To receive apologies for absence, including notifications of any changes to the membership of the Board.

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Atiya-Alla and it was reported that, in accordance with the wishes of the Independent Group, the membership of the Board had been amended to include Councillor Mills in place of Councillor Kennedy.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Board held on  13 April 2022.

The minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 13 April 2022 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairwoman.

To review the Action Plans arising from the workshops held in respect of Turning the Tide on Poverty and to consider making recommendations to the Cabinet.

The Director of Public Health presented the submitted report which provided an update on the actions arising from the workshops held around four inter-dependent themes, namely Best Start; Fair Employment; Ill Health Prevention; and Healthy Standards of Living which had been developed following the overview and scrutiny review on Turning the Tide on Poverty.  The Director of Public Health and Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Finance responded to the following questions:

·                     What action was being taken to support people in villages who were cut off and do not have their own transport and may have limited access to bus services and need access to supermarkets and other services.

·                     What was being done to encourage people with limited income to change from shopping at expensive local convenience stores, having prepaid energy and not having access to lower rents and better banking opportunities.

·                     It was noted that Torbay was above average for numbers of people in rented and social accommodation but many private landlords were selling their properties. What was being done to address this to ensure that there were sufficient suitable properties for everyone in Torbay.

·                     What was the impact on one-third of children not ready for school and what was being done to address this.

·                     What was being done to raise awareness of the support and advocacy services available and how would we ensure that these were joined up.

·                     What were the intended timescales for implementation of the actions.

·                     What action was being taken to address the cost of living crisis.

·                     Was the Council applying for all appropriate grants to provide additional funding for projects within Torbay.

·                     What was being done to learn from community projects such as Making Melville Marvellous and roll out similar schemes and initiatives in other vulnerable communities.

·                     What action has been taken to support children who had become withdrawn or suffered with their mental health due to the impact on Covid-19.

·                     What was the length of time for referral to CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services). The Board agreed that this would be a topic for further discussion at the Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Board and requested that it be added to their work programme.

·                     Torbay Council has high suicide rates, what was the cause of this and what action was being taken to help reduce rates.  Action: The Director of Public Health was requested to review the statistics around online use and the impact on mental health and wellbeing and share this with the Board. (It was noted suicide prevention would be explored in more detail at a future meeting of the Adult Social Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Board.)

·                     What was the impact on crop spraying on people’s health.

·                     How was ill health prevention going to improve as this has been a priority for a long time and it does not feel like it has been addressed sufficiently.

Resolved:

That the Cabinet be recommended:

1.         that priority be given to identify and implement the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.