#collaboration

Making sense of the busyness: Yorkshire & Humber networks for research-policy engagement

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Following a Yorkshire & Humber Networks event in February at Doncaster Council, we are delighted to be able to share with you an interactive visual tool that helps articulate some of the region’s networks that are supporting research-policy engagement.

The networks covered include:

  • Yorkshire Universities
  • Yorkshire & Humber Councils Policy Forum
  • Y-PERN
  • YPIP
  • YPC
  • Yorkshire & Humber Applied Research Collaboration
  • Health Determinants Research Collaborations
  • Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission

To view this tool in a larger format click here

You can also find an overview of our discussions visually presented below – and read up about our key takeaways in this Y-PERN blog.

live scribesDownload

For further information, please contact Kayleigh Renberg-Fawcett (Senior Programme Manager) on contact@y-pern.org.uk

Early Years Education and Childcare System in West Yorkshire Report

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Y-PERN and West Yorkshire Combined Authority present a report on the early years and childcare system in West Yorkshire. Written by Y-PERN Policy Fellow Dr Tom Haines-Doran and a research team comprising of Karen Arzate Quintanilla, Dr Lilith Brouwers, Dr Jo Burgess, Dr Aimee Code, Dr Amy Creaser, Dr Erin Dysart, Dr Jack Simpson and Dr Claire Smithson.

The West Yorkshire Local Growth Plan, has identified early years education and high-quality childcare provision as key enabling policy areas for an inclusive economy, performing a dual role for families:

1. High-quality early years education can transform the life chances of children, reducing entrenched inequalities at the earliest opportunity.

2. Affordable and available childcare enables greater parental and carer participation in the labour market, especially for women.

The Yorkshire and Humber Policy Engagement and Research Network (Y-PERN) has led new research, bringing together national and regional evidence and taking a systems mapping approach for the West Yorkshire Early Years Education and Childcare sector.

The research found that the Early Years Education and Childcare sector in West Yorkshire is led by providers, their workforce and Local Authorities that are exceptionally dedicated to the education and care of children and their families.

However, the research also found that providers and key stakeholders face considerable challenges in a very complex system.

Affordability for parents remains an issue despite increasing funding entitlements, as does navigating the entitlements, financial support and local availability of places.  

Current funding entitlement for childcare disproportionately benefits higher earning families. Families on the lowest incomes are seeing virtually no direct benefit from increased entitlements because entitlements focus on families with working parents and some providers target wealthier areas for expansion

Workforce challenges reflect national trends and include:  

  • Low recruitment and retention
  • Poor pay
  • Lack of progression opportunities
  • Lack of training and development opportunities (e.g. around special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and caring for very young children)  
  • A highly gendered workforce and a lack of diversity  

The government is seeking to ‘break down barriers to opportunity’ with a focus on the Early Years Education and Childcare sector and the continued roll out of childcare entitlements for working parents on a national level.

The Y-PERN research report offers new insights into how West Yorkshire Combined Authority can best support the revitalisation of the Early Years Education and Childcare sector, alongside Local Authorities and providers.

Through a ‘systems mapping’ exercise, undertaken in conjunction with Early Years Education and Childcare academic experts, providers and West Yorkshire local authorities, Y-PERN researchers identify three regional ‘policy levers’ that the Combined Authority could engage to improve Early Years Education and Childcare quality and accessibility:

  1. Political leadership and advocacy. Many of the challenges facing the Early Years Education and Childcare sector result from under-funding, despite recent increases in ‘entitlements’. The Combined Authority could champion the sector on a national level, while convening providers and local authorities on a regional scale to help overcome fragmentation and unevenness in the system. It could also consider whether targets based on outcomes may be appropriate, to help direct policy.
  2. Information sharing and systemic analysis. Making good policy and making choices as parents relies on good data, but this is unavailable in many key areas, especially at a West Yorkshire scale. The Combined Authority could work with the sector, local authorities and academics to identify where greater data availability could add value to policy, practice and parental choice.
  3. Creation of a West Yorkshire Early Years Education and Childcare workforce strategy. The sector relies on a dedicated workforce, which is too often under-paid, under-prepared and under-appreciated, resulting in a recruitment and retention crisis. The Combined Authority could help to remedy this through a regional workforce strategy that improves both recruitment levels and training provision. Among other priorities, recruitment should aim to increase male representation from low levels. Training should target key challenges, for example around SEND provision and caring for very young children, to improve outcomes and help retain staff.

As an immediate and direct response to the third identified regional lever, the Combined Authority has commissioned Bradford Birth to 19 Institute for the Early Years, to develop an evidence-based, practical workforce plan rooted in the region. The plan will identify practical, implementable steps to address key challenges around recruitment and retention, training, development and progression as well as diversity of the workforce.

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said:

“I welcome this first of its kind report from the Yorkshire and Humber Policy Engagement and Research Network, and we are already taking action to respond to the recommendations.

“The evidence is clear – our early years sector in West Yorkshire and across the country is facing significant challenges, and we must take action now to address the concerns of a workforce that is undervalued and underpaid, and of families who deserve consistent and high quality childcare services.

“Faced with unprecedented funding pressures, our councils cannot be asked to meet this challenge alone. Devolution is the green shoot of hope that can empower our region to invest in the early years workforce we need, to set our children on a path to success and sow the seeds of a stronger, brighter West Yorkshire.

“We have commissioned a regional workforce plan for early years education that will enable us to tackle the urgent challenges around recruitment and retention head-on, and we are flexing our adult skills funding to deliver training, development and progression opportunities within the sector.

“But we have so much further to go, and we will continue to work alongside the sector, our councils and the government to make sure that our great region has the powers and funding it needs to build an Early Years Education and Childcare system that works for both parents and practitioners.”

Christian Bunting, Executive Director at Bradford Birth to 19, said:

“We are really excited to be doing this work with the Combined Authority. As a team of Early Years professionals, who are passionate about improving the workforce and in turn improving outcomes for children, we have genuine interest in this work and the drive to ensure that the positive impacts of this project are maximised.”Birth to 19 Institute for the Early Years is the training, sector improvement, research and policy arm of St Edmund’s Nursery School, a maintained Nursery School in Bradford judged Outstanding by Ofsted. The nationally recognised organisation improves outcomes and increases social mobility for children through school and setting improvement, training and qualifications, guidance, and cutting-edge educational initiatives.

The Y-PERN report has also already informed strategic commissioning decisions of the Combined Authority around Skills Bootcamps. Over 200 places to train Early Years Educators are being commissioned, and the training includes a focus on equipping practitioners with knowledge of SEND, speech and language and how to work with the youngest children, following the findings in the report. Three organisations have commenced delivery, including Kirklees Council which has already seen 80% of participants secure interviews in the sector.

You can read the report here: The Early Years Education and Childcare system in West Yorkshire

Smaller and Specialist Universities Workshop

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On Tuesday 18th February, leaders and representatives from Y-PERNs smaller and specialist universities met at Leeds Conservatoire to explore the specific challenges and opportunities they faced in undertaking academic policy engagement. Participants from Leeds Arts University, Leeds Conservatoire, Leeds Trinity University, and York St John University discussed how Y-PERN can best build capacity, resources, and activities that provide value to them and the wider Y-PERN network while enhancing their unique role and contribution.

It was noted that there was widespread appreciation amongst smaller and specialist universities for their shared association of Y-PERN and feeling part of a network that larger universities sit within. There was though a divide between larger Y-PERN institutions that measure impact of policy and our specialist and smaller universities who focused predominantly on developing graduate skills, retention and employability and also professional practitioner expertise through teaching and research.

Participants highlighted that the extensive expertise of smaller and specialist universities is not always research focused, so can sometimes be more difficult to identify and value in more typical forms of academic policy engagement. This expertise is however deeply valued by policy partners and can inform evidence-based policymaking as impactfully as more traditional research policy collaboration and knowledge mobilisation.

For example, Leeds Conservatoire have invested considerable time in curating and maintaining practitioner-based networks such as the West Yorkshire Music Network which evidence the impact of expertise-led policy engagement working with broad range of policy, public sector, business, voluntary organisations, charities, and community groups associated with arts, heritage, and culture. However, there was a need to enhance the resonance of creative and cultural economy and better integrate with other areas of social and economic policy such as health, transport, crime, and local growth.

The workshop also explored issues of resource and capacities associated with smaller and specialist universities. It was noted that there are many factors to consider, such as staff time, budgets, and the organisational structuring (with some of our universities not having specific research or knowledge exchange capacity). It was noted that what resources are available must be focused on areas of activity that promote student recruitment and the distinctive areas of research which connect to teaching and practice-based professional development. There was as such a need to adopt a more agile and adaptable approach to support smaller and specialist universities that appreciates such challenges and reflected their diversity of key interests.

One key area identified which was seen as delivering value and impact to Y-PERN’s smaller and specialist universities is the training of academic and professional staff to better engage in its work. Y-PERN and its partner universities have hosted a range of training activities and events. It was acknowledged however that there was a need to scale up training activities to develop expertise as this would allow for more opportunities to undertake policy engagement to be realised.

