Agenda and minutes
Venue: Conference Hall
Contact: Hannah O'Brien, Governance Officer Email: hannah.o'brien@brent.gov.uk
Media
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Apologies for absence and clarification of alternate members Additional documents: |
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Declarations of interests Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, the nature and existence of any relevant disclosable pecuniary or personal interests in the items on this agenda and to specify the item(s) to which they relate. Additional documents: Minutes: Personal interests were declared as follows:
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Deputations (if any) To hear any deputations received from members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 67. Additional documents: Minutes: There were no deputations received.
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Minutes of the previous meeting PDF 262 KB To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record, and ratify any decisions made at the previous meeting.
Additional documents: Minutes: RESOLVED:- The minutes of the meeting on 24 January 2022 were approved as an accurate record of the meeting.
The decisions made at the previous meeting were ratified.
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Matters arising (if any) Additional documents: Minutes: There were no matters arising.
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Education and Wellbeing Recovery PDF 323 KB To receive a report on the Council’s management of the education and wellbeing recovery from the impact of the pandemic. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Stephens (Lead Member for Education, Employment and Skills) introduced the report. He highlighted the considerable pressures schools colleagues had faced over the pandemic, as well the disruption faced by pupils which he felt was one of the greatest any set of pupil had faced over the last ten years. In many areas, Brent was a national exemplar, such as having the fifth highest attendance of anywhere in England during the pandemic, and the work carried out to improve educational outcomes for boys of Black Caribbean heritage. There was also good work with the Local Cultural Education Project. Councillor Stephens felt encouraged by the collaboration with school clusters. There was work between clusters on education recovery and bringing in matched funding. He also praised the holiday activity programme where 3,000 places had been offered to children and 50 providers had worked to deliver that. He felt it would only further improve over the years with collaboration between the Council and Family Wellbeing Centres. He concluded his introduction by highlighting the £900k Covid-19 recovery funding that had been provided by the Council as part of its £17m for Covid-19 recovery, which had gone towards mental health support, amongst other projects.
Councillor McLennan added that the report detailed the work being done around mental health and young people. There had been a large increase of requirements for mental health services in children, identified by children themselves, and the report detailed what was being done to alleviate those pressures which were getting more complex.
The Chair thanked councillors for their introduction and invited the Committee to raise comments and questions, with the following issues raised:
The Committee asked about the impact and outcomes of education and wellbeing recovery initiatives. Councillor Stephens was encouraged by the way Brent schools had worked regarding education. He felt there was an opportunity to engage and interact with young people around their mental health, as for many pupils the pandemic had been quite a large proportion of their lives. He attributed face to face engagement, such as the Holiday Activity and Food programme (HAF), as a key part of what the Council had done to stop children losing out on developmental activities. HAF had helped pupils to feel entitled, confident and assertive. He felt it was important to help pupils focus on activities outside of their academic life that would enable them to be assertive and confident. He also highlighted the work on the Black Community Action Plan to help young people become more assertive in explaining what they want from services.
Brian Grady (Operational Director for Safeguarding Performance and Strategy, Brent Council) drew the Committee’s attention to the data from CAMHS in the report, which showed a 35-45% increase in referrals to CAMHS for the 2021 year. There were regular discussions across the Brent Children’s Trust (BCT) in relation to that, and it was a key consideration for the BCT. The paper set out the preventative and early help work being done to ensure young people got ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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London Borough of Culture Legacy PDF 578 KB To receive a report on the delivery of the London Borough of Culture 2020 (Brent 2020) legacy. Additional documents: Minutes: Zerritha Brown (Brent 2020 Legacy Manager, Brent Council) introduced the report. She highlighted the Metroland Cultures Trust that had been established as part of the programme and the Education Partnership. The report set out how the approach to culture across the organisation and across Brent had changed and included proposals for activity for the year. Dr Melanie Smith (Director of Public Health, Brent Council) added that through the legacy work they had been able to engage all parts of the Council, which was critical for the new approach to culture.
