Agenda and minutes

At this point in the meeting, members are asked to declare any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests, any prejudicial interests or any disclosable pecuniary interests which they may have in respect of business on this agenda.

At this point in the meeting, Members were asked to declare any personal interests not included on the register of interests, any prejudicial interests or any disclosable pecuniary interests which they may have in respect of business on this agenda.  None were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meetings held on 15 January 2019, 12 February 2019 and 12 March 2019.

Resolved:  That the minutes from the previous three meetings of this committee held on 15 January, 12 February and 12 March 2019 be approved and signed as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting, members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Committee’s remit can do so. The deadline for registering is 5:00pm on Monday 17 June 2019.

Filming, Recording or Webcasting Meetings

Please note that, subject to available resources, this meeting will be filmed and webcast, or recorded, including any registered public speakers who have given their permission. This broadcast can be viewed at: http://www.york.gov.uk/webcasts.

Residents are welcome to photograph, film or record Councillors and Officers at all meetings open to the press and public. This includes the use of social media reporting, i.e. tweeting.  Anyone wishing to film, record or take photos at any public meeting should contact the Democracy Officer (whose contact details are at the foot of this agenda) in advance of the meeting.

The Council’s protocol on Webcasting, Filming & Recording of Meetings ensures that these practices are carried out in a manner both respectful to the conduct of the meeting and all those present.  It can be viewed at: http://www.york.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/11406/protocol_for_webcasting_filming_and_recording_of_council_meetings_20160809.pdf

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

This report highlights the structure for the Council’s provision of the scrutiny function and the resources available to support it. It also details the current terms of reference for the individual Policy & Scrutiny Committees.

Members received a report highlighting the structure for the Council’s provision of the scrutiny function and the resources available to support it. Scrutiny Officer, Steve Entwistle, was in attendance to present the item and answer questions from Members.

In response to questions regarding the work of the preceding committee, the officer stated that the committee had been encumbered by it’s heavy work load in recent years. It was hoped that the removal of the Housing and Community Safety element and the creation of a new Scrutiny Committee would reduce this committee’s workload and give Members the chance to pursue more detailed scrutiny objectives.

Members were keen to know whether they could influence the presentation and content of reports to the committee. The officer informed Members that they could and that a meeting between Scrutiny Chairs and Vice Chairs had been arranged for 1 July 2019 to discuss that issue.

The Director of Public Health will give a verbal presentation on her statutory responsibilities and the priorities and challenges for Public Health in York.

The Director of Public Health was in attendance to introduce the committee to the Public Health aspect of this committee’s remit and answer Member questions.

The Director highlighted the statutory responsibilities of Public Health and explained that the position of Director of Public Health has to have a level of independence from the Council.

The Director then highlighted some particular areas of work to the committee and explained Public Health’s responsibilities in relation to the following:

-      Healthy Child Programme

-      Healthy Start Programme

-      National Child Measurement Programme

-      Sexual Health and Contraception Services

-      NHS Health Checks

-      Health Protection

-      Provision of advice to Commissioners

It was noted by the Director that Smoking Cessation and Alcohol Services were asterisked. This was due to the fact that even though that they are not defined  in the Health and Social Care Act 2012, they are in a way mandatory as Public Health has to demonstrate that they are delivering those services.

The Director spoke briefly about a number of non – mandated areas of Public Health work that were based on local need including a Healthy Child Programme for school age, dental public health, Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, Obesity Prevention, Increasing Physical Activity and Workplace Health.

The Director highlighted the following areas as current challenges for York:

-      Health inequality between men and women in the most deprived parts of the city

-      Obesity in reception age children

-      Alcohol related Hospital Admissions

-      Self Harm related Hospital Admissions

-      Smoking in Pregnancy

-      Uptake of Screening Programmes

-      Resources and Capacity

The Director went on to speak about ‘Health in all Policies’ which describes the importance of thinking about the wider determinants of health issues and understanding how we can work with our partners to improve the health of the City.

The Director went on to highlight some potential areas for the committee to focus on including:

-      Children’s Healthy Weight

-      Alcohol consumption

Members were keen to receive information from the Director on the Public Health budget and where the money is spent and to know what percentage of the hospital admissions from Alcohol were York residents. The Director said she would be pleased to share the budgetary information with Members of the committee. The Director said that unfortunately the detail on hospital admissions often had a two or three year time delay however Public Health and partners were working together on establishing real time information. The Director confirmed that she would share what she could.

To consider the draft Work Plan for 2019/20.

Members discussed the Draft Work Plan for 2019/20.

The Scrutiny Officer highlighted that the following dates had been confirmed for future meetings:

-      30 July

-      17 September

-      23 October

It was also noted that there would be a change to the date in November and this would be reported at the next meeting.

The committee agreed to move the following items from July to September’s meeting:

-      Six monthly Quality Monitoring Report – Residential, Nursing and Homecare Services

-      Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Annual Assurance Report

It was noted that the Assistant Director of Health and Adult Social Care would speak with the Chair and potentially organise a briefing session for Member’s of the Committee.