Agenda and draft minutes

The Chairman welcomed members of the Community Wellbeing Board to the meeting and noted apologies for absence from Cllrs David Baines, Rachel Blake, Chris McEwan and Jonathan Owen. Cllr Carl Maynard was in attendance as substitute.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 17 May 2023 were agreed as an accurate record.

The Chairman invited Mark Norris, Principal Policy Adviser to introduce the End of Year Report and priorities for 2023/24 meeting cycle.

During discussion, members made the following comments:

·       The wording of paragraph 13 was slightly misleading and should be adjusted to reflect the fact that the LGA had not declared support for the Fabian Society’s call for a national care service.

·       Focus on Adult Social Care workforce strategy in balance with NHS workforce strategy should be added to the list of priorities.

·       Consensus that prevention was essential and should be reflected in lobbying work for Party manifestoes. Early intervention should be the thread running through all work priorities.

·       Need to focus on fewer priorities and where the LGA can make a difference and impact. 

·       Suggestion to have ‘key’ priorities to distinguish between day-to-day work and what change should be lobbied for.

·       80% of the Adult Social Care workforce is female, equalities issues should come over more strongly.

·       Officers were commended for all their hard work on a broad and important agenda.

Decision

The Community Wellbeing Board agreed to note the end of year report and.

The Chairman invited Mark Norris, Principal Policy Adviser to introduce the Updae Paper. Mark highlighted the LGA’s work on the Covid Inquiry, giving evidence on Module 1 and explained it would be very likely that LGA would be called to give evidence on a range of issues including health, social care and vaccinations.  Emily Hackett, Adviser, also gave an update on the LGA’s campaign calling for a ban on disposable vapes.

Members raised concerns about the environmental risks of disposable vapes, the key concern being the extraction of metals at source. Another point was made that all vapes have lithium batteries which are highly flammable – not just disposable vapes.

Decision

The Community Wellbeing Board agreed to note the updates in the report.

The Chairman welcomed Dean McGlynn, External Affairs Manager at National Housing Federation, who gave a presentation on the supported housing sector’s impact on homelessness prevention and health and wellbeing.

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

·       Queried how to ensure consistency of view across the LGA as this issue was relevant to EHHT and CYP Boards as well as CWB.

·       need to ensure quality of placements and outcomes for people rather than just to secure placements.

·       this is extra demand for LAs when capacity has been lost.

·       Regulation is insufficient despite the high costs for Local Authorities.

·       links between supported housing and mental health, and LGA’s focus prevention and early intervention.

·       Stressed role of housing in addressing wider determinants of health and the need for partnership working with NHS on this. 

·       There was also some support of ring-fencing housing budgets.

Decision

The Community Wellbeing Board agreed the updated policy lines on supported housing outlined in the report.

The Chairman invited Kevin Halden, Adviser, to introduce the report on the Right Care, Right Person, National Partnership Agreement and asked members to comment on what, if any, further steps the LGA should take – in particular, engagement with policing bodies.

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

• mental health should have parity of esteem, we would not expect the police to be the first responders for a physical health condition. 
• Recognition that there is an acute shortage of ASC and NHS capacity but need to fill these gaps rather than fall back on the police.
• need engagement and discussion between LA, police and NHS trusts rather than police taking decisions unilaterally. The LGA should engage with police and crime commissioners to ensure a more collaborative and planned transition.
• need to keep dialogue open between partners. Handover and duty of care issues have to be clear.
• LGA should lobby for Government to provide adequate resources for the NHS, LAs and the police to roll this out appropriately.
• The decision is against the crisis care concordat. Is the Board able to review what concordat included to assess whether police are withdrawing from this.

Decision

The Community Wellbeing Board agreed to write to police bodies seeking to ensure that police bodies engage with partners and write to the Minister for additional financial support for LAs to support the transition, refering back to the Concordat. 

The Chairman welcomed Jacqui Morrissey, Co-Chair of the National Suicide Prevention Alliance (NSPA) and Assistant Director of Influencing at Samaritans, who gave a presentation on the implications of losing funding for local suicide prevention plans in a confidential session.