Priority Two: Enabling all businesses to succeed

The delivery of support for business involves a wide ecosystem of private and public provision at both a local and national level. Publicly funded business support is only one part of the marketplace that businesses call upon. Business support in West Yorkshire must include all key actors. A partnership delivery model, drawing on private providers and national operators, is needed.

The region’s underpinning support infrastructure will be transformed to better meet the needs of businesses and the economy. This will ensure that all entrepreneurs and businesses can access what they need to thrive. Business support activity must be:

• Focused on impact
• Designed to achieve inclusion, productivity and sustainability goals
• Supported by strong partnerships and governance
• Informed by intelligence to inform change
• Supportive of a culture of continuous innovation and improvement

The West Yorkshire ‘Wheel of Enterprise’ will guide the approach to supporting businesses, ensuring all access points are addressed via a connected and responsive ecosystem.

The Wheel of Enterprise model identifies the resources and opportunities that businesses need to achieve sustainable growth:

• Access to Place: Information and intelligence on the availability of sites such as office space, coworking spaces, or labs
• Access to Finance: Ensuring all businesses are aware of and can access the finance they need to drive growth
• Access to Skills: Ensuring all businesses can access the skills and talent they need
• Access to Innovation: The ability to connect into and leverage academic and research expertise and innovation capability across the region
• Access to Markets: The ability to tap into and access new markets, including international opportunities and public procurement. Significant investment opportunities such as Mass Transit, Bus Franchising and Home Energy West Yorkshire will be critical
• Access to Promotion: Raising the profile of businesses through support for communication strategies, targeted visits and awards

An online platform will be provided to all businesses that offers the full spectrum of business support across all sectors of the economy.

Collaboration and partnerships will be key to utilising existing networks and trusted voices to ensure all communities across the whole of West Yorkshire, both rural and urban, are able to access the right support at the right time. Working in partnership to co-develop support that reaches its intended targets and is appropriate for underrepresented groups, including female-led, ethnic minority-led and disabled-led businesses, will be at the heart of coordinated action. The Combined Authority is currently exploring opportunities to encourage young women to consider entrepreneurship as a career pathway through enterprise and startup support. There is a focus on underrepresented groups such as female migrants and ethnic minority female founders.

In particular, there is a need to address specific finance challenges faced by under-served founders, such as female and ethnic minority entrepreneurs. Public sector intervention is needed to address market failure caused by lack of access to investment, for example among early-stage businesses, not-for-profits and under-served founders.

Equity Diversity and Inclusion in business support

The 'Time to Change' report highlighted the huge contribution of ethnic minority businesses to the UK economy. It set out policy recommendations to increase the GVA contribution of ethnic minority businesses to £100 billion.

At the West Yorkshire level, wide-ranging engagement with regional business groups and networks will continue to inform approaches to business support. Co-design and engagement with trusted voices will ensure support is accessible to all communities.

The 'North Star' report focused on how well the Combined Authority engaged with black businesses. It produced a series of recommendations to support engagement across all groups. These included:

• Inclusion of EDI targets across all commissioned work
• Improved visibility through campaigns and marketing
• Co-design
• Specialist system navigators

The research highlights the opportunity for strategic community engagement, including not-for-profit organisations, businesses, individuals, employees in positions of influence, networks, knowhow, premises, communications channels, shared understanding and lived experiences. These findings are being implemented as part of wider reforms to business support in West Yorkshire.

This is supported by the findings from the 'Rose Review', 'Lilac Review', 'Alone Together', 'Black British in Business' (Lloyds), 'FSB Business Without Barriers' and 'Women Entrepreneurs: the Northern Perspective'. They all reinforce the importance of embedding Equity, Diversity and Inclusion within business support frameworks. These reports emphasize the need to co-design with minority communities and improve access to finance, networks and visibility for underrepresented groups.

Unlocking productivity and growth will require the right support and skills. Productivity challenges across the wider business base are impacted significantly by the under-exploitation of new digital technologies and the under-adoption of innovative practices. Support will enable the broader diffusion of ideas, technology and management practices. It will further drive-up innovative activity and behaviours. This will include targeted support interventions, peer-to-peer networking opportunities and case study evidence.

All businesses will benefit from the diffusion of more diverse and innovative ideas and technology. This will support more innovative behaviours and activities. Coordinated action will be taken to support businesses so that they can understand and invest in technology to boost productivity, growth and good jobs. This will include strengthening the evidence base, building on best practice to support and align the implementation of interventions and partnering with experts. Adoption of technology and the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in boosting productivity will be supported by the growing talent pool of skilled people in the region, such as AI graduates from the University of Bradford.

Increasing West Yorkshire’s business stock will require a concerted effort. It will need a whole-systems approach and focused attention through a multi-sectoral lens. This will ensure that enterprise and entrepreneurial spirit is supported and harnessed throughout the education system and beyond. It will include working in partnership with the region’s universities to support entrepreneurship education across all curricula.

