throughout 2030.
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:46:16
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council) - 0:46:17
I see it seems on track, but it's still quite a long way to go, isn't it?
It's just what more can we help you with in that regard in terms of, so you can't just
switch it on, you need to do a long term.
So like the university, that's great.
Is there anything else we can do collectively to support you in that endeavour?
So it's quite important for all.
So absolutely if there are things I'm more than happy to work with you
Jo Dent (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:46:38
we are we are building a strategy that will help us because I'm not confident that we would hit that target right now but we will do if we put the strategy in place.
So the kind of things that we're doing with trial in the account management at Bradford and an awful lot more early at my it's early attraction just reviewing the whole process for us.
It's a key target area this year of reviewing the whole process for us from that early attraction right through to reward
And making sure that this is absolutely fundamental to all of it. So and like I say working with
Partners and and I'm starting to meet people who work in across the
councils to and share plans as well as
other combined authorities and outside industry to be honest. So yes, very welcome I would say.
The other thing I'd like to add is that this is
we're really really really I'm very very keen and as with everybody around making sure this is this is something for everyone.
So it's about making sure that they get written into people's kind of objectives. It's that leadership again around
and the thinking of through any EDI,
just on a normal basis so that it becomes part of behavior
across the organization.
That's really where we want to be.
Thank you.
Just come back and I'll follow up.
Sorry.
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:48:09
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council) - 0:48:09
I just want to just think about where we can help.
I just wonder, in Braffton, I'm sure we've all got,
we've got industrial centers of excellence
where employers work with young people who are in school
to show them the way to different careers. It's getting involved in that early isn't it?
And I wonder if there's something around our skills offer that some of it is funded by
West Yorkshire that could be linked with what you're doing because they say that it's
invested in young people now so they see the opportunity isn't it really? So
perhaps there's something around the skills, so perhaps it gets Felix and the skills leads involved.
Thank you.
Asma Iqbal, West Yorkshire Business Board (Private Sector Representative) - 0:48:42
Yeah more than happy, pick that one with Michelle. Thank you.
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:48:46
Thank you. Are there any more questions please? Asma please.
Asma Iqbal, West Yorkshire Business Board (Private Sector Representative) - 0:48:51
Just following on from what's been said this week, EY Foundation are tapping into
private sector to get them to mentor and I'm on the panel of leadership, I'm on the
panel for mock interviews and mentoring and I think they're the sort of organisations
that are already tapping into where is that talent pool going to come from that satisfies
the EDI so that we're not just looking internally, we're actually recruiting in people from different
areas.
So it might be something that you might want to pick up with EY Foundation because I think
they're doing a brilliant job.
Definitely look at that, thank you.
Jo Dent (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:49:33
Thank you.
Anybody else want to come in?
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:49:40
I don't see any more hands up so I'll move to recommendations on item 8.
We'll take it everybody is happy with those.

9 Corporate Risk Register

Great, thanks. And we'll move on to item 9. Is this you please Caroline?
It is chair, thank you.
Caroline Norreys, Assistant Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:49:53
I think this is the first time we've brought the corporate risk register to this committee.
And this report does two things.
One is it shares a snapshot of that for the committee's benefit.
And the second is to provide some context in terms of the work underway in relation
to our risk management strategy development plan.
I should just say in terms of the private PACNIC members have, you've got two copies
of the corporate risk register there.
Appendix one is the public version.
Appendix two has some exempt information in that.
If anybody wants to discuss the content of that exempt appendix, if you could please
indicate at that point because we'd need to stop the live stream and ask any
members of the public to leave and we may not need to do that and so turning
to the the main report here I suppose in terms of context it is our governance
and audit committee which is the responsible committee and Councillor
Scullion is nodding at the side of me because she is a member of that committee
and at the moment and it is that committee that holds us to account in
in terms of our approach to risk management.
And so that is the committee that is tracking
our delivery underneath this risk management strategy
development plan.
And indeed, we've just agreed and just set up
a member workshop which is going to take place next month
where we will actually be working with members
as part of that development to get clarity
as to what the committee needs in order to assure itself
that we are undertaking risk effectively in the organization.
So they will be working with us on the next iteration of that.
And we have some really strong members of that committee,
we have experts on that committee in the field of risk,
so we will definitely get some really good check and challenge
and collaboration in terms of taking that forward.
So I think part of this is to give FRCC some reassurance
that that work is actively being progressed
and what the governance framework for that is.
