Agenda and minutes

The Minutes of the previous Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee held on 15^th October 2019 were approved and signed as a true record.

(Moved by Councillor P Brindley and seconded by Councillor K Norchi)

There were no declarations of interest.

(Report of the Portfolio Holder for Regulatory and Community Safety)

The Portfolio Holder for Regulatory and Community Safety introduced the Partnership Vulnerability Officer who presented the Safeguarding Children and Adults at Risk of Abuse Report.  This report provided the Committee with one of the bi-annual safeguarding updates it received each year.

The Partnership Vulnerability Officer presented the referral statistics which recorded the numbers of referrals made through the council’s reporting procedure from 1 April 2019 to 30 September 2019, which for that period had remained fairly consistent with previous periods.

An overview was also provided on:

·         Stoke and Staffs Safeguarding Children Board – where new working arrangements were reported to be in place, such a district / borough council partnership group had been formed which aimed to share best practice across such councils.

·         Staffs and Stoke Adult Safeguarding Partnership Board – where work continued with our partners to support adults who were vulnerable in the local community but who did not meet the threshold for adult safeguarding. 

·         Safeguarding training – work areas include the assessment of all new / changed job roles within the council following the restructure to ensure appropriate safeguarding training was  identified, the ongoing taxi driving training which continued and the work being undertaken by Council Officers in local schools to raise awareness on internet safety, alcohol awareness, anti-bullying and safer strangers and streetwise.

·         Current work streams covering Modern Day Slavery, Domestic Abuse Forum, Domestic Abuse Workplace Champions, Vulnerable Adolescent Multi-agency Panels, Tamworth Vulnerability Partnership and Grant Funding.

The Committee sought further clarification on whether there had been any changes to the statistics trends since September, whether there were areas of particular pressures in the service and where additional resources could potentially be applied.  One area of focus identified by the Partnership Vulnerability Officer was for vulnerable 17/18 year olds as they leave the childrens’ safeguarding framework. 

The Committee also sought further clarification on how grant funding had been applied locally to support activities in this arena.  It was reported that all successful grant funding applications were reported on the Council’s website. 

RESOLVED that the report be endorsed.

(Moved by Councillor S Goodall and seconded by Councillor J Faulkner)

To receive an update from the Chair

The Chair updated the Committee on:

·         The impact of the general election on activities which were planned by the six Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Groups as well as Together We’re Better, where certain activities had been postponed.

·         The recent full Council decision to approve the Housing Allocations Policy which had been considered at this Committee.  The Chair thanked all members for their contributions.

(Update on responses to the Reports of the Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee)

The Chair reported that the recommendations from this Committee to Cabinet on the Priority Service Register item, which were present to Cabinet at its meeting on 17^th October 2019. 

The Chair reported that Cabinet had resolved that the Council would utilise its social media profiles and other means to encourage those who were eligible, or those who know people who were eligible, to sign up for Priority Service Registers across all sectors.  The Chair reported that as the council was exploring which other correspondence could be utilised to raise awareness of these registers, this Committee could be further consulted on the arrangements identified.

(To receive the Healthy Staffordshire Select Committee – District Borough Update and to receive an update from County Councillor T Clements)

The Committee noted the Healthy Staffordshire Select Committee – District / Borough Digest for the meeting on 9^th October 2019.

The Chair provided an update to the Committee on the relevant agenda items covered at the Healthy Staffordshire Select Committee held on 28 October 2019 and in particular:

·         The Maternity, Children and Young People Programme item where consideration had been given to the Maternity Transformation Plan.

·         Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (MPFT) item, where an update was provided to the Healthy Staffordshire Select Committee on the work undertaken to change the organisational culture and improve services in all areas.  It was noted that the Healthy Staffordshire Select Committee had asked to be consulted on any proposed changes to the George Bryan Centre, as well as other matters.  The Chair further reported that he, and several other members of this Committee, had attended an engagement event on the George Bryan Centre.

Please see the link to the Forward Plan:

http://democracy.tamworth.gov.uk/mgListPlans.aspx?RPId=120&RD=0&bcr=1

No additional items from the Forward Plan were identified for consideration by this Committee.

To consider items for 2019/2020 Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee Work Plan

The Committee considered its Work Plan and agreed to update it as follows:

Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Work Plan