Council and democracy

Agenda item

Thurrock Health and Wellbeing Strategy Refresh 2022-2026 (Decision: 110610)

Minutes:

Councillor Huelin introduced the report and stated that the report included in the agenda did not contain the Chair’s forward, so she requested that an updated version be sent to Cabinet and uploaded onto the website. She explained how the new strategy would form stronger alliances between the NHS and the Council, and would allow the Health and Wellbeing Board to hold bodies such as the NHS accountable. She commented that the Health and Wellbeing Board had a statutory duty to write a Health and Wellbeing Strategy, which the NHS had to take due regard of, and would be one of two high level strategic documents. She explained that the report in the agenda provided a high-level overview and was supported by a 140-page document, which went into more detail regarding areas such as health inequalities. Councillor Huelin added that the strategy sought to undertake a holistic approach to health and wellbeing as it considered other areas such as communities, housing, and the environment, which were outlined in the six domains. She thanked the volunteering sector for their hard work during the consultation phase of the strategy and felt their input had been invaluable. She also thanked the Public Health team and other officers for their hard work in putting the report together. She summarised and invited Cabinet Members to make comment and review the document.

Councillor Johnson welcomed the report and felt it was detailed and would promote joint working across different areas of the Council. He stated that 26% of the population in Thurrock was under the age of 18 and queried how the strategy would include Thurrock’s Local Safeguarding Children Partnership, as a report would be going to Children’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee later in the week on this issue. He felt that safeguarding children should be included in the strategy as vulnerable families were not isolated and multi-agency working was needed to ensure the health and wellbeing of vulnerable children. Councillor Huelin replied that the strategy in the agenda provided an overarching, broad picture and was supported by a variety of documents which went into the finer detail of the strategy. She stated that many directorates had worked on the strategy including Children’s, and they had particularly focussed on how vulnerable children transitioned to adulthood. Councillor Huelin added that a report would be brought forward to Cabinet that would outline the holistic approach being taken to support young people and their familial relationships. She stated that she would take the feedback to officers to ensure that vulnerable children were re-emphasised in the strategy.

Councillor Spillman felt pleased to see that housing had been included in the strategy and felt that linked up working between the housing and public health departments would improve outcomes for Thurrock’s residents. Councillor Huelin thanked Councillor Spillman and housing officers for their support putting together the strategy, and thanked Community Safety Partnership officers for their hard work. Councillor Coxshall highlighted page 26 of the report and felt pleased to see that approximately 750 consultation comments had been received. He also highlighted page 27 of the report and felt pleased that environmental impacts had been considered. He stated that this strategy would help to support the upcoming Local Plan, and would help local residents survive and thrive. Councillor Huelin felt that the consultation for the strategy had been good and had involved many local partners and residents, both online and in-person through events such as supermarket drop-ins.

The Leader drew Cabinet’s attention to page 47 of the agenda and felt it was good to see many different communities being included in the strategy, alongside mental health. He queried page 46 and asked for the phrase ‘tobacco control’ to be amended to read either ‘tobacco advice’ or ‘addiction help’. Councillor Abbas agreed that it was good to see diverse communities included in the strategy. He stated that he would be meeting with marginalised groups later in the month to ensure these communities were engaged with directly and had their issues heard.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet:

1. Reviewed and commented on the final draft Strategy at Appendix 1, considering the proposed Domain and Goals.

Reason for decision: as outlined in the report
This decision is subject to call-in

Supporting documents: