Appoint an Inclusivity Champion to work to ensure that the region’s recovery benefits us all.

West Yorkshire’s Mayor and the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) Chair wish to jointly appoint an Inclusivity Champion for the region.

A personal message from Mayor Tracy Brabin

 

“West Yorkshire is one of the most diverse regions in the country. At the heart of the North, it has fantastic cities, towns, villages, and rural communities. Ours is a welcoming region that anyone can call their home, and a place where over 100 languages are spoken.

We also have a number of challenges which we collectively need to address.  Almost one in five LGBTQ+ staff have been the target of negative comments from work colleagues in the last year because they’re LGBTQ+.  Some 44% of the West Yorkshire’s people who have an ethnic minority background - that is approximately 180,000 people - live in our most deprived neighbourhoods.  Although the region’s gender pay gap is smaller - and is closing faster - than nationally, women are still under-represented in management and professional technical roles including in science, technology, engineering, and maths.  And people who are disabled are 3 times more likely to have no qualifications and 40% less likely to have a degree level qualification.

But it doesn’t have to stay like this.

When I was elected Mayor, I made a pledge to the people of West Yorkshire that I would appoint an Inclusivity Champion to help us together tackle the disparities facing the region and build on our unique strengths and opportunities to deliver an economic recovery that involves and benefits everyone.  And now, I’m on the search for that person."

West Yorkshire’s Mayor and the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) Chair wish to jointly appoint an Inclusivity Champion for the region.

This is an exciting new opportunity which will take a strategic lead from our local and regional leaders to support their shared commitment to:

  • Address the region’s socio-economic and health disparities; and
  • Celebrate and build on West Yorkshire’s many significant strengths, including the diversity of its places, people and the economy.

The Inclusivity Champion will work closely and collaboratively with our leaders and the diverse communities which they serve to:

  • Provide our leaders with expert advice on inclusion and addressing regional disparities;
  • Shape an ambitious work programme, including the commissioning of specific pieces of research activities and the preparation and delivery of action-based plans; and
  • At all times add value to - and not duplicate - existing local and regional activities and plans.

The Inclusivity Champion will carry out an important and varied role including:

  • Advising WY’s Mayor, Combined Authority and ICB Chair on the key socio-economic inequalities which need to be urgently addressed in the region, taking an asset-based approach to recognise and build on the inherent strengths of our local communities.
  • Collaboration with existing structures and leadership of West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Local Enterprise Partnership, and WY Health and Care Partnership to support an integrated approach to tackling inequalities, including a focus on the wider determinants of health.
  • Engaging with stakeholders at all levels including senior Executive and Political Leaders, balancing various priorities and views.
  • Working with a network of Committee and Board Inclusivity Leads, and the wider virtual team to progress leaders’ strategic and operational priorities.
  • Connecting with a range of stakeholders, including the seldom heard communities and population groups that experience the greatest levels of inequality in our region.
  • Working at pace across the region to identify opportunities that enable WY’s Mayoral Combined Authority and ICB to address social and economic exclusion in a positive and constructive way.
  • Appreciating and acknowledging the range and complexities of diversity, and demonstrating a high degree of emotional intelligence through having cultural competence, self-awareness, and sensitivity. 

It is anticipated that:

  • The WY Inclusivity Champion will be required to physically attend meetings and events across West Yorkshire, and also nationally, including flexibility to operate at evenings and weekends.
  • The Inclusivity Champion will be able to draw on a range of support including via a wider virtual cross-system team.

If you are interested in finding out more about this exciting new opportunity in due course, please email inclusivitychampion@westyorks-ca.gov.uk