Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing
Minutes:
Councillor Richardson introduced the report and said he was delighted to introduce to the Council Mid Suffolk’s first Wellbeing Strategy.
By way of background, Councillor Richardson said that Members would be aware that this Strategy was conceived before the pandemic and had been in development for well over a year.
An all member workshop was held in August last year to discuss our priorities followed by an additional workshop in May to consider how the £1 Million wellbeing funding could help to deliver them.
Councillor Richardson stated that this strategy sets out the Council’s priorities and objectives for wellbeing over the next 6 years. If approved it would be followed by a more detailed delivery plan that sets out how the Council would achieve those priorities and objectives and, as mentioned, would be supported by the £1 Million wellbeing funding that the Council agreed back in February. This was important as understanding the Council’s wellbeing priorities would enable the Council to make the most effective use of resources.
Councillor Richardson said that simply put, the Council’s wellbeing vision was that the residents of Mid Suffolk will have the best possible conditions for good wellbeing and will have lives that are healthy, happy and rewarding. It was recognised of course that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on communities, and the Council wants to be explicitly clear that this strategy will play a central role in helping support our residents through the aftermath of this immensely challenging period.
To that end we have identified three overarching long-term outcomes which are: for families to lead active, healthy, safe and independent lives and manage their own health and wellbeing. For communities to have sustainable and inclusive places and spaces which maximise health and wellbeing opportunities and benefits. And to achieve a reduction in health inequalities.
Councillor Richardson informed Council that the strategy spanned the period to 2027 with long term outcomes that were supported by a set of shorter-term outcomes that would focus on the next two years and which would be accompanied by more detailed objectives which were set out in the strategy and in turn would be delivered in partnership with both internal and external stakeholders.
Councillor Richardson pointed out that is was well recognised that the broader determinants of wellbeing were particularly important in ensuring a healthy and happy population and these were also the types of wellbeing issues over which councils have some control and influence, for example: through stimulating our local economy, managing our environment, developing and managing our homes, or by providing leisure facilities to our residents.
This strategy, therefore, did not aim to duplicate the wellbeing aspects contained already within the economy, housing, environment and communities’ strategies. However, these other strategies would be reviewed to ensure that wellbeing outcomes were being optimised and performance in relation to those aspects would be included when reporting on performance in respect to wellbeing.
Councillor Richardson said that in particular the strategy sited the 10 measures of national wellbeing developed by the Office of National Statistics which organises nationally surveyed and gathered data into different areas of life affecting wellbeing. The Council has chosen to adopt these 10 areas with a focus on personal wellbeing, relationships, health, the communities where we live, and what we do with our time. The remaining 5 will then be incorporated into the other strategies that Councillor Richardson had already mentioned and supporting this was extensive data contained at the end of the Strategy which helped to underpin the areas of focus.
Whilst developing the Strategy, however, the Council has not stood still and have delivered a number of projects and supported many of our communities. These included the active schools and the active wellbeing programmes, Chill, Chat and Play, and the outdoor explore and family cooking days, all of which have already had a profoundly positive impact for residents.
In developing this strategy, the Council had also engaged broadly with our two clinical commissioning groups Suffolk County Council, and key community stakeholders. Councillor Richardson emphasised the importance of this as it was crucial to identify clearly the role of a district council and not duplicate the work of other statutory functions such as public health.
Instead, the Council has had an opportunity to look at health and wellbeing in a much broader sense and to enhance the role it plays in supporting
residents and our communities.
Councillor Richardson was exceptionally proud of both this Strategy and the broader purpose behind it. He thanked the officers involved in producing the document in the shadow of the worst global health crisis in a century and felt this was nothing short of heroic. He also recognised the work contributed by Councillor Flatman as Cabinet Member for Communities who lead on this Strategy before his portfolio was created, and Councillor Morley who, as Leader, has been an enthusiastic supporter of the wellbeing agenda.
Finally, Councillor Richardson commended the Strategy as the means of promoting the health and wellbeing of our residents and ensuring that the resources allocated and targeted intelligently to those that need them most.
He then MOVED the recommendations in the report which Councillor Flatman SECONDED.
Councillor Mansel welcomed the Strategy and referred to paragraph 4.11 long term outcomes and asked how it was planned to measure against those outcomes?
In response, Councillor Richardson informed Council that a dedicated delivery plan would be in place, provided the long-term outcomes were agreed. The measures in the delivery plan would provide the mechanism by which we can benchmark against the specific deliverables in place.
