Provision of Portfolio Management & Appraisal Services Framework

In March 2014 the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LCR LEP) submitted its Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) to Government. This led to £1 billion growth deal award being made to the Combined Authority. In 2021 the £1.8bn devolution deal was secured for West Yorkshire. This meant the first Mayor of West Yorkshire was subsequently elected, with Tracy Brabin taking up post in May 2021. The devolution deal and election of the Mayor has enabled us to start to drive up living standards for local communities while tackling the climate emergency and helping to deliver our commitment to become a net zero carbon city region by 2038. Further information on this can be found here. West Yorkshire Local Assurance Framework As part of the agreements with Government, the CA must publish an annual local Assurance Framework, setting out how funding is allocated, how schemes are appraised, and how funding decisions are made. A copy is available here. The Assurance Framework sets out the arrangements that the Combined Authority and the LEP have in place to ensure that public money is managed effectively. It explains how the Combined Authority and the LEP identify, appraise, and evaluate schemes to achieve value for money. The Assurance Framework covers expenditure on programmes and schemes funded by Government or local sources in the Leeds City Region. This includes funding received by the Combined Authority in respect of the Single Investment Fund (SIF) and as the accountable body for the LEP. The purpose of this Assurance Framework is to ensure that the necessary systems and processes are in place to manage funding effectively, and to ensure the successful delivery of our Strategic Economic Framework (SEF) ambitions1. Its focus is to ensure that necessary practices and standards are implemented to provide the Government, Combined Authority, the LEP and local partners with assurance that decisions over funding (and the means by which these decisions are implemented) are proper, transparent and deliver value for money. The Assurance Framework is reviewed and updated on an annual basis. As part of recent updates significant work has been undertaken in the last two years, to embed an improved scheme assurance process. The assurance process (set out below) has three stages; Stage 1: Assessment and Sequencing, Stage 2: Scheme Development, Stage 3: Delivery and Evaluation. It provides a practical ‘step-by-step’ framework to aid the development of business cases, to ensure successful delivery and to enable monitoring and evaluation. The assurance process is transparent and proportionate and offers a structured process for appraising, developing, planning, delivering and evaluation that is in line with HM Treasury guidance to deliver best public value.