Agenda and draft minutes

All Members who believe they have a Disclosable Pecuniary or other Interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting must declare that interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in Section 9 and Appendix B of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter is discussed.

No declarations were made.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 31 May 2022 be approved as a correct record.

The SBC Joint Director of Public Health provided a brief overview of the Directors of Public Health Annual Report 2021-22.

He also shared the following link:

Berkshire Public Health Annual Report 2021/22 - Public Health Annual Report 2021/22

Following a question about whether the food sustainability initiatives were linked into the Council’s and its partners’ poverty initiatives, the SBC Joint Director confirmed this was the case, particularly in relation to healthy eating and food use schemes, which would be developed further.

Following a question regarding how school children and adults from deprived backgrounds would be encouraged to adopt new healthy behaviours, the SBC Joint Director advised that it would be important to take a holistic, system-wide approach and encourage children and young people to adopt healthy cooking and eating habits. This would be achieved by building on partnership working with schools and families to encourage the uptake of healthy cooking and healthy eating habits and by capitalising on any existing initiatives.

The Chair asked Board Members whether their organisations had taken on board the Council’s climate change pledges.

The representative from the fire service responded that the service was looking at reducing its carbon footprint. For example, its fleet was being assessed for conversion to electric vehicles but that this endeavour was in its early stages.

The representative from the police service advised that this fell within the remit of a central government department, which was looking at the service’s fleet, estates, etc and had recently introduced hybrid working.

The SBC Joint Director stated that the NHS was taking a sustainable and green approach. 

The Vice Chair stated GP practices were tackling this issue through mandatory training and changes in how practices were run, how materials were used and the disposal of clinical waste and recycling.

The representative from the DWP stated that the department operated within a national directive which oversaw operational delivery. It aimed to influence businesses to recruit staff locally, worked with local training providers to offer training and introduced a bicycle scheme in a bid to reduce car journeys. It was working with the Council and Heathrow airport to encourage local bus companies to lower their rates in a bid to reduce car journeys to and from the airport.

The SBC Interim Executive Director of People (children) stated that there was scheme where care leavers were provided with second hand bicycles in a bid to reduce car use.

Following a question regarding whether there any initiatives to educate  those on benefits about climate change issues, the representative from the DWP advised that the majority of funding was aimed at aiding those fit for work, to gain employment.  The service offered clients medium/high level online skills training focussed on employment. He would discuss the matter further with the vice chair outside the meeting.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

The Integration Delivery Lead from Frimley introduced the report ‘Update, Priority Two, Integration and Social Care Partnership Board’.

Following questions and comments, he advised that the sub-group was focussed on outreach work for children which was being scoped with the public health team, the school nursing service and the ICS maternity service lead. The BCF would support the SEND action planning and a new SEND officer would shortly be appointed. There was a co-production network, whereby all initiatives would be co-produced and co-designed with partners, relevant stakeholders and local residents.

Following a question from the Chair about arranging joint training with partners, he undertook to discuss the matter further with the Director of Operations.

The Vice Chair emphasised the importance of seeking evidence of co-production in all health related projects.  He had recently attended the Frimley ICB integration workshop, where Slough had been strongly represented. A key phenomenon highlighted at the workshop was the fact that 20-25 of the most common chronic medical conditions, (ie those which cause the most problems to sufferers) were disproportionately prevalent in deciles 1 and 2, ie, among the most economically deprived groups. It was therefore imperative to tackle the causes of deprivation and provide funding to tackle these issues.

The Chair concurred that tackling the wider determinants of health was key, as was partnership work and increased funding to initiatives focussed on prevention in order to maximise the benefits to the community.

Action 1: The Board to encourage and promote the co-production and co-commission of services; and to encourage resident involvement in decision-making about service provision and how money was spent.

Action 2: Further explore joint training of staff with the aim of sharing information and good practice; and signposting residents to relevant information and services.  

Action 3: The Vice Chair to feedback the Board’s comments on integration to the ICS, emphasising the importance of tackling the wider determinants of health.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

Councillor Hulme joined the meeting.

The SBC Strategy & Policy Lead tabled the following documents and provided a brief summary of each:

1. Census Data Release
2. Local & National Policy Update
3. Media Literacy Taskforce Fund
4. Youth Endowment Fund

Following questions, the SBC Strategy & Policy Lead advised that the 0-15 age group made up 22.5% of Slough’s population.  He added that the size of the 20-35 age group had decreased in recent years.

Following further questions, he confirmed that the Council was looking into a social value policy as part of its new corporate plan. He stated that he would confirm the percentage of the population in the 0-19 age range after the meeting.

He added that further briefings would be produced as additional census data sets were released in the autumn of 2022.  This information could help inform the soon to be revised Wellbeing Strategy.

Following a question, the SBC Strategy & Policy Lead advised that the population density data related to England and Wales and not to Scotland.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

The SBC Interim Executive Director, People (Children) provided an overview of the report Children and Young People Update report. He added that there was an error on the report and that the CYPP would not be temporarily disbanded as stated in the report, but rather the focus would shift to early help, strategy and more frequent meetings of the task and finish group.

Board members concurred on the importance of strengthening partnership working and involving the community, and the development of an early help strategy for young people.  The SBC Interim Executive Director stated that a task and finish group would evaluate how to deliver the outcomes set out in the report and that further update report would be submitted to the Board later in the year.

Following a question, the SBC Interim Executive Director advised that the early help would be available for all children. Support would be focussed on those areas of the borough with the greatest need, experiencing significant public health issues such as obesity, high infant mortality, tooth decay and other issues which continued to have an effect in adulthood.

Resolved - That the report be noted.

The SBC Joint Director of Public Health provided an overview of the East Berkshire JSNA, progress to date, future direction of the JSNA and revised timescales.

He shared the link below to the JSNA website:

Berkshire East JSNA (berkshirepublichealth.co.uk)

Following a question, the SBC Joint Director responded that local councils and their partners had been asked to provide plans to improve their treatment and recovery systems and that the government would be providing additional funding for this.

Resolved – that the report be noted.

The SBC Strategy & Policy Lead advised that 2 items listed on the work programme, namely the Strong Healthy & Attractive Neighbourhoods report and the update on the Slough equalities review had been deferred to the November 2022 meeting of the Board.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

The Chair stated that the Board had received a fairly detailed update on ICS and Place at the previous meeting. The Associate Director, People, Adults  advised that there was no specific update further to this. He advised that both he and the Director of Operations for Slough had weekly meetings where discussion was focused on key issues.

Resolved – That the verbal update be noted.

20 September 2022.

20 September 2022.