GC Insight was commissioned by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to undertake a transformational review of the business support ecosystem in West Yorkshire and provide recommendations about the optimal future role for the CA and its local authority partners.

The project was the first major review of provision since West Yorkshire became a Mayoral Combined Authority and the CA wanted the review to shape future business support infrastructure and activities within the context of their emerging Local Growth Plan and a desire for greater targeting of limited business support resources/funding. The review covered all aspects of the current business support and engagement offer, including those funded by the CA and its constituent local authorities. GC Insight undertook the following:

• National and international best practice review through consultation with academics and desk research
• Policy and strategy literature review of strategies, plans and previous evaluations
• Data review including analysis from GC Insight’s in-house Growth Flag data tool, to provide a breadth and depth of understanding on the business ecosystem and the extent to which the CA and its partners are meeting the needs of businesses
• 1-1 Stakeholder consultations including senior CA officers, seven local authority directors and twelve key business players in West Yorkshire, such as finance providers, universities, and business memberships organisations
• Stakeholder and business workshops including with LA Business and Economy leads and Directors of Development, universities, delivery providers, business networks and business members of relevant panels/committees/task forces.

Outcome

Our final report for West Yorkshire provided a review of the current ecosystem and its effectiveness and alignment to the nature of business support demand. Based on the findings, and close consultation with the LAs, we designed a set of business support ‘Design Principles’ which then guided our proposed future delivery 
model in West Yorkshire (both core infrastructure and support programmes). The delivery model designed and considered roles and responsibilities linked to five functional activity areas – Strategy, Service Design, Ecosystem Coordination, Navigation and Client Outreach and Delivery Support. Each considered function and form and, where relevant, different delivery options. We then summarised the key transformational actions to deliver the proposed model and presented the final report to Directors of Development. The recommendations proposed a new model based on a combination of a universal support offer underpinned by adopting new technologies, and much greater targeting of more intensive support provision supported by an increased investment in data and pro-active engagement and targeting.

Obstacles and Remedies

The high-profile project had to be delivered sensitively because of the implications not just for the CA, but for business support resources in each of the five local authorities. GC Insight has a track record of working within LA/CA dynamics and mitigated sensitivities through devising delivery principles in conjunction with key partners and by presenting an options appraisal of more sensitive findings (like the core infrastructure) to support decision making.