Agenda and minutes

Co-opted Member present – Dr J Beal

To consider any appeals in accordance with Procedure Rule 25* of the Access to Information Procedure Rules (in the event of an Appeal the press and public will be excluded).

(* In accordance with Procedure Rule 25, notice of an appeal must be received in writing by the Head of Governance Services at least 24 hours before the meeting).

There were no appeals.

1.  To highlight reports or appendices which officers have identified as containing exempt information, and where officers consider that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons outlined in the report.

2.  To consider whether or not to accept the officers recommendation in respect of the above information.

3.  If so, to formally pass the following resolution:-

RESOLVED – That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following parts of the agenda designated as containing exempt information on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information, as follows:

  No exempt items have been identified.

There were no exempt items.

To identify items which have been admitted to the agenda by the Chair for consideration.

(The special circumstances shall be specified in the minutes.)

With the agreement of the Chair, there was a formal item submitted as Agenda Item 11 - Leeds Tier 3 Specialist Weight Management Service. This is referenced at minute 24.

To disclose or draw attention to any interests in accordance with Leeds City Council’s ‘Councillor Code of Conduct’.

No declarations of interest were made at the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence and notification of substitutes.

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor S Firth, with Councillor P Alderson substituting.

Apologies had also been received from Councillor W Kidger.

Apologies had also been received from Cllr F Venner as the Executive Member for Children’s Social Care and Health Partnerships.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 13^th June 2023.

RESOLVED - That the minutes of the meeting held on 13^th June 2023, be approved as an accurate record.

Minute 10 – Sources of Work for the Scrutiny Board

Members were advised that the Director of Public Health was progressing the Board’s request to raise the issue of cannabis use, particularly amongst young people, with the Drug and Alcohol Board and that a briefing paper will be provided to Board Members to help determine whether any further work by the Scrutiny Board is warranted.

It was also confirmed that the Children and Families Scrutiny Board had used its meeting on 5^th July 2023 to discuss a briefing paper from Public Health on the issue of vaping amongst children and young people.  As a contributor to this meeting, the Chair gave a brief overview of the key issues raised and highlighted that the Children and Families Scrutiny Board will be undertaking further work on this matter via a working group approach that will be arranged after the summer and will also include representation from the Adults, Health and Active Lifestyles Scrutiny Board. The Chair highlighted that this work is to cover 3 key areas – what the Council can do within its own remit; what other partners in Leeds can do (eg Trading Standards); and identifying any national issues where lobbying for change may be needed.

To receive a report from the Head of Democratic Services that presents an update on the delivery of the Leeds Mental Health Strategy 2020–2025.

The report from the Head of Democratic Services presented an update on the delivery of the Leeds Mental Health Strategy 2020–2025.

The following were in attendance:

• 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
• Tony Cooke, Chief Officer Health Partnerships
• Caron Walker, Chief Officer Consultant Public Health
• Liz Hindmarsh, Programme Manager Transforming Community Mental Health, Leeds & York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LYPFT)
• Alison Kenyon, Deputy Director of Service Development, LYPFT  

The Executive Member for Adults Social Care, Public Health and Active Lifestyles explained that while mental health strategies largely fell into the remit of the Executive Member for Children’s Social Care and Health Partnerships, she would like to provide some introductory comments on her behalf. In doing so, the following points were raised:

• The Leeds Mental Health Strategy 2020- 2025 contributes to the wider Health and Wellbeing Strategy, with a vision for Leeds to be a mentally healthy city for everyone.
• The Strategy has three targeted passions which are to reduce mental health inequalities; improve children and young people’s mental health; and improve flexibility, integration and compassionate response of services.
• The Strategy also has eight key priorities, as detailed in appendix 1 of the agenda report.
• Data had shown mental health to be worsening for the population in recent years, particularly over the Covid-19 pandemic, with services experiencing high demand and long waiting lists for referrals.
• Anxiety and depression in school age children and young adults aged 18-25 had increased, which involved issues surrounding gender identity, ADHD and autism.
• Progress was being made by relevant services to improve provision and compassion however, challenges remained with long waiting lists and inequality between demographics.
• The Strategy has an important community grassroots focus and representation.

The Chief Officer Health Partnerships briefly introduced the report and gave an overview of some of the key challenges that the Strategy aims to address. Members were also reminded that the former Scrutiny Board had held a working group meeting on 9th March 2023 to consider the Strategy and in doing so, had particularly recognised the potential benefits linked to the Community Mental Health Transformation Programme. More detailed information on this programme had therefore been provided in the agenda report for Members’ consideration.

The Programme Manager Transforming Community Mental Health also explained some of the key aspects of the Community Mental Health Transformation Programme, which included the development of new Integrated Community Mental Health Hubs. These are to be trialled in autumn 2023 in three locations with the aim of scaling them up across Leeds in 2024. 

