Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from the following:

To consider any items of Urgent Business. (Late items of Urgent Business will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items of Urgent Business will be dealt with under Item 18 below).

Following notification from central Government, received that day, that a number of Local Authority funding streams would be cut, including the Area Based Grant; Councillor Dogus proposed that the Board should discuss this as an item of Urgent Business.

RESOLVED:

That the Board should discuss this as a new Item of Urgent Business after Item 8.

Members of the Board must declare any personal and/or prejudicial interests with respect to agenda items and must not take part in any decisions made with respect to those items.

No declarations of interest were raised.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 25 February 2010 as a correct record.

Prior to confirmation of the minutes the following points were raised:

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 25 February 2010 be confirmed as a correct record.

To elect a Chair for 2010/11.

RESOLVED:

That Councillor Dilek Dogus be elected as Chair of the WBSPB for 2010/11.

To elect a Vice-Chair for 2010/11.

RESOLVED:

That Richard Sumray be elected as Vice-Chair for 2010/11.

To appoint a representative from the Board to the HSP Standing Leadership Conference for 2010/11.

RESOLVED:

That Councillor Dilek Dogus be appointed as the WBSPB representative to the HSP Standing Leadership Conference for 2010/11.

RESOLVED:

That the Terms of Reference and Membership List, as set out in the report, be confirmed.

The Chair noted that she had requested that the paper was drafted in order to share with Partners how the cuts, announced by central Government to the Area Based Grant (ABG), might impact on projects currently funded from the ABG.

It was noted that this represented only the first wave of cuts that Local Government and other Public Sector organisations would face over the next three years and that it would be vital that partners worked together to maximise the resources available.

The Board was advised that the administration fund attached the Supporting People grant had been withdrawn rather than the grant for delivering the programme itself. A meeting was being held on 11 June to discuss the impact of this and what action would need to be taken.

It was noted that the report tabled set out all of the initiatives, projects and strategies funded by the Board’s ABG allocation. The figures set out in the paper were based on the premise that a total saving of 20% had to be achieved by ceasing to fund all none statutory services; the remainder of this would be achieved by looking at where savings could made from statutory services.

The Board discussed how the cuts would impact on services and the need to establish a process to review the projects funded and where cuts could be made. It was noted that the report tabled provided a blunt analysis of the statutory and none statutory services funded from the ABG; however, there was agreement that, whilst this provided a useful tool to demonstrate the severity of the cuts, what was really required moving forward was an assessment of the impact that this level of cuts would have upon Health Inequalities.

The strategic overview provided by a needs assessment would allow the Board to look at what needed to be delivered by the Partnership as a whole and to determine how this could be best achieved with the resources available.

It was noted that the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) was likely to be significantly effected by cuts to the ABG and the Assistant Director Safeguarding and Strategic Services suggested that a meeting should be arranged during the next week between herself, the Interim Director of Public Health, the Head of Governance and Partnerships, ACCS and the Chief Executive of HAVCO, to discuss the cuts and how the Council and VCS could work together to address this.

RESOLVED:

The Board considered a report that summarised a number of the key issues that would shape future priorities in the light of the significant budgetary cuts that were likely during the next financial year.

The report highlighted three areas that the Board may wish to focus on moving forward, to ensure that the resources available were best used to support the health and well being of people living in the Borough:

• Improving the ‘health expectancy’, as well as the life expectancy, of the population
• Focusing on the ‘top four’ behavioural risk factors with the greatest impact on life expectancy and mental health and well being
• Prevention of the onset of long-term conditions and deterioration and improvements in quality of life and fulfilment for people with disabilities 

In order to make progress in these areas with the reduced amount of funding available it was noted that Public and VCS would need to improve partnership working to achieving these priorities. In addition a new integrated commissioning model for health and well being would need to be established and the integration of public sector delivery would need to be improved at a local level.

The Board discussed the report and the measures that would need to be taken in planning for the forthcoming period of significant spending cuts.

It was noted that there was still uncertainty at present around a number of areas; the Government had indicated that it may create a Department of Public Health and that funding for preventative programmes may be protected. In addition the new operational framework for health was due to be published during the next week which may result in changes to working practice.

In order to ensure that preventative work was not lost within the raft of cuts likely to be made during the next three years there was agreement that the Board formed a set of priorities at the outset. Work programmes and funds available would then be set around these rather than being determined in a piecemeal way.

It was contended that retaining services such as advice on how to manage debt and other support services formed part of a holistic approach to prevention that was essential. There was agreement that consideration would need to be given to how this type of service would be incorporated within the priorities adopted by the Board.

There was a general consensus that the priority areas set out in the report should be adopted and form the basis of a piece of work, which should be developed by an officer sub group. The Chair requested that the Interim Director of Public Health should lead on this piece of work and that it should be determined by lead officers whether the wider HSP or just the groups represented with the Board should be asked to nominated a representative to this group.

In response to concerns raised around the loss of VCS funding and services the Chair noted that both she and the Council’s Cabinet recognised and valued the importance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 208.

The Board received a report that highlighted how the recession was likely to impact upon people’s health and well being and the measures that were being taken to mitigate this.

It was noted that the Enterprise Partnership Board (EPB) was leading on the work being done by the Partnership as a whole to address the adverse impact of the recession and that an Action Plan had been established that formally set out the measures being taken to address this.

Studies showed that economic downturns had a significant impact on both the general well being of individuals and communities. Mental health was particularly effected and information gathered by the World Health Organisation (WHO) showed that instances of depression, self harm and suicide, were significantly higher amongst people who were made redundant.

Other studies demonstrated that GP’s referred a higher number of people into Mental Health services. The services of organisations such as the Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB) also experienced a higher demand during economic downturns and there was often insufficient capacity to meet the additional need.

The Board discussed the report and it was noted that eminent changes to the Benefit system, which would essentially mean that there less people would receive financial support, would have an impact upon the health and well being of those people. This would need to be monitored closely as they were likely to be some of the most vulnerable members of society.

The Board received a report that

The Board received a report that

This report will be sent to follow.

The report received a report that

This report will be sent to follow.

The Board

The Board

The Board

The Board

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

As

To consider any items of AOB.

The following items of AOB were raised:

To note the dates of future meetings set out below:

• 10 June 2010, 7pm, Council Chamber, Civic Centre

• 5 October 2010, 7pm, Council Chamber, Civic Centre
• 11 January 2010, 7pm, Council Chamber, Civic Centre
• 7 April 2011, 7pm, Council Chamber, Civic Centre

The following dates of future meetings were noted: