Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from the following:

Fiona Aldridge

Tracey Baldwin

Robert Edmonds

Rob Larkin                

John Morris

Marion Morris

Claire Panniker

Mary Pilgrim

The Chair will consider the admission of any items of Urgent Business. (Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with Item 11 below).

No items of Urgent Business were raised.

Members of the Board must declare any personal and/or prejudicial interests with respect to agenda items and must not take part in any decision in relation to these items.

A personal interest was expressed by Faiza Rizvi with respect to agenda item ?

The following updates were given with respect to the minutes of the previous meeting:

OBHC142 –Well-Being Strategic Framework

The Chair requested that Barbara Nicholls was contacted and asked to circulate the link referred to in the minutes.

OBHC143 –Experience Still Counts 2009-12

It was requested that progress in drafting the Options Paper requested by the Board was checked with Margaret Allen and that this should be programmed into the Board’s Forward Plan.

OBHC144 –User Payments Policy

There was agreement that officers should liaise with Robert Edmonds to programme the update requested at the previous meeting into the Board’s Forward Plan.

OBHC146 –Transforming Social Care

It was requested that the report requested at the previous meeting, setting out how the issues raised during the pilot phase would be addressed, should be added to the Board’s Forward Plan.  

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 14 May 2009 be confirmed as a correct record.

The Board received a report and presentation on the new development of the new Tobacco Control Strategy and Action Plan.

An overview was given of how the Borough was affected by smoking and it was noted that the prevalence of smoking in Haringey was 4.5% higher the London average. More detailed comparisons were also drawn between Haringey, London and National averages with respect mortality rates attributable to smoking and the cost to the NHS.

It was noted that the Board would be asked to sign off the finalised version of the Strategy at its December meeting.

It was suggested that the age bracket focussed upon should be thirty-five to fifty-four year olds, rather than sixteen to thirty-four year olds, as smoking in Haringey was most prevalent amongst this group.

It was recognised that smoking was more prevalent in the older age bracket, however; in order to discourage people from taking up smoking the younger age group had been targeted as a preventative measure.

In response to a question, the Board was advised that smoking and health inequalities generally, reflected the social economic picture across the Borough. In preparing the Strategy work to ‘drill down’ to look at the issues associated with deprivation and increased rates of smoking was being carried out.

The Board was advised that existing strategies would be fed into and reflected in the Tobacco Strategy.

The Board broke into three groups and was asked to consider the approach that should be taken to the three following issues:

• Tackling Cheap and Illicit Tobacco
• Helping Young People to be Tobacco Free
• Maintaining and Promoting Smoke Free Environments

The notes taken during discussion were collected and the issues raised would be considered as the Strategy was drafted.

RESOLVED:

1. That the report be noted.

2. That the Board would receive the final version of the Tobacco Strategy and Action Plan for sign off in December.

The Board received a report setting out performance against LAA targets, within the it’s responsibility, during the first quarter of 2009/19.

The Board discussed the format of performance reports and there was agreement that the introduction of more detailed exception reporting was useful. The Chair noted that the Board needed to concentrate its focus on areas of concern and requested that exception reports were not issued if an area was improving; verbal updates could be provided with respect to these targets.

The Chair further requested that exception reports were given where targets were showing as Amber and performance was not improving.

The Board discussed performance reporting and concern was raised as to whether data was being captured and measured across the partnership as a whole. There was agreement that work was required to develop a systematic approach to demonstrate this and that this issue should be raised with the HSP Manager.

There was discussion around outputs and outcomes and the need to shift to outcome based measures. The Chair noted that a development session to look at the role of the Board, with respect to performance, would be useful.

The Board performance against Breast Feeding targets and it was noted that these feel within the responsibility of the Children’s Trust. There was agreement that there should be discussion with the Children’s Trust with respect to these targets and that the action being taken to address under performance should be reported to the Board at it’s next meeting.  

There was agreement that performance against targets relating to Safeguarding should be reported within each performance report.

RESOLVED:

1. That the report be noted.

2. That future performance reports should be developed to reflect the points raised above.

3. That a Development Session for the Board should be organised to help develop the Board’s approach to performance monitoring.

4. That officers should liaise with the lead officer for the Children’s Trust to ascertain what measured were being taken to address under performance with respect to Breast Feeding targets and that feedback should be reported at the next meeting.   

The Board received a report that provided an overview of findings of the review carried out projects funded by the Area Based Grant (ABG) during 2008/09.

The Board discussed the report there was a general consensus that the format used made it difficult to identify which projects were subject to further review. The Chair noted that the report did not include the criteria against which the review had been carried out and consequently it was difficult for the Board to have an informed discussion.

Councillor Bevan noted that the Council had procured a new performance management system and expressed concern at the way performance information was now presented with reports. He noted that this was a wider issue that he had raised with the Leader of the Council.

It was agreed that a more detailed report was required with respect to the eighteen projects undergoing further review and the criteria against which these had been selected and that this should be re-submitted at the Boards next meeting.

RESOLVED:

That a more detailed report was required with respect to the eighteen projects undergoing further review and the criteria against which these had been selected and that this should be re-submitted at the Boards next meeting.

This report will be sent to follow.

The Board considered a report presenting the revised multi agency Information Sharing Protocol for vulnerable adults.

The Board received a report setting out the process for the Health Inequalities National Support Team (NST) visit taking place between 5 to 9 October.

It was noted that the visit was not intended to measure performance or audit services in any way. Instead it was designed to support the local area and improve performance. An overview of the timetable for the visits and the briefing sessions that would take place prior to these.

The Board was advised that since report had been written a meeting had been held with HAVCO to identify further community groups to take part in the workshop sessions. To date the North Middlesex had not advised who its representative would be; ?? agreed to take this issue forward.

There was agreement that ‘Patient Link’ should be included within the briefing session as their input would be vital in ensuring that the patient perspective was provided. It was clarified that in addition to Patient Link the CLF would be included within the briefings and the CLF’s role in representing the Community and Voluntary Sector was acknowledged.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.  

The Board received a report that set out how Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) would operate with respect to the Haringey Strategic Partnership.

A key area of focus would be the Local Area Agreement (LAA) and performance against LAA targets. To support the HSP in achieving LAA targets the Scrutiny arrangements had been structured to reflect the areas covered by the Theme Boards.

The Board was advised that Councillor Gina Adamou had been appointed as the lead member for Well-Being. In addition Councillor David Winskill had been appointed to look specifically at Health issues and Councillor Gideon Bull, Chair of the O&S Committee, would take on overarching role looking at scrutiny across the HSP Thematic Boards.

The Chair noted that there had been no discussion with the Theme Boards in determining the topic areas during the first year. He suggested that as the relationship between the Scrutiny function and Boards developed there should be a dialogue regarding the areas that would be focused on.

It was acknowledged that Members ultimately determined the topics that would be reviewed. There was agreement that once the O&S Work Plan had been set this should be shared with the Board and that there should be ongoing discussion between lead officers from the Scrutiny Team  and Adult Services.

RESOLVED:

1. That the report be noted.

2. That once the O&S Work Plan had been set this should be shared with the Board and that there should be ongoing discussion between lead officers from the Scrutiny Team  and Adult Services.

To consider any new items of Urgent Business admitted under Item 2 above.

No new items of Urgent Business were raised.

To raise any items of AOB.

No items of AOB were raised.

To note the dates of meetings for the remainder of 2009/10 set out below:

• 8 December 2009
• 25 February 2010

The dates of future meeting, set out below, were noted:

• 8 December 2009
• 25 February 2010