The Chair thanked officers for the introduction and invited comments and questions from those present, with the following issues raised:
Regarding how many events were held at a ward level during Borough of Culture 2020, Zerritha Brown advised that as a result of the pandemic all events had moved online. The only event that had been delivered in person was Rise, the launch of Borough of Culture 2020. The work leading up to 2020 did engage across the whole Borough, and there was a physical presence throughout the Borough, notably artistic commissions in all Brent libraries, including 4 community libraries. Dr Melanie Smith advised that one of the most effective pieces of work had been the culture fund, which aimed to support grassroots cultural organisations and individuals throughout the borough and achieved good geographical spread across the Borough. Officers were keen for the legacy to involve all of Brent, both geographically and demographically.
In relation to what was being done to support local authors and archives, the Committee were advised that one of the notable events that preceded Borough of Culture 2020 was the Queen’s Park Book Festival, which had a strong presence from the Heritage Service and Libraries. The Council were working with an author’s family currently in the hopes of securing an archive. Officers were keen to do more and asked Committee members who were aware of Brent authors to let them know.
The Committee queried how performance was being assessed and how resident and stakeholder feedback was being used to tweak the programme based on positive and negative reactions to projects. The Committee were advised that the Borough of Culture programme had been comprehensively evaluated, and it had been successful despite the fact plans had to change quite considerably as a result of the pandemic. The evaluation report highlighted that there was not as many opportunities during the borough of culture year for wider audiences to engage, such as the older population or those living with long term health conditions. This was an area the legacy work was trying to address in terms of arts and health and wellbeing. Some of that work was already underway, for example partnering with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. There had also been learning for how the Community Advisor role could have been approached better in terms of authentically co-producing a largescale arts programme with the community. That learning was now being incorporated for the Council’s approach to co-production.
The Committee wanted ... view the full minutes text for item 7. |
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Northwick Park NHS Trust Maternity Improvement Plan Progress Update PDF 141 KB To receive a report on the progress of the delivery of the Northwick Park NHS Trust Maternity Improvement Plan. Additional documents:
Minutes: Lisa Knight (Chief Nurse, London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust (LNWUHT)) introduced the item, advising that the Maternity Ward at Northwick Park Hospital had been upgraded by the CQC from ‘inadequate’ to ‘requires improvement’. The report included some caveats, and as an organisation it was recognised that work was needed to embed the improvements undertaken and ensure they became business as usual. She highlighted that cultural changes took time, and small improvements were being made daily in relation to cultural behaviours, but that remained the more fragile element of the work being done. The ward continued to be supported by the Local Maternity and Neo-Natal System (LMNS) and the Director of Midwifery from Chelsea and Westminster. There was also a National Maternity Improvement Programme looking at all maternity units in the country to support improvement, with the Trust being visited twice so far as part of their diagnostics. The Trust were also working with Healthwatch around how the diversity and representation on the Maternity Voices Partnership could be improved.
In relation to recruitment of midwives, the Committee were advised that this particular risk still existed and was a big challenge. The number of vacancies had reduced since the Trust last reported at the Committee, from 46 to 40 midwifery vacancies, which was not a significant improvement. The Committee heard that the Trust had expected this and other units struggled in the same way. There was a comprehensive recruitment plan in place to address this issue and the rate of leavers had slowed which was positive. Nine international midwives were starting in May 2022 as part of the Capital Midwife Programme.
In relation to leadership and structure, Lisa Knight advised that they had appointed into the substantive posts of Director of Midwifery, and Director of Operations for Women’s and Children, meaning that the divisional leadership team was now substantive and the Trust were pleased with that.