Colleagues from York St John University noted that the York Policy Engine had provided several opportunities including two members of staff participating in York Policy Academy programme at the University of York and other training initiatives. Participants encouraged other larger Y-PERN universities to support smaller and specialist universities in similar ways to support extended peer-to-peer learning across the network, with larger universities representing the interests of smaller and specialist universities in conversations they are not present at.

The workshop participants also discussed how to work more closely with Y-PERN’s Policy Fellows to enhance the resonance and impact of expertise and network building provided by smaller and specialist universities. It was noted that they could play a key role in the developing of Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) and multi-partner communities of practice at a local and regional level, both in shaping existing policy areas and in developing creative and cultural ARIs. They also considered how they might develop staff exchanges and secondments to policy units within the larger universities and with local and combined authorities.

The workshop concluded by identifying several proposals to draw on and address some of the key issues discussed. A short report for publication will be produced from the workshop and Y-PERN will report findings back to relevant stakeholders with recommendations for future policy engagement collaborations with our smaller and specialist universities.

The Y-PERN Year 2 Regional Report has landed

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The team at Y-PERN are pleased to present our Year 2 Regional Report.

The report, which summarises Y-PERN’s activity to date, reflects on what we have learnt about our impact and value, how Yorkshire and the Humber is leading the way in regional academic policy engagement and discusses how Universities can support multi-level governance for inclusive and sustainable growth.

The Y-PERN report evidences in detail how Yorkshire and the Humber is leading the way in regional academic policy engagement, and suggests how Universities can support multi-level governance for inclusive and sustainable growth.
Let us continue to work together across the region for the benefit of the places we live in, work in & call home.

- Andrew Brown, Y-PERN Academic Director, Kersten England CBE, Y-PERN Engagement Director & Peter O’Brien, Y-PERN Policy Director

In the report, you’ll discover:

  • Activities and impacts from the Yorkshire sub-regions including:

o   How Y-PERN synthesized ten projects related to early years education and childcare to help shape West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s economic strategy and local growth plan

o   How Y-PERN’s academic insights on the region’s economic history and recent economic growth areas have fed into South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority’s Skills Strategy and Plan for Good Growth

  •  How Y-PERN is working to connect and our region’s policy makers, researchers and community organisations
  •  Emergent findings on local governance issues with Yorkshire and Humber being a ‘live laboratory’ for regional devolution
  • Strategical next steps for Y-PERN and the future of regional policy engagement

Discover how Y-PERN is transforming the way university academics and knowledge exchange experts work with policy partners across the region in our Y-PERN Year 2 Regional Report

Y-PERN presents a Research Note to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire

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Y-PERN recently presented a brief research note to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire on the challenges and opportunities presented for the region by the recently published UK Government English Devolution White Paper. The APPG brings MPs and Peers of all parties together with key leaders – those in local and combined authority government, public and private sectors and social enterprises – to help maximise future investment in the region for the benefit of all local communities and economies. Secretariat support for the APPG is provided The Public Affairs Company and North Star Public Affairs.

Y-PERN Policy Fellows, Dr Neil Barnett (Leeds Beckett University) and Dr Andy Mycock (University of Leeds) drew on recent research evidence from an ongoing devolution project which is being co-delivered with Yorkshire Universities and Yorkshire and Humber Councils.

The Research Note highlighted that the English Devolution White Paper draws attention to the challenge of aligning formal and informal levels of government and policymaking. There is a need to align existing strategies from local authorities alongside those outlined by the region’s combined authority local growth plans. There also needs to be wider strategy across the region. The White Paper also raised questions as to where local authorities fit amongst increased powers for combined authorities. The lack of funding for local authorities may increase tensions between these two levels of government.

Combined authorities also need to have the resources in order to carry out these new powers as well as implement plans from local authorities. It was noted that some government departments have not been involved as much as they should in the development of the Devolution White Paper, in particular DEFRA and DWP. Some policies from the previous Levelling Up agenda have also been moved to the peripheries. The Research Note also drew attention to the shift towards combined authorities on local democracy, particularly local councillors who may experience a power drain as local authorities become primarily delivery agents.

During his presentation of the Research Note to the APPG, Dr Andy Mycock stressed that there is a considerable role that the APPG can play in utilising their connections with government ministers and civil servants as well as connecting the Yorkshire and Humber voice and projecting it onto various levels of local and national government. He went on to argue there is a need to consider the opportunities presented in the White Paper, making sure that the success of devolution is set by local MPs, not the Government. He also noted that devolution will play a pivotal role in setting future policy agendas, and that the APPG has a role in both its deepening and widening as outlined in the White Paper.