But then secondly, it is to share with you
a current snapshot of our corporate risk register
because indeed those risks,
as we looked at performance earlier,
risks are very much related
in terms of our performance framework.
And it's important that this committee
actually has sight of that as well
and the ability to check and challenge
in terms of the content of that risk register.
So we intend to continue to bring that forward
to this committee on a regular basis.
I say it's a snapshot.
The actual risk register has more columns.
It has more information that sits behind it
than that shown on the current version.
I suppose the second thing is it is a horrible spreadsheet
which is very difficult to read the information across both
on screen and even if it's A3,
it becomes the typeface is quite small.
We recognize that.
It is our best tool at the moment
for actively managing it.
One of the things that we're looking to do in this next couple of months is to develop a different visual
That we can bring the information forward to audiences in terms of what does that audience need from that and how can we show this in a much more
Much clearer way in terms of getting that information across so I would hope by the next time
FRCC sees the corporate risk register. It won't be in the will be in this form
it will be in a more meaningful form for you to interrogate and ask questions on.
So it is work in progress.
We know it's not ideal.
In terms – the other thing I'd say about the risk register is at this present time,
the risks on here are – have been effectively an updating and a cleansing of risks that
we've had on since the summer.
And the next stage for us will be to review this in terms of new – you know, are there
any new risks to come onto the risk register that aren't there at the moment.
But we've moved quite considerably, I think, in terms of clarifying ownership, what the
existing controls are and the assurance around those controls, and as importantly, what are
the additional controls that we need to put in place in order to move our current risk
rating from its current level and reduce that to its target risk rating.
So there is quite a lot of work behind the scenes here.
I'm really positive about the fact we've got member involvement in this as well as very
much senior leadership team driving this as part of its next iterations but it will continue
to change.
I shall pause there because it may be that it's more helpful for me to answer questions
from the committee.
So thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Caroline.
I want to ask if anybody has any questions on the public part of the
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:54:48
papers first or any general comments and then
Just to be well organized if anybody wants to speak below the line will take that
Towards the end is my suggestion. So if anybody has any
questions or comments on
on the paper, please
As a regular passenger on a reef of buses, I agree about the operation
I can read it because I'm zooming in on my screen and there's a regular passenger on the revit buses. I agree bus operations are a very high risk.
Councillor Scullion please.
Cllr Jane Scullion (Calderdale Council) - 0:55:29
Chair, I just wanted to say from my experience on the Governance and Audit Committee, the renewed focus on risk actually and the work that's been done very recently,
I think does show in this document in terms of it being very live and really
Concentrated focus given to it. So I've seen improvement at governance and audit certainly in the last last year
Thank you somebody else want to come in please
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:56:00
Great we supply magnifying glasses next time Jocelyn, please
Jocelyn Manners-Armstrong Independent Member - 0:56:14
On the financial sustainability which I believe is a public section, the further action, further
controls column, I can't see the beginning or the end of the text so what am I missing?
Yeah
So it's yeah, I think it's the way it's printed into it's been
Damon Lawrenson (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:56:37
condensed we need to widen that call
This is we'd like to come in sorry, it's PDF
So we can't widen it
Damon Lawrenson (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:56:51
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:56:51
But what I can do is I can show you with you the risk register
so we can home in when we have our one -to -one that that section if that is
helpful.
Caroline Norreys, Assistant Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:57:19
Chair, it's maybe not the best way to do this but I have got a copy of it but I
top of the first paragraph on the further controls the first paragraph
reads developing the content of the financial reporting and forecasting to
enable early identification of cost pressures and variances this includes
monitoring inflation material costs and labor costs
resource. This shows the problems with this spreadsheet doesn't it? I think we'll
have to share this with you outside the meeting. My technical skills mean I can't
actually get into that last line either. But then yeah there in lies
the rub the next the next time this committee sees this it will be in a
different format to enable enable you to effectively check and challenge
Cllr James Lewis (Leeds City Council) - 0:58:47
Thank you are there any more comments on this please? Okay I'm going to turn to
the recommendations that's on page 87 but I think we should either notice a
recommendation or a minute what Caroline has just said about sharing a full copy
with members so it's clear that clear that information allows formatting
issues with these papers that information is available to members so
to have it in a format we can all look at so if we can add that as well and
I take it everybody is happy with that. That's great thank you and they'll be
has to speak on the confidential bits.
So at that point, I shall close the meeting.
Thank you, everybody.