Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

Apologies were received from Graham Farrant, Glynn Barton, Matthew Barrant, Dawn Dawson, Siobahn Harrington, Mark House, Karen Loftus and Heather Dixie.

To receive information on any changes in the membership of the Committee.

Note – When a member of a Committee is unable to attend a meeting of a Committee or Sub-Committee, the relevant Political Group Leader (or their nominated representative) may, by notice to the Monitoring Officer (or their nominated representative) prior to the meeting, appoint a substitute member from within the same Political Group. The contact details on the front of this agenda should be used for notifications.

Richard Renault substituted for Siobhan Harrington.

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

There were none on this occasion.

To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution. Further information on the requirements for submitting these is available to view at the following link:-

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/documents/s2305/Public%20Items%20-%20Meeting%20Procedure%20Rules.pdf 

The deadline for the submission of public questions is midday on Tuesday 7 January 2025 [three clear working days before the meeting].

The deadline for the submission of a statement is midday on Friday 10 January 2025 [the working day before the meeting].

The deadline for the submission of a petition is Friday 27 December 2024 {10 working days before the meeting].

There were none on this occasion.

To receive a presentation informing the Board of the work of Community Action Network (CAN).

The Chair advised that the Chief Executive of the Community Action Network was unable to attend the meeting today and had requested that the presentation to the Board be deferred to its next meeting.

The BCP Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) publishes an Annual Report each year and is required, as set out in the Care Act 2014, to present this to the Council’s Health & Wellbeing Board.  Many Councils also request that the report is presented to Scrutiny as the report enables a discussion on the work of the Safeguarding Adults Board.

The attached report is for the year April 2023 to March 2024.The report was agreed at the September meeting of the BCP Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB).

The BCP SAB has successfully worked together with the Dorset SAB with joint meetings over the year.

This year we have published 2 separate Annual Reports, one for each of the Boards as they are separately constituted. Throughout 23-24 The BCP SAB has delivered against all priorities which are set out in the annual work plan; this Annual Report summarises what the Board has achieved.

The Independent Chair of the BCP Safeguarding Adults Board presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A’ to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The Board was advised that the BCP Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) publishes an Annual Report each year and is required, as set out in the Care Act 2014, to present this to the Council’s Health & Wellbeing Board.  Many Councils also request that the report is presented to Scrutiny as the report enables a discussion on the work of the Safeguarding Adults Board.

The report covered the period from April 2023 to March 2024.The report was agreed at the September meeting of the BCP Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB). The Chair informed that Board that the BCP SAB had successfully worked together with the Dorset SAB with joint meetings over the year.

It was reported that this year the SAB had published 2 separate Annual Reports, one for each of the Boards as they are separately constituted. Throughout 2023-24 the BCP SAB had delivered against all priorities which were set out in the annual work plan; this Annual Report summarises what the Board had achieved.

It was noted that the report was separated out for the different areas and was done in response to requests from Scrutiny and the Health and Wellbeing Board. It was noted that the current Chair’s contract was due to expire in April but they had agreed to continue for a 2 year extension at the request of the Board and this was greatly valued and welcomed.

It was noted that the report was very comprehensive and presented in a helpful format, particularly the challenges and achievements presented to the Board and it was helpful to have the partners work highlighted in this way.

The Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board placed on record thanks to the Chair and the Board for its work.

RESOLVED that the report which informs how the SAB has carried out its responsibilities to prevent abuse, harm and neglect of adults with care and support needs during 2023-2024 be noted.

Each Health and Wellbeing Board must have a process for Joint Strategic Needs Assessment. The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act (2007) sets out the role and responsibility of the Health and Wellbeing Board for this work. The current JSNA process is co-ordinated by Public Health Dorset and involves annual strategic narrative updates alongside deep dives into specific topic and cohort areas. As the Public Health Dorset service will be disaggregated into two public health teams on the 1^st April 2025, system discussions will be held to review how this responsibility is best discharged going forwards. 

This paper updates progress towards the development of a Children and Young People’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, presenting the proposed contents and structure developed through scoping discussions.

The Team Leader, Intelligence, Public Health Dorset presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'B' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The Board was advised that it must have a process for Joint Strategic Needs Assessment. The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act (2007) sets out the role and responsibility of the Health and Wellbeing Board for this work. The JSNA was a statutory process was co-ordinated by Public Health Dorset and involves annual strategic narrative updates alongside deep dives into specific topic and cohort areas. As the Public Health Dorset service would be disaggregated into two public health teams on 1 April 2025, system discussions would be held to review how this responsibility was best discharged going forward. 

The report updated the Board on progress towards the development of a Children and Young People’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment. It presented the proposed contents and structure developed through scoping discussions. The assessment considered a range of wider factors which affected health and wellbeing and included a range of qualitative and quantitative assessments. Scoping had been undertaken to ascertain what should be included within the assessment. This included the key trends affecting young people and their families, facilities and geographical issues and what were the current trends in health and wellbeing for children and families.

It was noted that this was a comprehensive undertaking and was welcomed by Children’s Services. It was noted that the Children and Young people’s partnership plan should also dovetail with this.

It was welcomed that the assessment was also looking into those issues which were on the horizon, such as the prospect of a smoke free generation. The assessment itself would include data on both smoking and vaping and would also consider how the new legislation on this issue would factor into the future of children’s health on this issue.

It was asked if Artificial Intelligence had been investigated and how this might help with health outcomes and if there was anything to share. It was agreed this was an interesting consideration which could be included within the JSNA and how it may be able to help with personalised interventions of specialised apps to support people health. It was also noted that it would be interesting to follow the Online Safety Bill and how this translated through to digital health. Lots of organisations already used a lot of digital options but this was separate to the work being done with the JSNA.

