Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee held on 17^th March 2021 were approved as a true record.

(Moved by Councillor P Brindley and seconded by Councillor M Greatorex)

There were no declarations of interest.

Please see the link to the Forward Plan:

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

It was reported that the Tamworth Community Safety Partnership Plan had been considered by the Infrastructure Safety & Growth Scrutiny Committee at its March meeting, and no further items were identified by the Committee from the Forward Plan for this Committee’s consideration.

Councillor J Faulkner joined the meeting at 6.08pm.

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

The Chair welcomed Councillor S Doyle, the Portfolio Holder for Regulatory and Community Safety, Ms J Sands, the Assistant Director Partnerships and Ms S Ivey, the Partnership Vulnerability Officer to the meeting to provide the second biannual safeguarding update to the Committee.

Councillor M Oates joined the meeting at 6.20pm.

Councillor Doyle introduced Ms Ivey who took the Committee through the Report and highlighted the following:

1.     Details of the referrals made for the full year, which were reported to be 64 in total; 22 in respect of children and 42 in respect of adults.  Compared to referrals in the previous municipal year, these numbers were slightly lower.

2.     The ongoing safeguarding training, as well as the guidance embedded in the updated policy and procedures in respect of suicide awareness and prevention and briefing sessions in this regard for frontline staff.

3.     The ongoing work with the partnership team at Newcastle Borough Council to develop safeguarding training webinars for taxi drivers.

4.     The partnership approach to Modern Slavery, Human Trafficking and Contextual Safeguarding, including the partnership team’s involvement with the Staffordshire County Council Families First Child Exploitation Coordinator, and the additional projects which provided relevant support, including the Sapling project, the Vulnerable Adolescence Support Programme and Prevent work were highlighted.

5.     The weekly partnership meeting and ongoing work with the Tamworth Vulnerability Partnership.

The Committee sought and received clarification on:

1.     The impact of the pandemic on both the referral figures and working arrangements for staff, and it was reported that the above referral figures were those made by staff and that the safeguarding team through the partnership working arrangements were aware of a broader picture.

2.     In terms of modern slavery, it was reported that the council co-operated with the tier 1 authority and worked closely with the local police.

RESOLVED to endorse the Report.

(Moved by Councillor R Ford and seconded by Councillor S Peaple)

The Committee thanked Councillor Doyle and the Officers for their presentation.

Report of the Chair of the Young People Working Group

The Chair invited Councillor P Brindley, as Chair of the Young People Working Group to highlight the outcomes of the working group to the Committee, and to invite any members of the Committee and Councillor Doyle and Officers to comment.

Councillor Brindley highlighted the following:

1.     That the focus of the work group was on the effects of the pandemic and the resulting needs of young people post pandemic in Tamworth;

2.     The national research which the working group had considered, which included (i) research covering young people into young adulthood where the mental health issues for that age group appeared greater than in the older adults cohort (ii) the fact that younger people had found the January 2021 lockdown harder to cope with than previous ones, (iii) that social isolation and loneliness was a major issue for young people;

3.     That there was concern over impacts on school work and uncertainty about exam grades and worries about the future.

Councillor Brindley reported that the working group’s recommendation was to recommend that a new working group begin work in liaison with Officers and partners to create a strategy to support young people in Tamworth.

The Committee and Officers discussed the existing support that was available and which was provided by Staffordshire County Council and through other partners, such as SCYVS, as well as recent funding from Government which had been directed to provide a Staffordshire wide Young People’s Offer, which was at an early stage of development. 

RESOLVED that:

1.     The Young People Working Group continue in the same form into the new municipal year;

2.     A meeting be organised to scope any future working group and strategy going forwards, and the following be invited to attend; (i) the three Councillor working group members (ii) relevant Council Officer(s) (iii) relevant Staffordshire County Council Officer(s) (iii) representatives of partner organisations and (iv) the relevant Portfolio Holder.

(Moved by Councillor P Brindley and seconded by Councillor S Peaple)

The Chair thanked the Officers and Portfolio Holder who then left the meeting.

To consider items for 2020/2021 Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee Work Plan

The Committee considered the work plan and updated it as follows:

Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Work Plan

(Report of the Chair of the Committee)

The Chair highlighted to members that the draft Annual Report had been brought to the Committee for any comments prior to it being finalised and presented to Council in the next municipal year.

The Chair thanked members for their attendance and work on the Committee, which as the Annual Report indicated had been an incredibly busy year.