Agenda item

To receive a joint report from the Director of Adults and Health, the Director of Public Health and the Director of City Development that provides an overview of outcomes and service performance related to the Council and city priorities within the remit of the Adults, Health and Active Lifestyles Scrutiny Board.

The joint report submitted by the Director of Adults and Health, the Director of Public Health and the Director of City Development provided an overview of outcomes and service performance related to the Council and city priorities within the remit of the Adults Health and Active Lifestyles Scrutiny Board.

The following were in attendance:

·  Councillor Fiona Venner - Executive Member for Children’s Social Care and Health Partnerships

·  Councillor Salma Arif - Executive Member for Adults Social Care, Public Health and Active Lifestyles

·  Caroline Baria - Interim Director of Adults and Health

·  Victoria Eaton - Director of Public Health

·  Tim Fielding - Deputy Director of Public Health

·  Tony Cooke - Chief Officer Health Partnerships

·  Steve Baker - Head of Active Leeds

·  Rob Wood – Intelligence and Policy Manager, Adults and Health

·  Shona McFarlane – Deputy Director of Adults and Health

In considering the performance details presented, the Board discussed a number of matters in more detail, across Adult Social Care, Public Health and Active Lifestyles, including the following:

Public Health

• Commentaries of the health inequality data had not been included in the report as publication from the Office for National Statistics data had been delayed until Autumn 2023.
• Life expectancy data for men and women remained stable, public health services continued to perform well, including access to NHS public health checks. Indicators will remain under review in line with the Marmot City work to support the strategic aims for Leeds, where ‘people who are the poorest improve their health the fastest.’
• The report covered a broad scope and a previous submission of this data had been reviewed to be clearer in content. The key indicators to provide an overview of long-term public health and service delivery measures and inequalities will be brought back to the Board every 6 months, supplemented with practical short-term actions.
• Data regarding vaping was noted to be emerging and although not included in this report, it was highlighted that analysis of this data will be conducted and can be brought back to the Board as part of future update reports.
• The Chair made reference to the data indicating a rise in obesity levels for younger people and highlighted his intention to bring this to the attention of the Chair of the Children’s and Families Scrutiny Board.
• Members noted that for data sets that show a significant change on previous data, it would be of use to have greater analysis of causation and corelation to understand the trends.
• Processes for shorter term funding bids for obesity reduction initiatives raised some concern as funding levels often do not meet the scale of certain projects. Positives were noted for longer term projects for tackling childhood obesity issues and successes in Local Care Partnerships can be learnt from and become more integrated within Public Health and NHS work.

Adult Social Care

• The report provided an overview of the latest figures and measures of adult social care and activity levels, including adult social care outcomes framework and relevant figures for the Best City Ambition, Better Lives Strategy and Care Quality Commission (CQC) assessment framework.
• The gathering and reporting process for data collection was noted to be in a period of revision in order to provide performance measures in line with the national changes to the CQC framework for 2023/24. This was outlined as a positive to the service for better analysis of topics such as the success of third sector commissioning and data will be live to provide better performance indicators to better inform strategies.
• Demand for adult social care services had risen, however, funding was below that of pre-pandemic level, with a fall in workforce capacity. During 2022/23 Adults Social Care had provided long term care to more than 10,500 people.
• Data for Leeds when compared to key national measures was noted to be positive, with 11 out of 16 measures improving from the previous year, including increased levels of service users and carers noting better support.
• In response to a question regarding the Tele Care installation figures, at page 126 of the report, an increase was expected for the municipal year, with changes to marketing and service delivery to provide a broader range of options to service users.
• The sustained trend in increased safeguarding concern figures was perceived to be due to an increase in referrals, with awareness campaigns likely influencing this, as well as increased West Yorkshire Police and the Ambulance Service involvement.
• Safeguarding referrals do not always require a section 42 enquiry but referrals will be signposted to appropriate bodies for the required care and support. Safeguarding inquiry levels had remained similar to the previous year.
• Relative to population demographics, data showed fewer safeguarding referrals from culturally diverse communities. Voluntary Access Leeds had been commissioned to understand whether this was due to access or communication issues and the efforts had led to some increase in reporting from these communities.

Active Lifestyles

• The inactivity rate of the population had significantly fallen, since its sharp rise during the Covid-19 pandemic and there are now more people active than that recorded in the original survey of 2016.
• The figures noted a better activity result that the national and regional averages, however, greater levels of inactivity were recorded in areas with higher deprivation rates.
• The Physical Activity Ambition and Get Set Leeds initiatives were working to increase activity levels in areas of deprivation; the Get Set Leeds programme had secured funding for two further years through Sports England.
• Data had been gathered from Sports England, which is reported annually and consists of surveys from 2000 people in Leeds and categorises three scaled levels of activity.
• There was revision to the process for gathering data outlined, to increase the scope of participation and gather more social or demographic information with the Council, in liaison with Sports England.
• Positives for the department were noted as, increased numbers of people taking swimming classes and gym memberships at leisure centres and longer-term funding secured to test service initiatives and understand the needs of different communities.
• Long waiting lists, particularly for swimming lessons at leisure centres, were noted, although funding, space and workforce capacity issues may impact this, there were 1500 more children signed up than pre-pandemic levels.
• Healthy holiday activities were planned over the summer, providing free swimming lessons for children, including equipment provision.
• 90% of schools in Leeds were somewhat engaged with leisure centre swimming.
• Interim targets for the service were outlined as a 1% reduction every year for inactivity rates; this was to be reviewed with reference to the Health and Wellbeing strategy.

The Board extended their thanks to Executive Members and Officers for their ongoing work.

RESOLVED – That the contents of the report, along with Members comments, be noted.