Y-PERN and its partners will continue to support and collaborate the APPG in the new parliament, exploring opportunities to provide a strong, unified voice to drive economic growth across the region and are looking to work alongside our external members and to develop policy proposals that can be put to the Government that would support economic growth.

You can read the Research Note here >

Communities Innovating Yorkshire Fund – launching soon

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The £800k ‘Communities Innovating Yorkshire Fund’ will launch on 3 February 2025. This fund will be an opportunity for additional innovative emerging projects, studies, activities, and ideas that reflect the Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership’s (YPIP) focus on accelerating community-led inclusive and sustainable growth. 

Y-PERN and YPIP are enhancing collaboration between university academics and policymakers in Yorkshire and the Humber to develop evidence-based policies that benefit local communities. With £4 million in funding, Y-PERN connects policymakers and academics through a network including 11 policy fellows and an academic steering group. YPIP has secured £5 million in funding to build on Y-PERN’s efforts, creating a Local Innovation Partnership that involves all Yorkshire universities and addresses inclusive growth, sustainable living, and data analytics, with a focus on marginalized communities.

Projects must align with one of the 5 YPIP themes:

  • Data informatics 
  • Inclusive business practices  
  • Creative industries
  • Sustainable living 
  • Communities in their places. 

Projects must bring together a collaboration of different stakeholders through meaningful community engagement. Proposals will be submitted via an online application form and assessed against 5 criteria by a decision panel which will include Co-directors, Co-Investigators and members of the community panel.

There will be two funding pathways to be inclusive of grassroot and larger scale community organisations to demonstrate their innovative ideas: seedcorn projects of up to £10k, and larger projects of up to £50k. The spending deadline for funded projects is expected to be autumn 2026.

Watch this space for further updates on the fund, and please do give a heads up to partners who are working across our themes in the region. 

Contact ypip@leeds.ac.uk for queries. 

Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership (YPIP) are recruiting local people to join their project Community Panel

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Do you have ideas about how to improve your community? Would you like to see better jobs in your area or find ways to live in a greener way?

The Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership (YPIP) project brings universities, communities, voluntary organisations, businesses and councils together to work on place-based initiatives.

Y-PERN and YPIP are enhancing collaboration between university academics and policymakers in Yorkshire and the Humber to develop evidence-based policies that benefit local communities. With £4 million in funding, Y-PERN connects policymakers and academics through a network including 11 policy fellows and an academic steering group. YPIP has secured £5 million in funding to build on Y-PERN’s efforts, creating a Local Innovation Partnership that involves all Yorkshire universities and addresses inclusive growth, sustainable living, and data analytics, with a focus on marginalized communities.

At the heart of the YPIP project is a community panel where we will listen, learn and make decisions together to shape local and regional policy. If this sounds interesting, we would love to hear from you.

The aim is to ensure that local people have an equal say in improving their communities and bringing better employment, sustainable living and inclusive growth to their areas.

The community panel is a group of 24 people from across Yorkshire and from all walks of life. It will make decisions about how the project runs and how we can improve our communities by agreeing on good practice examples of living and working sustainably in our communities.

Panel members will receive training and support with quarterly meetings throughout the project. They will be paid for their time with a living wage hourly fee and expenses will be reimbursed.

Find out more about the person and role specification, and express your interest in joining the panel by contacting Ben Jessop b.jessop@hull.ac.uk

Opportunity: Y-PERN Policy Fellow role

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Y-PERN is recruiting a new Policy Fellow based at the University of Bradford‘s School of Management to become a key part of our team changing the way academics and policy makers collaborate.

Y-PERN Policy Fellows are impact-focused academic positions working across Y-PERN partner institutions and policy organisations, reflecting the increasing importance of the impact agenda in academia. They form a bridge between academia and the policy world with the aim of enhancing the contribution of academic research to support evidence based policymaking across the region.

As the Bradford Y-PERN Policy Fellow this role will coordinate and deliver the University of Bradford’s work within and across the network. The post will work closely within the University with Professor David Spicer, the Y-PERN academic lead at the University of Bradford, the Y PERN Chief Policy Fellow, and with other Y-PERN Policy Fellows across the network.

The University of Bradford focus within Y-PERN is on the policy and engagement support for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and on the potential and impact of the Bradford 2025 city of culture on the small business economy for Bradford and Yorkshire and Humber more widely. The role will be responsible for leading your own programme of research focussed on local Bradford business, as well as contributing to wider Y-PERN policy research objectives and representing the University of Bradford when working with external partners and wider networks.

Apply for the role here: HR0164994 Yorkshire & Humber Policy Engagement and Research Network Policy Fellow – Jobs at the University of Bradford

Climate Talking Points on the agenda for Yorkshire and the Humber

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In an election year in which climate policies are a key issue, the Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission (a Y-PERN partner) is helping voters to cut through the noise.

