Questions for Welcome to Yorkshire - updated

It's now 7 weeks since Gary Verity left Welcome to Yorkshire. Two investigations have been launched, one into expenses, and one into staff bullying. The previous Chair has resigned, and an interim Chair of the Board, Keith Stewart has been announced. My previous blog looks at how WTY could be a great organisation again, the need for more transparency, accountability, research and improved communication. 

So what’s next for Welcome to Yorkshire?

We need a Yorkshire-wide organisation like Welcome to Yorkshire (WTY) to promote the region. If we all work together in a true spirit of collaboration, unified by an agreed strategy, we can be really successful. There's a lot of willingness to do this, and many are looking to WTY to once again take a lead and develop collaborations as they did in their early days. 
 
In order to move forward, we need WTY and its funders to:

• Genuinely understand what tourism businesses need
• Improve communication and collaboration between WTY and the tourism industry
• Work with the industry to create a Yorkshire-wide tourism strategy so we can all work together with common goals

 
I work with hundreds of tourism businesses across Yorkshire, and (on a voluntary basis) run two networks with over 1000 members in North Yorkshire.

On behalf of these businesses, I'd like to now ask the Board of Welcome to Yorkshire the answers to these questions: 

• Does WTY have a firm date for completion of the two investigations and publication of findings?

• When will the search for a new Chief Executive start? What will be the recruitment process?

• When will WTY recruit new members for the board? Will they use a similar transparent and representative process as other destination organisations such as Cumbria Tourism?

• When will the minutes of Board meetings be published? Where?

• At Y19 Peter Dodd announced an industry consultation but no further details have been announced. When will this take place? How?

• What plans does WTY have to work with the tourism industry to develop a collaborative marketing strategy for Yorkshire? What opportunities will there be for input into this by all sectors of the tourism industry?

• What plans does WTY have to improve primary visitor research and evaluation of campaigns, including publishing results of campaigns?

• When will the Service Level Agreements between WTY and its local authority funding partners be published?

• What plans does WTY have to reform the Private Sectors Group and publish minutes of all those meetings?

• What plans does WTY have to refresh the membership scheme? Will membership income (at each level) form part of future reports to funding partners, since this is a good barometer of industry support and therefore Welcome to Yorkshire’s effectiveness?  

Update

I sent these questions to Keith Stewart, interim Chair of the WTY Board. These were his responses on 14th May: 

Does WTY have a firm date for completion of the two investigations and publication of findings?
The two investigations are expected to be completed by the end of June. A date for publication of the findings has not been set.

When will the search for a new Chief Executive start? What will be the recruitment process?
We have begun the process of recruiting a new chief executive and a nominations subcommittee of the Board has been appointed to oversee this process.

When will WTY recruit new members for the board? Will they use a similar transparent and representative process as other destination organisations such as Cumbria Tourism?
We believe it is important to have a diverse Board make-up and a recruitment process will be undertaken. As the findings from the current investigations may well have an impact on the process, we can’t confirm details at this point but when we can they will be published on our website.

When will the minutes of Board meetings be published? Where?
In the interests of greater transparency, we will be making available all appropriate Board meeting documents public, including agendas, papers and minutes on our website as of the next Board meeting in June. We are consulting with our local authority partners to use their best practice on how to achieve this.

At Y19 Peter Dodd announced an industry consultation but no further details have been announced. When will this take place? How? What plans does WTY have to work with the tourism industry to develop a collaborative marketing strategy for Yorkshire? What opportunities will there be for input into this by all sectors of the tourism industry?
We work closely with many partners in the tourism industry in Yorkshire and will continue to do so in the future. We are currently putting the full details of the consultation together and welcome your contribution once it goes live. As discussed with you at Ripley Castle, we would look to report the findings of this consultation towards the end of this year.
Your additional questions will all form part of the longer-term planning of the organisation as and when we recruit the new chief executive and members of the Board and will therefore form part of their responsibilities to take decision on those matters.
Does WTY have a firm date for completion of the two investigations and publication of findings?
The two investigations are expected to be completed by the end of June. A date for publication of the findings has not been set.
When will the search for a new Chief Executive start? What will be the recruitment process?
We have begun the process of recruiting a new chief executive and a nominations subcommittee of the Board has been appointed to oversee this process.
When will WTY recruit new members for the board? Will they use a similar transparent and representative process as other destination organisations such as Cumbria Tourism?
We believe it is important to have a diverse Board make-up and a recruitment process will be undertaken. As the findings from the current investigations may well have an impact on the process, we can’t confirm details at this point but when we can they will be published on our website.
When will the minutes of Board meetings be published? Where?
In the interests of greater transparency, we will be making available all appropriate Board meeting documents public, including agendas, papers and minutes on our website as of the next Board meeting in June. We are consulting with our local authority partners to use their best practice on how to achieve this. 
At Y19 Peter Dodd announced an industry consultation but no further details have been announced. When will this take place? How? What plans does WTY have to work with the tourism industry to develop a collaborative marketing strategy for Yorkshire? What opportunities will there be for input into this by all sectors of the tourism industry?
We work closely with many partners in the tourism industry in Yorkshire and will continue to do so in the future. We are currently putting the full details of the consultation together and welcome your contribution once it goes live. As discussed with you at Ripley Castle, we would look to report the findings of this consultation towards the end of this year.
Your additional questions will all form part of the longer-term planning of the organisation as and when we recruit the new chief executive and members of the Board and will therefore form part of their responsibilities to take decision on those matters.