Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

There we apologies from Cllr Denise Scott-McDonald (Lab) and Cllr Jonathan Owen (Con).

Cllr Mohammed Iqbal (Lab) and Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald (Con) were in attendance as substitutes.

Paul Ogden, Senior Adviser, gave a verbal update on Public Health to the Community Wellbeing Board. He informed Members that at the Councillors Forum in June, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced that Public Health responsibilities will remain with local government following the case presented the LGA had presented.

Paul also informed Members that the Prevention Green Paper was now expected to be published in July. He emphasised the LGA would continue to seek to influence this as much as possible.

Ciaran Osborne, Director of Policy of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), will attend the Board to discuss the impact smoking still has on communities including health and broader social impacts.

The Chairman welcomed Vicky Salt, Policy Manager, and Ciaran Osborne, Director of Policy, from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) to the Community Wellbeing Board.

Ciaran introduced the presentation, he explained ASH are a public health charity focusing on eliminating the harm caused by tobacco. He also explained that their aim was to achieve a smoke free generation (less than five per cent of the population being smokers). He also emphasised the statistics evidencing the vast impact of smoking on public health as well as the savings that could be gained for local authorities by reducing these health issues. Ciaran brought the Boards attention to the tobacco industry making approaches to local authoritiesto frame itself as a legitimate partner, in particular referring to an example in Gosport. He also raised that ASH were seeking to update their Local Government Declaration with support from the LGA.

In the discussion that followed, the following points were raised;

·         Ciarian is raised the importance of the Councillors joining their Smoke Free Councils Network.

·         It was also explained that ASH provides secretariat support to APPG on Smoking and Health: “Delivering the vision of a Smokefree Generation”.

·         Concerns were raised around ASH’s suggestion that raising the age you can purchase tobacco to 21.

·         Vicky emphasized that between ages 18 to 21 an individual is most likely to form an addiction to smoking.

·         In response to a query around the vaping, Ciaran confirmed that if people can move to vaping from smoking then ASH would absolutely support this as a method to quit smoking.

·         Regarding why some tobacco companies are trying to work with local government cessation services Vicky explained that this was part of an effort to promote new alternative tobacco products.

·         A view was expressed that the public health message regarding smoking wasn’t getting through to those areas and people who are affected most.

·         Concerns were raised that many whose pensions rely on funding from the tobacco industry could be affected, and that we needed to be mindful of the impact this could have.

·         Regarding a query on taxation, Vicky explained that heated tobacco is taxed the same as other tobacco products whereas vaping was taxed as regular VAT.

·         It was emphasised that the most important method to stop young people taking up smoking was to help their parents to quit smoking.

·         Vicky explained that shisha is still a tobacco product and is still very harmful.

·         Vicky informed Members that Oldham Council had ban smoking on all their grounds.

Action

Member Services to circulate ASH’s presentation from ASH to the Board.

Decision

The Community Wellbeing Board noted and discussed the presentation from ASH.

Mark Norris, Principal Policy Adviser, introduced the report providing an overview of the issues and work the board has overseen during the last year. He reminded Members that the new political cycle would begin in September. He also emphasised that with no clear date for the publication of the Governments adult social care green paper the focus of the Board would likely turn to the spending review. Mark asked if there was any suggestions as to what Community Wellbeing Board priorities should include in the next Board cycle.

The Chairman expressed his thanks to officers for their work over the year. He also informed Members that if they had any further thoughts after the meeting they could email these in to the team for further discussion.

In the discussion that followed, the following points were raised;

·         Views were expressed that workforce, retention and recruitment in social care would need to continue to be a priority going forwards.

·         A view was expressed that the Community Wellbeing Board should look into regulation around pharmacies.

·         A view was expressed that funding and the business rates pilot should remain a priority for the Community Wellbeing Board.

·         A view was expressed that further information regarding nursing and issues with the workforce there would be beneficial to the board.

·         Alyson Morley, Senior Adviser, raised that LGA policy around workforce issues feed into the Resources Board and that the LGA was doing a significant amount of work in this area. It was suggested the Community Wellbeing Board receive an update in the new political year on this work ahead of discussing

·         A view was expressed that the Community Wellbeing Board should be mindful of the role of firefighters in the community and the valuable resource they can be for many interconnected services.

·         A view was expressed that joint activities with the Environment, Economy, Housing and Transport Board around air quality could prove valuable.

·         A view was expressed that end of life care should continue to be a priority for the Community Wellbeing Board going forwards.

Alyson also advised the LGA would be publishing a piece of work around Health and Wellbeing Boards heading on place based care and support. This would include fantastic examples of good practice from 23 areas. Alyson informed the Board that Member Services would circulate this to Community Wellbeing Board when it is published.

Actions

·         Member Services to circulate forthcoming work on Health and Wellbeing Boards to Members of the Board.

·         Officers to incorporate Members views into the priorities report coming to the Community Wellbeing Board in September.

Decision

Community Wellbeing Board Members noted the achievements against the board’s priorities in 2018/19.

Cllr Jackie Meldrum introduced the report explaining the LGA have made a submission to the review and this paper outlines our key messages and other supporting information including an update on the ‘Ask, Listen, Do’ initiative. Cllr Meldrum emphasised the importance of early intervention and training being included in the Autism Strategy. Cllr Meldrum also raised that it was positive to see autism included in the NHS Long Term Plan, but that it needed to be incorporated elsewhere too.

Kevin Halden, Adviser, raised that we will have a joint session on this at National Conference for Adult and Children’s Services.

Cllr Neil Burden, explained that from his own experience primary schools have been brilliant but that the transition to secondary school can be far more difficult for children with autism.

Cllr Rachel Eden, shared her view that from her own experiences with having an autistic child that parents are by far the biggest solution. Cllr Eden emphasised the importance of education around autism to best prepare parents and that there be small amounts of support in place where needed.

Decision

The Community Wellbeing Board members agreed the key messages of the LGA submission to the National Autism Strategy and noted the LGA support for and progress of the ‘Ask Listen Do’ campaign.

Laura Caton, Senior Adviser, gave an update regarding LGA work towards regarding sleep-in payments for overnight carers. Laura emphasised emphasised that this will likely remain a Board priority going forwards and that it would be crucial to ensure it remains a priority for central government as well.

Cllr Richard Kemp CBE, Deputy Chair, gave an update regarding parliamentary activity he had undertaken on behalf of the Board. He explained that he had attended a meeting with Jacqui Doyle-Price MP in which the funding promised for local authorities towards putting suicide prevention strategies in place had been discussed. Following this meeting this money has been transferred over and colleagues from the LGA Care and Health Improvement Programme were working towards develpoing a programme to support this quickly. He also explained how this meeting had involved discussions with partner organisations including voluntary sector, Network Rail and Highways England.

The Minutes were agreed as a correct record of the last meeting.