Climate Talking Points calls for four key changes to national policy crucial for making real progress on climate and nature in Yorkshire and the Humber.

The world has just experienced its warmest February in modern times, and record temperature highs have been observed each month since June 2023. The first year-long breach of 1.5C warming was confirmed last month, and global sea surface temperatures hit their highest ever levels last year.

“We know there is not only consensus on what we need to do, but also plenty of evidence to support the policy changes. “

Rosa Foster, Director of YHCC

Evidence shows that people want action on climate. Without a change in national policy, Yorkshire and the UK are in danger of failing to meet climate targets and missing out on significant economic and social benefits.

“It’s imperative that we act fast, that we act now, and that everyone plays their part,” said Rosa Foster, Director of the Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission (YHCC), which is an independent and politically neutral advisory body run by a secretariat at the University of Leeds.

“We work closely with organisations across all sectors, as well as with local authorities and local politicians in the Yorkshire and Humber region. We know there is not only consensus on what we need to do, but also plenty of evidence to support the policy changes. What’s needed now is for people on the doorstep to press for these and make sure the messages hit home.”

Crucially, YHCC is a key partner in the Yorkshire and Humber Policy Engagement and Research Network (Y-PERN). Y-PERN is bringing in expertise across a range of specialisms – climate, health, education, biodiversity etc – as well as communities and those with lived experiences, to inform local policy.

Regional action

The Climate Talking Points briefing, which will be presented at an online event on 13 March, states that rapid decarbonisation, prioritising nature, and building resilience are key issues – and that investment in these areas will create new jobs and business opportunities, lower energy bills, and bring down costs associated with poor health and climate impacts.

The Commission also says it is crucial to ensure that climate action reduces inequalities and helps people to pursue healthy, fulfilling lives.

Encouraging action is already taking place across Yorkshire and the Humber, with local and combined authorities investing in climate friendly measures such as the Leeds PIPES district heating network, and grants for reducing emissions aimed at small businesses in South Yorkshire. The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority has also run its own climate-themed citizens’ assembly.

In Hull, the Living with Water project is tackling adaptation to climate impacts, while the major industries around the Humber have big plans to get to net zero emissions, which are particularly important for the region’s role in global climate action.

And in York, the City of York Council, with partners on the Retrofit One Stop Shop York (ROSSY) project, has been awarded £3.37 million from Innovate UK to support, promote and encourage retrofitting work to homes across the city, helping residents to save money and to move the city towards net zero, while upskilling the sector with the latest techniques.

Cllr Claire Douglas, Leader of City of York Council and a YHCC vice-chair, said:

“Climate Talking Points provide the opportunity for wide-ranging debates about the existential challenge facing humankind as we look to the future. Not only do they provide regional government, campaigning and other organisations with a framework for what needs to happen, they provide guidance to national policy makers and Government in how to deliver the change required if we’re to halt the increasingly dangerous warming of our planet.

“I hope the public and decision makers will embrace Climate Talking Points and the direction they point us towards in delivering the economic, environmental and social benefits for Yorkshire and Humber of living in a cleaner world”.

Cllr Jack Hemingway, Deputy Leader of Wakefield Council and also a YHCC vice-chair, said:

“We are really proud to have three West Yorkshire authorities ranked A by CDP [Carbon Disclosure Project] for global leadership – but we know we need to go further and faster. The Climate Talking Points enable us to have that conversation.”

Cllr Paul West, Councillor for Wolds Weighton Ward and another YHCC vice-chair, said:

“As we enter spring in a few weeks’ time, we can all reflect on the turbulence that climate change has caused over the winter period. Displacing people, damaging ecosystems, creating uncertainty for millions of people. It is vitally important that we all play our part in reducing our impact on the planet. Through the work of the Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission we can all add our voices to help shape our planet and region for generations to come.”

What policy changes are needed to unlock climate action across Yorkshire and the Humber?

In its Climate Talking Points briefing, the Commission has identified four key policy changes:

  1. Set out a clear pathway for reducing emissions and restoring nature and empower places to use local targets and go further and faster than national government if they wish.
  2. Create locally managed funding pots to allow key sectors to get on with acting, rather than wasting time competing and bidding for multiple, disjointed funding sources.
  3. Join up climate, skills and economy strategies to ensure they address the big challenges (poverty, ageing population, skills shortages and climate risks) together.
  4. Commit to a nature-first approach to infrastructure projects so that they can cope with future climate scenarios and nature is woven into all climate action.

Download the full Climate Talking Points here.

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