Issue - meetings

Report by the Acting Director of Public Health

43.1     The Acting Director of Public Health introduced the report. The Committee thanked officers for the detailed progress report on the three tranches of projects receiving one-off funding. It commented that there is a total of £6.3m worth of one-off projects in Tranche 2, of which almost £4m is linked to the Community Resilience programme. A summary of the key points raised during the discussion of the report is given below.

43.2     Suicide Prevention.

·        This has been a successful project with a number of aspects moved into mainstream service provision. Work from the project has been included as a case study in the nationally published Public Health England Local Suicide Prevention Planning document. The Committee asked if it was possible to quantify the number of lives saved. The Chair indicted that records of the Beachy Head Chaplaincy show that they intercept around one suicidal person per day, equating to around 350 people a year and that they prevent around 9 out of 10 people they intercept from committing suicide. The Acting Director of Public Health confirmed that Public Health will continue working on Suicide Prevention as it is a core function and so is reflected in mainstream budgets.

43.3     Safer Streets – East Sussex Road Safety Programme

·        The Public Health team are working with colleagues in the Communities, Economy and Transport (CET) department who are delivering this project. A joint Review Board was established with the Economy, Transport and Environment (ETE) Scrutiny Committee who received an update report at their meeting held on the 14 September 2016. The Senior Democratic Services Advisor to email a copy of the report to the Committee.

·        A further project progress report will be presented to the ETE Scrutiny Committee in June 2017. Implementing 20 mph zones is one of the areas of work being considered by the East Sussex Road Safety Programme, as well as other speed reduction and road safety engineering schemes. However, the main focus is on driver behaviour and how to change it.

43.4     Reduced incidents of self-harm in young people

·        This project is finished and was reviewed by a cross Council group and is achieving some success in reducing self-harm.

43.5     Addressing Obesity

·        Obesity figures are of concern. The Committee asked who is going to deliver some of these programmes in schools and whether the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee is receiving updates on the programmes.  The Acting Director of Public Health will follow this up with Children’s Services so that the Scrutiny Committee receives the information.

43.6     Re-Offending levels.

·        The Committee asked if this project had achieved a step change in re-offending rates.  The Acting Director of Public Health outlined that this area will need continued intervention, but will get an update from Children’s Services for the Committee.

43.7     Community Resilience

·        The Community Resilience programme work is reviewed by the East Sussex Better Together (ESBT) Programme Board. The Acting Director of Public Health explained that the programme seeks to achieve greater Community Resilience by building upon assets within communities and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43

Report by the Acting Director of Public Health

56.1     The Committee considered a report by the Acting Director of Public Health which provided an update on the two tranches of one-off projects which sought to create or support a step change in addressing public health outcomes where East Sussex is performing significantly worse against Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF) indicators than in other areas.

Beachy Head

56.2     The Acting Director confirmed that the pilots established at Beachy Head would be evaluated, to determine whether the interventions had been successful.  In terms of long term sustainability, she confirmed that should the pilots be assessed as successful, then they would be considered by the Mental Health Services joint Commissioner for prioritisation.

Community Resilience

56.3     The Acting Director confirmed that the next meeting of the East Sussex Better Together Scrutiny Committee would focus on Community Resilience, and that the High Weald Lewes Havens CCG is part of the community resilience steering group designing and implementing the work stream.

56.4     The appropriate level of geographic areas was discussed, with the suggestion that something more local area-specific than Localities may be necessary.  The Acting Director confirmed that although implementation was through localities, areas at a much lower level, such as villages or states, would be part of the approach.  The target of the development of sustainable resilience from within communities was reiterated.  The Committee expressed a wish to see partnership working with Universities, particularly with the sociology or geography schools, in studying and researching the subject if the opportunity arose and/or through any commissioning of external support.     

Safer Streets/Road Safety 

56.5     The Committee discussed the Safer Streets project of Tranche 1 and the work on speed limits in Tranche 2.  The Acting Director confirmed that a strong business case had been put forward for each of the 20mph schemes included in Tranche 2, and highlighted the work of the Joint Scrutiny Board in looking at driver behaviour, with tailored education for specific audiences, to address the Killed and Seriously Injured figures.  

Tobacco control

56.6     The link to the Quarterly Monitoring target for smoking cessation (currently 3386) was highlighted and the matters beyond the authority’s control that could impact on achievement of that target.  The Acting Director set out that the target was a PHOF outcome indicator, and that smoking cessation services used different approaches to target support, as different individuals need different support to stop smoking.  She highlighted the work done with particularly vulnerable groups, such as maternity services to reduce smoking during pregnancy, and the work in schools to reduce children and young people smoking. 

56.7     The Committee RESOLVED to (1) note the report and thank officers for their work in respect of the projects, especially in previously hard to reach areas;

(2) note the work across all three CCG areas;

(3) note the work by the department and the Joint Scrutiny Board on the safer streets and road safety issue; and

(4) note the efforts made by the department in addressing a Tobacco Free East Sussex and the PHOF indicator.

Report by the Acting Director of Public Health

24.1     The Committee considered a report by the Acting Director of Public Health which provided an update on the progress of the Public Health Grant unallocated reserve one-off funded proposals. 

24.2     The Committee was informed that the Department of Health consultation on the methodology for the in-year reduction to the Public Health budget had closed in August, and the outcome was awaited. It has also been signalled that the Department of Health will require recurring savings to be made but there is no further detail on the methodology for that to date.

24.3     The Committee discussed Community Resilience and was apprised of how this work links with the Locality Team development which is a core part of East Sussex Better Together. The projected funding for Community Resilience is informed by evidence from a project in Cumbria.  The work on Community Resilience will seek though localised programmes to reduce demands on health services.    

24.4     The Committee picked up other strands in the report: falls prevention, young people’s mental health, speed reduction and reducing social isolation through technology.  The Director of Adult Social Care and Health reinforced the point that some of the funding was for pilots to allow assessment of the impact of the proposals, which may lead to a revised way of working should the pilot demonstrate a cost-effective and sustainable alternative approach when set against all the other competing demands and savings requirements.  With regard to falls prevention, the Director set out that an increased use of technology, funded from the community care budget, to monitor those vulnerable to falls had led to a decrease in incidents and therefore a reduction in budget pressure. 

24.5     There was general agreement that future monitoring of the one-off projects should be undertaken by the relevant service Scrutiny Committee.   

24.6     RESOLVED to (1) note the report; and

(2) request a further update on the programme of one-off funded projects including more detail on the community resilience work, to examine value for money, within six months.