Councillor Mansel asked if there was a baseline of where the Council was currently, and had this been benchmarked?
In response, Councillor Richardson informed Council there had been extensive analysis of the data of our performance. The Strategy was the high-level policy and as the delivery plan was brought forward the data would be included in that.
Councillor Eburne asked if it would be possible to use the Strategy in regard to determining planning applications.
In response, Councillor Richardson said that it could not be referenced in a planning determination as it would not carry any weight. However, there had already been discussions about adding aspects of it into the Joint Local Plan and also in future a possible supplementary planning document that referred to this.
Councillor Geake asked if Councillor Richardson would consider lobbying the government to get them to reverse or mitigate the cut of £20 to universal credit.
In response, Councillor Richardson said that although his portfolio was still evolving, he did not consider this to be part of his remit.
Councillor Welham welcomed the Strategy and asked if local ward Councillors would be involved in in delivering the plan in their wards, he also asked if the fact that Babergh had not got as much funding available to deliver the strategy whether this would affect the delivery of the Strategy in Mid Suffolk?
In response, Councillor Richardson stated that cross party workshops had already been held and any ideas and outcomes had been fed into the delivery plan. He was happy to arrange a further workshop and work with ward members in their wards where it was appropriate. With regards to the Babergh funding this would not impact on Mid Suffolk as Mid Suffolk would do whatever it needed to do as part of this agenda.
Councillor Amorowson asked if the Council recognised that GDP was not a good measure of wellbeing and also asked if anything was being done about the detrimental effects of social media particularly on young people and their mental health?
Councillor Richardson in response, stated that the local economy was an enormously significant part of the Strategy and was contained within it. Ten indicators had been pulled out and included and he had made this clear in his introduction. There was a distinction between the role that we can play as a district council and the implementation of the broader welfare state which was not in the remit. With regard to the digital problem there was a comprehensive plan for youth social prescribing where this type of mental health crisis would be picked up and digital awareness monitored.
Councillor Warboys asked if Councillor Richardson would be prepared to exceed the budget he had available to him to meet the ideals in the strategy?
In response Councillor Richardson said he probably would.
Councillor Geake questioned the
short to medium term outcomes for people to have access to
affordable homes that were well built, attractive and in tune with
their surroundings and asked what was in the strategies that could
deliver this?
In response, Councillor Richardson said that aspects of the Strategy will interlink with other strategies and could also be embedded into documents that we do have such as the Joint Local Plan and potentially a supplementary planning document in the future. The Strategy sets out what we want to achieve, and we will go away and try to deliver that.
Councillor Eburne supported the Strategy and said that the approach used to inform the process had been very good and she hoped that it would be used for other processes. Councillor Eburne said she was concerned that the THRIVE index had just been published and Mid Suffolk had dropped in the rankings. Councillor Eburne requested that officers look at what the top councils in the rankings are doing to see if there was anything that could be replicated in Mid Suffolk.
Councillor Burn referred to the comments that had been made regarding the links between planning and the strategy and quoted from an email that the Assistant Director for Planning had sent about the Council’s approach to planning and the significant impact it had on wellbeing.
Councillor Geake requested that the government was lobbied to improve the factors that underpin wellbeing.
Councillor Warboys acknowledged the huge effort that had already been made by the Communities team and the work they were already carrying out in the committee and said that demand was growing, and he was concerned that the budget would not be sufficient.
Councillor Morley said she was immensely proud of the strategy and the work that had gone into producing it and said that partnership working would be the key to achieving this Strategy.
Councillor Welham made a plea to ensure that all councillors were kept involved in the delivery of the Strategy.
In his summing up, Councillor Richardson said that he taken on board the comments of councillors and hoped he would get unanimous support to adopt the strategy.
By unanimous vote
It was RESOLVED: -
(1) The Joint Wellbeing Strategy, attached as Appendix 1 of the report , be approved.
(2) That the Assistant Director for Communities and Wellbeing, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing, be given delegated authority to make future minor amendments and updates to the Strategy in response to changing needs.
(3) After the Strategy has been approved, that the Assistant Director for Communities and Wellbeing in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing, be given delegated authority to develop and implement a Delivery Plan.
(4) That the Delivery Plan and subsequent implementation of the Strategy be supported by the £1m Wellbeing funding agreed by the Council on 18 February 2021.
Supporting documents: