·         Addressing the economic impact of Covid-19 on young people in Torbay;

·         Improving digital access and tackling inequality

·         Improving Public Mental Health

The Board received presentations on three ‘areas of focus’; addressing the economic impact of Covid-19 on young people in Torbay, improving digital access and tackling inequality and improving public mental health.

Addressing the economic impact of Covid-19 on young people in Torbay:

Tanny Stobart gave a presentation and asked the board to consider how they could support the work being undertake to address the economic impact of Covid-19 upon young people.

Tanny highlighted the following:

·         That data shows families were under increased pressure, particularly vulnerable groups such as:

Ø  Young people at risk of suffering harm;

Ø  Children in care; and

Ø  Young people at risk of falling behind in education.

·         Year 11’s – a group at particular risk of falling behind, without the structure they would usually have been given at this point in the year.

·         There was growing evidence that economic consequences of the Covid19 pandemic would have a greater negative impact upon young people.

Tanny informed the Board that there were a number of initiatives being developed to help address the economic impact upon young people such as the Covid Neet Prevention Board established by Torbay Council, the Board was also informed of three youth projects established by the Department for Work Pensions (DWP), working with young people to give them mentoring support and to get them into employment.  Lee Tozer, representing DWP added if any of the board members would like to become a part of Kickstart to contact him for further details.

Adel Jones thanked Tanny for the report and highlighted that this needs to be a priority and focus for the board moving forward.

The Board resolved by consensus:

i)          to continue to monitor the data on the size and scope of the challenge;

ii)         to support development of initiatives that bring together voluntary sector organisations, charities, the public and private sectors to find ways to collectively tackle the issues facing the most vulnerable families and young people; and

iii)        support the development of the Torbay Post Covid NEET Prevention Board.

Improving digital access and tackling inequality:

Katy Heard gave a presentation to the Board on improving digital access in Torbay.  Katy explained that for this area of work the definition of digital exclusion had been agreed as follows:

For someone to be digitally excluded all features must be present.  The person:

}  Wants to engage digitally but is unable to do so.

}  Lacks one (or more) of the following: skills, means, and confidence to access digital routes.

}  Wants to digitally access key activities of daily living that are important to them.  Including but not limited to banking/shopping, universal credit, social clubs, physical and mental health, social care services, social media etc.

}  Is socially isolated or disadvantaged physically and/or mentally without digital solutions.

Katy advised the Board that there were some significant challenges to improving digital access such as identifying the size of the issue of digital exclusion, identifying the priorities for those that are most excluded and community engagement which was difficult due to the current situation.

Once all of the above had been completed, the digital exclusion working group would then determine their priorities and work streams.  The voluntary sector partners were on board with the need to improve digital access and had already mapped out most of the face to face support systems already in place.  They will focus on promoting the value of digital access, encouraging those residents who will not want to have access or feel they do not need digital access to try accessing services via digital means.

Improving public mental health:

Julia Chisnell and Cindy Willcocks gave a presentation to the Board on improving public mental health.  They informed Members that the Torbay mental health response and resilience cell had met during early months of Covid-19.  The system (voluntary and statutory) put in place a range of additional support for people experiencing forms of mental distress.  Whilst some developments were delayed because of the pandemic the response highlighted the gaps and real enthusiasm to work together to address such gaps.

Cindy advised that since the last Board meeting she had been appointed the Public Health Mental Health lead and confirmed the engagement with voluntary and statutory sectors will continue with a desire to keep the momentum going. Key priorities have been identified and a Mental Health Network has been formed to establish an action plan.

The network will not just focus on the mental health element, but will focus on the continuum of mental health this includes self-harm and suicide prevention.

In response to questions from the Board, Cindy confirmed that children and young people’s mental health would be covered by the network, with the Head of School Improvement and other members assisting with this particular group.