It was reported that, following the adjourned Annual Council meeting held on 15 May 2025, the membership of the Sub-Board had been amended to include Councillors Bryant and Spacagna (Vice-Chairman) in place of Councillors Fellows and Tolchard for the 2025/2026 Municipal Year.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Adult Social Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Board held on 17 April 2025.

The minutes of the meeting of the Sub-Board held on 19 April 2025 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairwoman.

To review the work being carried out to prevent radicalisation, exploitation and modern slavery for adults.

(Note:  Members of the Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Board have been invited for this item.)

The Community Safety Partnership Manager, Sarah Omell, presented the submitted report on the Prevent and Modern Slavery Workstreams and responded to questions.

Members raised the following questions:

·                     how many young people or older people were attempting to radicalise in Torbay;

·                     how were Councillors being made aware, were there any tools to support them;

·                     does Torbay tap into Devon’s intelligence;

·                     paragraph 2.3 referred to enable people who have already engaged in terrorism to disengage and rehabilitate, how was this done;

·                     with data being gathered, how was the data being used and how was it feeding into the national picture and was Torbay seeing anything nationally coming down to Torbay;

·                     does the Partnership get intelligence from other neighbouring authorities about people coming into the area;

·                     does the Partnership work with Network Rail;

·                     was the low referral take up due to lack of awareness and where would it be escalated;

·                     with the low intake of adults, was it just the Police who could refer;

·                     did the Council inspect its suppliers to ensure that they are complying with the modern slavery policies (a written response would be provided);

·                     was there a good quality e-learn link that could be shared with the community and partners regarding modern slavery;

·                     how does the Partnership raise awareness of modern slavery;

·                     there was a recent issues with foreign workers not knowing how to contact the Police as it was not part of their natural way, what goes on to raise awareness with foreign workers concerned about racism within care homes etc.;

In response to questions, the Community Safety Partnership Manager responded as follows:

·                     There were very low numbers of people attempting to radicalise, approximately 3 or 4 young people and less adults over the past twelve months.  It was not known if that was because there were not young people, or that there were not that many young people susceptible to it.  This was mainly carried out online and therefore the Council did not have access to some of the data.  The key message was for people to be vigilant in schools and at work to recognise the signs.  Neurodiverse younger males were more likely to be susceptible.  There may be people the Council and partners do not know about as it mainly happens behind closed doors.

·                     There were iLearn training packages available which could be opened up to Councillors and a ‘Lets Talk About it’ package available to anyone.  The Safer Torbay Partnership was starting to role the Lets Talk About it out and have lots of short videos and information about what parents need to do to keep their children safe online.  A lot of work was going on through the Children and Young People’s Exploitation Group as well as working with transport providers.  Some of the Lets Talk About it sessions were exploring why neurodiverse people were more susceptible, this may be due to them being more prone to go down rabbit holes and take them into places aligned with radicalisation, looking at what could be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

To review the outcomes from the Director of Public Health’s Annual Report in relation to Women’s Health in Torbay.

Key Lines of Enquiry:

• Is the Maternity Unit being closed? What maternity services are available within the community?
• What provision is there for access to sexual health and timely gynaecological help?
• Additional Maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity rates for Torbay and how we compare to other areas?

The Public Health Specialist, Public Health, Sarah Aston, Chief Nurse and Director of Infection Prevention, Nicola McMinn and Director of Midwifery and Gynaecology, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, Jo Bassett provided an update on the review of women’s health and maternity services as set out in the submitted paper and responded to questions.

Members asked questions in relation to the following:

·                     who delivers the menopause and intrauterine devices (IUD);

·                     how could the Council increase coverage of IUD devices;

·                     was work being done with employers to alert them on what to look out for to identify signs of menopause e.g. if they were seeing an increase in sickness or lack of productivity;

·                     when young women were given contraceptive tablets from the Health Centre did they understand that they do not need to go back to their GP and do patients using the Health Centre know that their information would not automatically be shared with their GP;

·                     when people visit the Sexual Health Clinic were they asked if they want their GP notified;

·                     there could be a potential risk of harm if people were receiving support from another centre and the GP does not know e.g. if they were prescribed antibiotics;

·                     does Torbay Hospital have dedicated theatre staff in the maternity unit;

·                     how quickly could the team get from the delivery room to the theatre;

·                     what was the main cause of any mortality for baby and mother;

·                     what was being done to hear the voice of the patient on maternity services;

·                     what was being done about people not getting the right equipment for maternity services;

·                     what was the worse experience of maternity services;

·                     how does Torbay’s maternity unity compare to other Trusts;

·                     how many home births were there;

·                     have the number of maternity medical staff increased;

·                     was there a reason for the decrease in birth rates;

·                     was Torbay Hospital expecting another inspection soon;

·                     was there any risk that people were not coming through the system e.g. concealed pregnancies;

The Public Health Specialist, Public Health, Chief Nurse and Director of Infection Prevention, and Director of Midwifery and Gynaecology, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust provided the following responses:

·                     Anyone who was qualified by the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH) who has baseline clinical competence could deliver LARCs, including nurses, doctors or consultants which alleviates pressures on GP surgeries.  LARC methods, such as IUD’s or ‘the coil’ were the most effective form of contraception and could last up to five to seven years.  It was noted that lack of access to LARC in primary care was flagged on the Council’s risk register.

·                     Public Health provided one off grants to GP surgeries to provide equipment to help them improve LARC delivery, as well as backfill to allow release of nurses to engage in training to deliver sexual health procedures.  This training was provided at nil cost to the GP surgeries with an aim to improve the service and provide local access.

·                     There was no specific work being carried out  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

To receive an update on the implementation of the actions of the Sub-Board and consider any further actions required (as set out in the submitted action tracker).

The Sub-Board noted the submitted action tracker.

Arising from Minute 23/11/24 below, Amanda Moss advised that in light of the Government’s rule changes the Employment and Skills Board would be meeting soon to consider their ten year plan.  The Health sector was a large employee and would look at what work South Devon College was doing around training for the care sector.  Amanda agreed to see what they were doing to meet with domiciliary care providers.

“that the Divisional Director for Adult Services be requested to organise for an Employment and Skills Board representative to be invited to attend a future meeting with Domiciliary Care providers.”

Resolved (unanimously):

1.         that the above action from Minute 23/11/24 be not pursued further; and

2.         that an item be added to the Work Programme on the skills agenda across the wider care market, in light of the Government’s changes and what the impact is in Torbay and what is being done to mitigate this, to include the care sector and fostering provision and the knock on impact of the savings that need to be made and the role of the Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Employment and Skills Board and that the Director of Adult and Community Services be requested to draft a scope for the item in consultation with the Chairwoman and Vice-Chairman of the Adult Social Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Board with input from the Director of Children’s Services.