Agenda and minutes

Please note that this meeting may be filmed or recorded by the Council for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council’s internet site or by anyone attending the meeting using any communication method. Although we ask members of the public recording, filming or reporting on the meeting not to include the public seating areas, members of the public attending the meeting should be aware that we cannot guarantee that they will not be filmed or recorded by others attending the meeting. Members of the public participating in the meeting (e.g. making deputations, asking questions, making oral protests) should be aware that they are likely to be filmed, recorded or reported on. 

By entering the meeting room and using the public seating area, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.

The chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council.

The Chair referred Members present to agenda Item 1 as shown on the agenda in respect of filming at this meeting, and Members noted the information contained therein’.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Nick da Costa, Cllr Mahir Demir, Cllr Sheila Peacock and Helena Kania.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business (late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with as noted below).

None.

A Member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest

becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Members’ Register of Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interest are

defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

Cllr Pippa Connor declared an interest by virtue of her membership of the Royal College of Nursing.

Cllr Pippa Connor declared an interest by virtue of her sister working as a GP in Tottenham.

To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B, Paragraph 29 of the Council’s Constitution.

None.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting.

Cllr Connor referred to an action point at the bottom of page 4 of the minutes which was a request for further information to illustrate the different elements of the 2022/23 budget so that the changes to the base budget from 2021/22 were made clear. It was noted that this had been addressed through the Cabinet response to the budget scrutiny recommendations which can be found in Appendix 9 of Item 732 of the Cabinet meeting held on 8^th February 2022. (Link: Appendix 9 Budget Scrutiny Recommendations 2021-22.pdf (haringey.gov.uk))

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as an accurate record.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 16^th December 2021 be approved as an accurate record.

To provide an overview of Haringey’s Great Mental Health Programme.

Dr Chantelle Fatania, Consultant in Public Health, presented slides on this item with an update on the Great Mental Health Programme in Haringey. She described the programme as an ambitious, innovative and collaborative wellbeing initiative that had been launched in October 2021. The overall programme consisted of seven prevention and promotion initiatives delivered by different organisations including through face-to-face and digital support. Haringey was one of 40 local authorities which had been successful in securing funding from the Better Mental Health Fund and this was being used to support the programme.

As part of the programme, an initiative called Community Protect was delivering wellbeing activities in the central and eastern areas of the borough. The priority groups for engagement were:

• BAME people
• Residents whose first language is not English
• Homeless people and rough sleepers
• Low-income households
• People with autism and learning disabilities
• Older people
• Young people who are NEET

In terms of the other initiatives:

• MIND in Haringey were delivering a bereavement support programme with activities including grief workshops, a bereavement support group, a telephone support line and access to qualified counsellors.
• A parenting programme was being delivered by ABC Parents working with a groups such as single parents and parents who speak limited English.
• A case worker had been commissioned to deliver interventions to identify and support victims of domestic violence, write safety plans and offer information and advocacy on issues such as housing, welfare, benefits, legal rights and child protection.
• Community Navigators would work with residents in Northumberland Park to improve their mental health and wellbeing, directing residents to support and building a befriending network.
• A targeted communications campaign was designed to increase reach and equity of local mental services and resources.
• The digital offer was being improved in partnership with Good Thinking, which was a digital well-being resource run across London. There were specific resources for young people, people who had been bereaved, employers/employees and faith communities.

As part of the programme, a Great Mental Health Day event was held on 28^th January 2022 which aimed to:

• Raise awareness of local and regional mental health services, community organisations and activities.
• Challenge stigma often associated with mental health and asking for help.
• Encourage open conversations about mental health and wellbeing.
• Signpost people to the most appropriate form of advice for them.

The Great Mental Health Day initiative originated in Haringey but was also replicated in other London Boroughs. In Haringey, 18 events were held and at least 337 residents interacted with the physical and virtual activities. There were also over 60 events listed on the Thrive LDN website covering most boroughs in London which included exercise classes, meditation, wellbeing walks, coffee mornings and workshops to discuss mental health and wellbeing.

Co-production was an important part of the Great Mental Health in Haringey. For example, Good Thinking were co-producing culturally competent materials specific to Haringey. Mind in Haringey hosted a quarterly steering group for delivery partners and interested stakeholders to gain knowledge of how individual community groups  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

To receive an update on the Council’s response to the recommendations of the ‘Living Through Lockdown’ report.

The report was published in August 2020 by the Joint Partnership Board and is provided in full in this pack.

To follow - Details on Council response.

