Agenda and minutes

The Board noted Cllr Doreen Huddart’s and Cllr Carole Burdis’ apologies.

Cllr Ereira-Guyer declared an interest in item 3 as he has worked with Harrow Council in the past, and Cllr Robin Moss declared an interest in item X as he worked for a charity supporting young people.

The Chairman welcomed and introduced Paul Farmer CBE, the Chief Executive of MIND, who had been invited to attend the Board meeting to discuss MIND’s views on the role of councils, and what suggestions he might have for inclusion in future LGA work on mental health and in particular on public mental health spend.

Paul Farmer CBE provided the Board with background information on MIND and his related roles. He informed the Board that he had chaired the NHS England Mental Health Taskforce which had published the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, and had  also been appointed as a co-chair of a piece of work commissioned by the Prime Minister to improve mental health in the workplace.

He highlighted that in general terms the mental health of the country was not improving and for some groups was getting worse, particularly amongst young women and older men. He raised inequality of access to support as a particular concern.

He noted however that mental health had gone up the political agenda. He emphasised the role local authorities play in enabling people to stay well and live a full life and informed the Board that he was enthused and encouraged by the initiative presented in the report. He also emphasised the importance of conversation between the voluntary sector and public sector in the wider discussion on mental health.

In addition he went on to note that good mental health required more than support from the health service. It involved a range of services such as debt and financial advice and housing, which was why councils had such an important role to play in this agenda. Councillor champions had created conversations locally and the next step was considering how health and wellbeing boards could play a greater role.

He expressed a view that local authorities should have more systematic involvement in Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP.) He also expressed a view that local suicide prevention strategies being established was the best next step in improving public mental health, as was work on sickness absence, where the first priority was to identify good practice, including from local authorities.

In the discussion with Paul Farmer CBE which followed Members raised the following points;

·         Mental health was a growing priority for communities, and with financial pressures on services the voluntary sector needs to be viewed by local authorities as a key player.

·         Members commented that it was encouraging Paul Farmer CBE emphasised the importance of STPs, and asked whether in his view STPs and health and wellbeing boards were looking enough at mental health issues.

·         Paul Farmer said that councils needed to articulate what the added value that local authorities provided was, and that consideration needed to be given to how to help people with mental health issues remain in work, to help those who needed it back into work and what could be done to assist those who had never been in work.

·         The work of carers is vital and how could they and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

Cllr Anne Whitehead, Bernie Flaherty and Chris Greenway will attend from Harrow Council to give a presentation on the Community e-Purse and take part in a discussion with Board Members.

The Chairman introduced Cllr Anne Whitehead, Bernie Flaherty and Mario Casiero from Harrow Council. 

Cllr Anne Whitehead and Bernie Flaherty gave a presentation to the Board on their Community e-Purse service. They explained to the Board the timeline and the process Harrow Council undertook in establishing this service. They highlighted the positive feedback they have received from service users, the savings that Harrow Council is making due to this and the partnership work that has been involved.

In the discussion which followed Members raised the following points;

• That individuals needed to be happy using the internet to make full use of the system. Members queried how they adapt to work with users who were less familiar with the internet, was their take up across all ethnic groups and were there issues related to broadband speeds.
• Members raised a query as to the risk of providers failing, how was risk addressed, how was data protection covered, were there risks of over buying by individuals and would it include assistive technology.
• Bernie Flaherty said the system had been specifically built for a very diverse community, that they had worked with older people in designing the systems, and they were working to address issues with internet connectivity.
• She added that they would not allow patient information to be sold, there were assurances in the system to prevent overspends, but people tended to come under budget, and confirmed they were trying to include access to assistive technology in the service.

Decision

The Board noted the presentation.

 Action

Officers to circulate the presentation to the Board.

Paul Ogden, Senior Adviser, introduced the report exploring how local government should influence government policy in relation to the allocation of funding from the soft drinks industry. He explained that the former Chancellor had announced this last year and that the income made from the Levy will be spent three ways; on primary school PE and sport provision, giving secondary schools the opportunity to extend their school day and breakfast clubs in England. He informed members that this funding is currently intended to go to schools directly from central government with little accountability. Local government has spent more than half a billion pounds on tackling obesity since taking over responsibility for public health in April 2013, and there has been no reference to councils being involved in the use of the income made from the Levy.

In the discussion that followed Members raised the following points;

·         Councils should make an offer to the government which could include an out of school offer including provision in the school holidays and emphasise the efficiencies councils could achieve. Councils also had a role to play in ensuring that the money was well spent. Where others had supported the role of councils in this agenda this needed to be highlighted.

·         The Welsh government had run a similar scheme and was now funding the Welsh councils to carry out work which offered an alternative to giving the funding to schools.

·         Organising out of school activities in rural areas could be more problematic, and there needed to be work with wider groups such as those with diabetes or at risk of it, and not just school children 

·         Members commented that supporting areas of deprivation need to be focused on, and that there should be a focus on early intervention as what was provided at home had an impact on health. .

·         Members expressed a view that income made from the levy should be sent though local authority public health, it was emphasised that public health should act as a conduit in distributing the money to schools.

·         It was suggested a meeting be arranged with the Rt Hon Edward Timpson MP to discuss this further, and that letters should be sent to the relevant select committees.

·         Members expressed a view schools should be included in this discussion.

Decision

The Board noted the report.

Action

Officers to incorporate the Board’s views in the LGA’s future position on how local government should influence government policy in relation to the allocation of funding from the soft drinks industry and to invite the Rt Hon Edward Timpson MP to discuss this with lead members of the Board.

Kevin Halden, Senior Adviser, introduced the report and explained that it was in response to a recent review commissioned by the Home Office from the National Appropriate Adult Network (NAAN) which had raised concerns with the availability of Appropriate Adults for adults who are mentally vulnerable, in particular, how provision is determined, administered, directed and funded. Further to this he explained to the Board that the report detailed seven future options for the provision of Appropriate Adults.

In the discussion which followed Members raised concerns that for any organisation accepting responsibility this would be an unfunded burden.

The Chairman concluded and summarised the Boards views with the following points;

·         Local authorities are not prepared to take on more statutory duties without further funding.

·         The Board don’t feel they are empowered to indicate other organisations or agencies that should take this on.

·         The Board expressed concerns that vulnerable adults fall through the net as a consequence of a scattergun approach in the support provided.

·         Local authorities are particularly concerned they will have to pick up safeguarding where vulnerable adults have fallen through the net.

Decision

The Board did not agree to support any of the seven future options included in the report.

Mark Norris, Principal Policy Adviser, introduced the report, which presented updates on various areas of the Board’s work which were not included as part of other items on the agenda.

Decision

The Board noted the updates contained in the report.

The Boardagreed the minutes of the previous meeting held on 1 December 2016.