Agenda and minutes

County Councillor Batrouni was elected as Chair.

None.

No matters for the public open forum.

It was agreed that the minutes be referred to the next meeting.

The Aneurin Bevan University Health Board is the final partner to be held to account on their progress in delivering on the 6 Steps outlined in the Well-being Plan. The ABUHB presented on the Mental Health of Children and Young People.  Key findings included:

-          Interventions haven’t been early enough and thought needs to be given to critical interventions that could make a real difference.

-          There has been a substantial increase in referrals for mental health problems via GP’s and children’s services.

-          Deprived areas of Monmouthshire are at greatest risk, with research evidencing that children growing up in deprived communities within affluent areas are at significant risk of identifying the social divide ~ these children know they are deprived and the gap of inequality can create significant mental health problems

-          Adult mental health problems can be traced back to problems from 14 years, so early intervention is crucial and links with the Adverse Childhood Experience work that has already been presented to the committee. There is a need to address ‘generational issues’ with the help of family services team.

-          Mental Health Issues have been identified by the Youth Forum as a key priority and we need to listen to young people about their major concerns about their future.

-          Monmouthshire’s response needs to be different to some of the other local authorities due to nuances.  

There is a significant piece of work taking place across Gwent on targeting children’s mental health at an early stages as follows:

·       Building a culture of support for professionals and supporting families as opposed to the child in isolation

·       Addressing silos across different teams who provide mental health care needs through the creation of multi-agency teams which are being established across Monmouthshire (currently Caldicot). Members challenged how silos are being addressed through the ‘Early Help Panel’ which brings agencies together.

·       The provision of peer support through peri-natal mental health support services, diversifying school health nursing to include mental health needs, community psychology support embedded in schools and “Circle of security” work on attachment issues.

Challenge:

Ø  There was challenge around how silos are addressed, the committee feeling reassured that work is being undertaken to address this. There are arrangements for local authorities to refer across county, although referring across to England can be more difficult.

Ø  Members challenged ABUHB on how confident they are that they are addressing this. The committee heard that the service offered to young people who didn’t present with very serious mental health needs was very poor. This has now changed since the advent of the ‘Early Help Panel’, GP’s and teachers now knowing how to make referrals, so a wait of 18 months has changed dramatically with families being able to access help within weeks. Whilst the picture has improved dramatically, it isn’t perfect.

Ø  The committee were concerned about the funding situation, given that the transformation fund is available until 2021 and the ‘integrated care funding’ received historically has been absorbed into health and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

There was broad satisfaction with the content within the PSB annual report, points of challenge being:

-          The committee had concerns with how we measure performance on national goals and how we weigh the 7 national goals and justify to Welsh Government if any of these goals are not achieved. They were advised that we need to attempt to deliver on these and if we can’t deliver on all 7 goals, as a public body, we need to demonstrate that we understand why we haven’t delivered on all of the goals and to evidence that we have given them appropriate consideration. Members challenged the goal of “equal wales”, the committee being concerned how we define this and how we measure it.  They were advised that the key principle is to understand what we can do to improve people’s well-being through listening to people in the community on what matters to them, accepting that people’s aspirations will be different.  

-          Members questioned how we target child poverty, given that there are various definitions and were advised that actions being taken to address child poverty are based upon the evidence base for child poverty plan.

Outcome:

The Committee were content with the PSB Annual Report and requested circulation of the following:

-          For clarity on the definitions of the 7 national goals ~ the Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015 guidance.

-          In terms of how we target child poverty ~ ‘A picture of Poverty in Monmouthshire 2017’ plan.

-          Confirmation of the ‘average worthwhile score’ under the Office for National Statistics ‘Measuring National Well-being Programme’.  

The report proposed an extension to the remit of the select committee to scrutinise wider public service delivery and a change to the committee’s title to reflect the change in role was agreed by members who welcomed the opportunity to scrutinise collaborative service delivery and partnerships. It was agreed that this should be taken to Council for a decision.

Given the change to the role and remit of the committee, it was agreed to defer the work programme.

Noted.