Charlotte Pomery, Assistant Director for Commissioning, introduced this item noting the apologies from Helena Kania because this was a joint response from the Council and the Joint Partnership Board.

Charlotte Pomery said that the Living Through Lockdown report conveyed the experience of vulnerable residents and those with additional needs during the first Covid-19 lockdown and made recommendations on how services were delivered. There was a co-production working group in place which involved members from the various reference groups of the Joint Partnership Board and this working group would continue to operate. The working group was chaired by Helena Kania with around eight members as well as representatives of the Council and the Clinical Commissioning Group and there were minutes taken by Public Voice.

Charlotte Pomery explained that there were a series of headline points responding to the recommendations of the report, a selection of which were then discussed:

The first section was on better and faster communication. Charlotte Pomery acknowledged that this was critical in the first lockdown and that there had been a significant amount of work on improving digital communications and digital inclusion, investing in roles such as community champions and the community newsroom and a stronger focus on communication in community languages and easy read. Cllr Connor observed that the feedback from some service users was that they weren’t always sure what was happening and didn’t feel that they had sufficient access to information. She asked what had changed as a result of this feedback. Charlotte Pomery said that the response was all about changing ways of working and the communications model in areas such as community champions and the emphasis on co-production were examples of the long-term shift in this area. Beverley Tarka, Director for Adults & Health, added that the shift in communications was part of an ongoing journey which included the new locality-based working approach which had been a topic of discussion at previous Panel meetings.

Another recommendation was on default financial assistance where it had been felt that, if steps had been taken to reduce a financial burden, this should be applied automatically rather than by requiring individuals to apply. Charlotte Pomery said that this was possible in some areas where this had been implemented but not in others such as where a means-tests was necessary.

On Care Assessments and Annual Reviews, there had been a recommendation on non-digital routes to care and assessment. Charlotte Pomery said it was agreed that there should be dual offers of face-to-face and digital services and that this had now been in place for some time wherever possible. She acknowledged that there was still some debate about the balance between people preferring face-to-face access (due to lack of confidence with digital services) and people preferring digital access (due to concerns about Covid-19). Cllr Connor noted that, according to the report, this dual approach was a strain on services and asked whether this was impacting on timescales for care assessments. Beverley Tarka added that there had been delays to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

An opportunity to question the Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care and Well-being, Cllr Lucia das Neves, on developments within her portfolio.

Cllr das Neves, Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care and Well-being, introduced this item with an update on some key issues:

• The Canning Crescent Mental Health Centre was due to open in June/July with more bed space for people in crisis, a community café and the safe haven run by Mind all in an accessible location.
• On Covid, a lot of the government financial support would be dropping away and that, in this new phase, the Council would be looking at the learning from the pandemic and how to further develop outreach to increase vaccination rates.
• There had been a lot of work on health and care integration with new legislation and guidance and changes to the Borough Partnership (including co-production) with Integrated Care Systems expected to begin in July.
• The work on place-based hubs was progressing, starting with Northumberland Park, and bringing the Council’s presence into the community was vital, particularly following years of austerity cuts.
• The prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) was a significant priority and there had been a commitment to increase funding in recognition of the scale of the issue, including the rise in domestic abuse during the pandemic. There were also new measures expected on lighting and surveillance, including in Finsbury Park.
• New efforts were being made to improve work on aid and adaptations, particularly on communications and on resourcing in areas such as occupational therapists and surveyors (though this was a wider regional and national problem).
• The ongoing integration work with Homes for Haringey (HfH) would include the links between health and care and HfH services such as sheltered housing.
• There was a large capital programme which including a project to support women experiencing homelessness/rough sleeping and women experiencing domestic abuse. The capital programme also included Osborne Grove Nursing Home where the co-production had been of a high standard. 57 White Hart Lane was a project with the NHS to provide care and support for young people with complex needs and this was in the early stage of development.

Cllr das Neves and senior officers then responded to questions from the Panel:

• Asked by Cllr Culverwell for her view on priorities for scrutiny, Cllr das Neves responded that tracking the data on a regular basis, as previously mentioned, would be her suggestion.
• Asked by Ali Amasyali whether services were back to normal operation yet after Covid, Cllr das Neves said that a lot of services had functioned throughout the pandemic. However, some residents were still reluctant to engage with services face-to-face, there was still some backlog in certain areas and there were also now higher levels of demand in some areas.
• Ali Amasyali asked for statistics on the typical timescales for aids and adaptations to be implemented after an application. Beverley Tarka responded that pre-Covid it could typically take 12 months for a standard adaptation to be completed. An additional challenge since then included supply and demand issues which were causing delays and this was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.