It was highlighted that a large focus of the community mental health model is around supporting people to recover and to continue to live a fulfilling life in their own community. Investment had been made in establishing the role of Community Wellbeing Connectors who will work with people to help them access a range of different types of support in communities.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

To receive a report from the Head of Democratic Services which presents an update from the ICB Accountable Officer (Leeds Place) on the refreshed Healthy Leeds Plan.

The Head of Democratic Services submitted a report which presented an update from the ICB Accountable Officer (Leeds Place) on the refreshed Healthy Leeds Plan.

The following were in attendance:

• 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
• Tony Cooke, Chief Officer Health Partnerships
• Catherine Sunter, Head of Population Health Planning, Leeds ICB
• Jo Howard, Population Health Outcomes Development Lead, Leeds ICB

The Head of Population Health Planning and Population Health Outcomes Development Lead presented the report and outlined the following information:

• The plan outlined the Health and Care contribution towards delivery of the Health and Wellbeing Strategy, achieving the ambition that Leeds will be a caring city for people of all ages, where people who are the poorest improve their health the fastest.
• The plan was ambitious to improve health goals in line with the system commitments to population needs. This was different from traditional approaches that focus on primary care and point of access.
• There are 9 exclusive segments of population and life stages that will be targeted by the plan, which are children and young people, healthy adults, maternity, long term conditions, cancer, severe mental illness, learning disabilities and neurodiversity, frailty and end of life.
• The draft plan set out within the agenda pack had been considered by the Leeds Committee of the West Yorkshire ICB on 5^th July 20203 and due to be considered by the Leeds Health and Wellbeing Board during its meeting on 20^thJuly 2023.
• Comments from the Scrutiny Board, ICB and Health and Wellbeing Board were to be incorporated into the plan.
• The Healthy Leeds Plan consultation had engaged with the public and shaped shared system goals and expected outcomes.
• It was noted that there were too many goals in the original Healthy Leeds Plan and the 2023 plan will be comprised of 2 system goals ‘reduce preventable, unplanned care utilisation across health settings’ and ‘increase early identification and intervention’.
• The plan had taken inspiration from the New York Staten Island system with reduced goals, effective planning and realistic implementation.
• The goals were deemed reflective of the financial climate.
• The broader purpose and next steps of the plan were to contribute to the West Yorkshire Joint Forward Plan and influence local plans to meet regional and national goals. At a West Yorkshire ICB level the Leeds Place plan is unique in terms of its focus on populations which is in line with the Leeds system operating model.
• The small scope of goals gave greater ability for tracking and the actions being undertaken as a system to address the goals will remain under review as part of an annual refresh of the plan.
• All system partners have a role in achieving these system goals.  A small number of priority data-led initiatives will be identified.  These will in general be delivered through existing governance infrastructure – the relevant Population or Care  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

The Board was reminded that the Chair had requested that senior NHS and Public Health representatives met urgently with Members of the Scrutiny Board in accordance with its Health Service Developments Working Group approach to provide clarity surrounding a decision to cease referrals into the Leeds Tier 3 Specialist Weight Management Service from 1st July 2023 and to allow the Scrutiny Board to share its views regarding the implications of that decision.

This working group meeting took place on 28th June 2023 and was attended by senior representatives from Public Health, the Leeds Health and Care Partnership and the Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust.

A summary of the main issues raised during the working group, along with key conclusions and recommendations, had been captured in the form of a draft Statement of the Scrutiny Board and with the agreement of the Chair, this had been added to the meeting agenda as a late item of business for consideration and agreement by the Board.

RESOLVED – That the appended draft Statement of the Scrutiny Board in relation to the Leeds Tier 3 Specialist Weight Management Service, be approved.

To consider the Scrutiny Board’s work schedule for the 2023/24 municipal year.

The Head of Democratic Services submitted a report that presented the Board’s latest work schedule for the forthcoming municipal year. The Chair explained that a number of key areas of interest were raised during the Board’s last meeting and that efforts had therefore been made to try and reflect as many of these as possible into the work schedule while also ensuring that it remained manageable.

Discussions from Board Members included the following:

• The Chair highlighted that the Public Health Annual Report would now be brought forward to the Board’s September meeting.
• The Chair advised that the work item around access to dental services would likely be considered via a working group approach.
• A request was made for the Board to explore the current position in relation to local renal services and to evaluate the impact of an earlier Scrutiny review into this service area.

RESOLVED – That the Scrutiny Board’s work schedule for the 2023/24 municipal year, along with Members comments, be noted.

Tuesday, 12th September 2023 at 1:30pm (pre-meeting for all Board Members at 1:00pm)

RESOLVED – To note the next meeting of the Adults, Health and Active Lifestyles Scrutiny Board is scheduled for Tuesday, 12th September 2023 at 1:30pm (pre meeting for all Board Members at 1:00pm)