Agenda item

Charles Loft, LGA Senior Adviser, introduced the item, outlining the agenda paper and the suggested next steps, which included an LGA drowning prevention campaign. The proposed campaign would be aimed at councils, rather than the public facing campaigns being run by the RNLI and others. The campaign would attempt to raise awareness of the issue in general, the availability of resources to support drowning prevention, the need to work with partners on this issue, the need to consider councils as duty holders and the importance of including drowning prevention messages in school swimming lessons. Charles was keen to hear members’ views on these proposals.

Members made the following comments:

·         It was suggested that there ought to be a stronger focus on the vulnerability of people who are intoxicated and the higher risk of them falling into water and drowning. Members agreed that the LGA campaign should encourage schools to include drowning prevention messages in their swimming lessons but also suggested that this should be extended to universities and colleges, specifically during freshers’ weeks. Members suggested involving the National Union of Students (NUS) in this campaign.

·         A conversation was had about campaigning for swimming lessons to be made compulsory in schools, though members were clear that even with the ability to swim, people can be vulnerable to cold water shock and other related safety issues. Children are taught to swim in swimming pools and may not be able to swim in different conditions, such as open water, rivers or lakes. Members felt it was important not to blame a lack of swimming education, particularly as the RNLI had been clear that the problem is not people who cannot swim, but people who think they can or who are more familiar with open water.

·         It was noted that drowning is accountable for more accidental deaths annually than fires in the home and cycling. Members spoke about children being taught about road and fire safety from an early age and they felt there should be an equal focus on water safety and drowning prevention.

·         Members were concerned to hear that drowning prevention would not be covered in any of the plenary sessions at the LGA’s Annual Conference 2018 and they felt that it was an important enough issue to be discussed in the main conference hall rather than the innovation zone. Charles explained that the plenary sessions had already been agreed for this year’s conference but that officers would push ahead with a bid to have this issue discussed in the innovation zone. Members also suggested that there could be a stall dedicated to drowning prevention at the exhibition.

Decision

Members agreed that the proposed campaign should go ahead.

Actions

1)    Officers to use members’ comments to inform the central points of the Drowning Prevention Campaign.

2)    Officers to continue with bid for a session on water safety at the Innovation Zone of the LGA’s Annual Conference 2018.