Who are the Yorkshire Leaders Board?
It is widely recognised that working across geographical boundaries and on a cross-party, pan-public sector basis, we can learn from each other, share innovation, develop policy and deliver greater efficiencies.
Our arrangements, through the Yorkshire Leaders Board and Yorkshire and Humber Chief Executives group, support us to work more effectively together, for the betterment of the whole of Yorkshire and the Humber, as well as for our local citizens and communities, ensuring a role and voice for the region in national debates. These arrangements bring together the 15 councils across the region, along with the two Mayors in South and West Yorkshire, and the combined authorities in those areas.
The Board allows Council Leaders to discuss and progress matters of common interest, so that councils can respond effectively to current challenges and capitalise on opportunities across the region. Leaders do this by:
- Identifying and maximising opportunities for collaborative working;
- Providing cross-party political leadership across the region, developing a strong ‘regional voice’ on issues of strategic significance, in order to maximise influence regionally, across the Northern Powerhouse, nationally and internationally;
- Building relationship with local MPs, Peers and central Government to further the exploration of the possible options for increased local decision making.
Work across areas identified for collaboration focus on three key strands of activity:
- Lobbying – using our collective voice to influence national policymakers.
- Capability/capacity – utilising strong relationships to build capability and capacity within councils and partners.
- Engagement and communication – bringing together partners, ensuring the flow of rich intelligence informs our work as a collective but also within our local areas, and understand how we can help others.
In the last year there has also been a shared endeavour to respond to the pandemic through local and national government partnership structures.