An issue was raised regarding the context and what would be done in the future moving from a responsive to a preventative agenda and how the information within the JSNA could be used to respond to this and move to a better place of understanding.

In response to an offer for how the Board and partners may be able to help it was noted that it may be useful to discuss in future those areas within the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

This report provides an overview of the Quarter 2 Report of the Better Care Fund (BCF) for 2024-25.

The BCF is a key delivery vehicle in providing person centred integrated care with health, social care, housing, and other public services, which is fundamental to having a strong and sustainable health and care system.

The report is a part of the requirements set by the Better Care Fund 2023-25 Policy Framework. The report needs to be jointly agreed and signed off by the Health and Wellbeing Board as one of the planning requirements.

The Better Care Fund Commissioning Manager for BCP Council presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'C' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

NHS England (NHSE) require the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) to approve all BCF plans, this is one of the national conditions within the Policy Framework. This includes planning documents at the beginning of a funding period, and template returns reporting progress against the plans quarterly.

This report provides an overview of the Quarter 2 Report of the Better Care Fund (BCF) for 2024-25. The BCF is a key delivery vehicle in providing person centred integrated care with health, social care, housing, and other public services, which is fundamental to having a strong and sustainable health and care system.

The report was a part of the requirements set by the Better Care Fund 2023-25 Policy Framework. The report needs to be jointly agreed and signed off by the Health and Wellbeing Board as one of the planning requirements. This was previously brought to the Health and Wellbeing Board in 2023-24.

The Board was advised that there was a transformation programme going ahead which should help reduce admissions but there were plans for better access to community schemes.

A concern was raised that the report had not reached a point which was able to detail a core set of issues which were trying to be addressed. It was noted that the Better Care Fund paid for a number of schemes including disabled facilities grant, housing adaptations, supporting unpaid carers and intermediate care services.

It was felt that there needed to be a better understanding on whether the Better Care Fund was providing good value for money in terms of the impact that the services it was delivering was having.

The Board asked about the inconsistency in the delivery and accessibility of some of the services and it was suggested that having access to these across BCP was important.

It was suggested that the Board identify three key issues which could be tracked over the next few quarters to identify the impact and the experience of the people receiving the services. It was noted that the Better Care Fund was at a stage where a review period needed to be built-in and this would be able to inform the direction of travel and if things had changed.

It was noted that the annual report was due in May and this would be able to address the granular detail. Consideration needed to be given regarding whether the right people were being targeted and what difference was being made. There was further discussion on the different groups who were being supported by the fund and the amount of funding available and how this was divided across a number of different schemes. It was felt that the review would need to be instigated before the annual review was due in May.

RESOLVED that:

1. Plans are commenced  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

To receive a presentation updating the Board on the results of a survey regarding the Strategy’s refresh.

The Director of Public Health presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'D' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The Board was advised that at the previous meeting Board Members agreed for a short survey to be used to capture views on the approach to refreshing the strategy. This was sent to a distribution list of current and former board members in December 2024. There were 11 responses received by the close of the survey in mid-December.

The Board was informed that the general themes arising from the survey were:

General themes / principles from responses

·       Develop an understanding of the Health and Wellbeing Board’s remit

·       Identify a topic area that we can champion, monitor and drive forward

·       Opportunity to convene system partners to share work programmes progressing in relation to health and wellbeing

·       Support the inclusion of health and wellbeing issues in all policies

·       Consider relevant data and metrics to monitor progress

·       Focus on working together and co-production – the board could act as a bridge between strategies

·       Clarify connection with Place Based Partnership and Integrated Neighbourhood Teams development

The Board questioned how the Health and Wellbeing Boards and their strategies could be repositioned as an important foundation for good decision making in local government, particularly in relation to local government organisation. It was asked how the profile could be raised for the objectives in order to understand impacts and what the priorities should be going forward. The Health and Wellbeing Board could be made stronger and it was felt that it could be the place where issues were championed and drove issues forward.

The Board questioned the number of responses received and whether this was inline with expectations and whether this could be improved on. It was suggested that the response rate was generally expected. There was still opportunity for the Board to take the information and form it into a draft strategy before reconsulting.

The Board supported the inclusion of health and wellbeing within all policies across the Council and a number of the areas which were highlighted within the presentation, including Housing and Children. The Board felt that it was important to consider the direction of the Board and where the focus of the Board should be placed going forward.

RESOLVED that a draft strategy be presented to a future Board meeting and circulated to Board members along with a survey, based on the feedback received and using the integrated care strategy themes to form the structure in line with the Council Vision.

To consider the Board’s Forward Plan.

The Chair advised that the CAN presentation would go to the next meeting on 24 March and the Q3 return for the better care fund was already included on the agenda.

It was suggested that the draft strategy could be brought to the March meeting but timings on this needed to be confirmed. Volunteers were asked for to assist with this within a planning meeting for the Health and Wellbeing Board to develop. It was noted that support would be needed to drive this forward, and this would be discussed further outside of the meeting.

The following items were suggested to be added to the Board’s Forward Plan:

• An update from the Urgent Emergency Care Board should be included at a future meeting with a date and format to be determined.
• An offer to present on the work of the community safety partnership at a future meeting was made and welcomed for potentially the next meeting.
• The Children and Young People’s Partnership Plan to the May meeting.
• A briefing on the changing role of hospitals could be either brought to the Board or to a wider Council briefing.

The Chair thanked the Director of Public Health for his work as this was potentially their last meeting prior to the reorganisation of Public Health.