Barriers to starting a business can constrain personal aspirations and social mobility, as well as limiting the economic growth potential of the region. Breaking down barriers that prevent start-up activity requires co-design of interventions and support. This will be at the heart of an accessible business support offer. The existing range of start-up support will be harnessed and bolstered through a joined-up system that includes specialist support and outreach activity, ensuring that provision reaches all parts of the region. 

Connecting business to regional opportunity

Mass Transit and Home Energy West Yorkshire are large-scale investment and transformational programmes. West Yorkshire businesses must be supported to maximise the supply chain opportunities that they present. This is critical to delivering the wider economic benefit of such schemes. Ensuring that the pipeline of talent is available to enable this to happen will be a priority. The wider opportunities for businesses to benefit from public sector procurement within the region are significant. The Combined Authority will work with its partners to drive local impact and ensure social value commitments are maximised.

West Yorkshire has a rich history of cooperatives and social enterprises including Suma, the UK’s largest worker-controlled cooperative, and Arla, the UK’s largest farmers’ cooperative. Growing the size of the cooperative movement in West Yorkshire will help meet regional aims for a more resilient economy, supporting businesses that promote core values of sustainability, inclusion and health and wellbeing.

A core ambition is to ensure support is available for alternative businesses such as social enterprises and cooperatives, community businesses and employee ownership. These models can benefit local communities, working closely across the West Yorkshire local authorities and learning from existing activity and best practice elsewhere.

Business for Good

Business for Good is a partnership of local providers delivering support across alternative business model enterprises throughout West Yorkshire. The project aims to make it simpler and easier for alternative businesses to be set-up, with increasing resilience for new and existing businesses. Lessons from delivery of the pilot project will support next steps for social enterprise supporting in the region.

Businesses in West Yorkshire will be supported across a range of issues, including promoting good work, becoming greener and investing in technology. Good work is at the heart of a truly inclusive economy. Access to good work supports health and wellbeing and improves productivity for all sectors of the economy. Action will focus on what more can be done to improve good work in retail, hospitality and health and social care. It will also focus on promoting family-friendly employment throughout the region and supporting vital sectors of employment.

There is much existing good practice aimed at boosting good work within the region’s local authorities that could be amplified on a regional level. This includes the Leeds Anchors (and Business Anchors), the progression framework, Wakefield’s focus on good practice employer engagement, the Kirklees Top 100 Talent Group, Calderdale’s proactive investment in SMEs and business support and Bradford’s Business in the Community.

Fair Work Charter

The Combined Authority launched the Fair Work Charter for West Yorkshire in November 2023. It encourages employers to adopt ‘best-in-class’ employment practices, including on pay and benefits, work-life balance, employee voice and health and wellbeing. Work will build on the lessons of the first year of delivery, especially in sectors of the West Yorkshire economy currently characterised by large-scale, low-pay employment. This will include looking at good practice to support employers to make adjustments that help people to stay in work, for example those with caring responsibilities. The Combined Authority will promote the Fair Work Charter as a key action in boosting low productivity and achieving inclusive growth

The Fair Work Charter movement will continue to be scaled up, working across the ecosystem to promote fair and just work that boosts employee health and wellbeing. The Fair Work Charter takes steps towards improving working conditions, and is founded on the belief that:

‘Work helps all people to live healthy and happy lives, while contributing to the increased productivity of their employer, where employers foster good physical and mental health and support wider aspects of wellbeing.’ 

Scaling the Fair Work Charter will significantly increase the number of businesses supporting the movement, acting as champions to promote the benefits to businesses and employees alike. Over the next five years, over 10,000 businesses will be targeted to sign the Fair Work Charter and to advocate and champion the benefits of good and fair work.

Next steps for implementation include a review of the operating model. This will maximise the potential of positioning the Fair Work Charter as a tool for embedding best practice, with resources and support available for employers. The review will consider effective delivery, including recognition of other charters.

To achieve regional net zero ambitions, businesses must be engaged to encourage decarbonisation and to maximise opportunities for business innovation that will support a just transition. The West Yorkshire Climate and Environment Plan will set out actions to meet ambitions to be a net zero carbon region by 2038, including support for the region’s business base.

Investment is needed in developing the capacity and capability of the regional supply chain, from retrofit to electric vehicle infrastructure to delivery of Mass Transit. Existing businesses in these markets need to be supported to grow their capability through leadership development and staff upskilling and training. New entrants to these markets must be encouraged to build greater capacity, with support around business strategy, marketing and business development.

Work will focus on developing the finance and support mechanisms necessary for businesses to be climate-resilient, to decarbonise and to adopt circular economy models, building on good practice.