The Chair thanked Lisa Knight for her introduction and invited comments and questions from those present, with the following issues raised:
The Committee queried the meaning of Table 2, under paragraph 3.1, in terms of what the actions referred to. They were advised that the CQC had 3 layers of action which were; enforcement actions, ‘must dos’, and ‘should dos’. At the time of the report there were 16 ‘should do’ actions, 4 of which had been completed. The Trust had set themselves a timeline for when they expected to achieve the ‘should do’ actions, and were discussing those timescales with the Board. For example, the recommendation ‘the Trust should ensure there are enough midwifery staff with the right qualifications, skills, training and experience’ was not in a position to be completed immediately and there was a long lead time associated with that particular action. Many of the ‘should do’ actions were longer term. The shorter term actions had been completed and the Trust were now moving into the medium and longer term actions, some of which had a lead time of 6 months ... view the full minutes text for item 8. |
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Brent Housing Management Fire Safety Progress Update PDF 516 KB To receive a report on the progress of works to improve the fire safety standard in the Council’s housing stock. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Southwood (Lead Member for Housing and Welfare Reform) introduced the report. She highlighted that it was Brent Housing Management’s (BHM)core responsibility as a landlord to keep residents safe, and the work outlined in the report was amongst the most important that BHM undertook. Following the Grenfell Tragedy, the Council had committed to do whatever was needed to ensure tenants in high rise blocks were kept safe and pledged not only to do a proper assessment of the safety measures in place and how adequate they were, but also to find the funding where necessary to fix things. It was positive that the assessments found evidence that fire safety had been a priority over the years and changes had been made in properties over time to keep tenants safe.
The paper also outlined the regular regime for safety assessments and the work done in low and medium rise blocks over the past few years, including the approximate spend on works completed, which was around £5m, affecting over 6,000 households. The paper outlined the fire safety programme in high rise blocks which was about to start. Councillor Southwood highlighted the significance and complexity of those works, and the need to invest significantly in those blocks as part of the major works programme to embed fire safety works within that programme. It was likely that tenants and leaseholders would be significantly impacted by the works and BHM had begun that consultation with leaseholders, with a commitment to do that work well. She added that the paper concluded with looking forward, for example ensuring the Council was ready to meet the requirements of the Fire Safety Bill when it became law.
The Chair thanked Councillor Southwood for her introduction to the report and invited comments and questions from those present, with the following issues raised:
The Committee wanted to know how BHM communicated with residents to let them know what changes were being made to keep them safe. Councillor Southwood felt it was important to strike a balance with tenants and leaseholders which provided reassurance on one hand, but did not look complacent. Hakeem Osinaike (Operational Director Housing, Brent Council) advised that there were different ways BHM communicated with residents. When it came to works, that engagement took place nearer the time BHM would be looking to do the works. For example, at Kilburn Square there had been many meetings to discuss what the works would entail, what it would look like for them, and where they had options. There was then statutory consultation specifically with leaseholders regarding the works and how much their share of the costs was likely to be.
In relation to how much money had been paid from leaseholders on fire safety works over the last few years, the Committee could be provided with those figures. Fire safety works were usually done in conjunction with major works, but where only fire works were carried out those figures could be provided.
Regarding fire safety reports, the Committee queried to what ... view the full minutes text for item 9. |
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GP Access Task Group Final Report PDF 127 KB To receive the final report of the GP Access Scrutiny Task Group, which sets out the task group’s findings and recommendations. Additional documents: Minutes: The Chair thanked Councillor Daly and members of the Task Group for the work they had completed over the past few months. He invited Councillor Daly, as Chair of the GP Access Task Group, to introduce the final report.
Councillor Daly advised that the overwhelming majority of residents were happy with their consultation with their GP. The greatest determinant for whether someone received a good service from their GP was the practice they chose to register with. The Committee heard that the sector of the Brent community who were the least satisfied with GP access was parents of infants, and young people, which the task group had heard from Brent Youth Parliament. The task group had also heard anecdotal evidence of discrimination towards Eastern European residents. Almost all stakeholders the task group had engaged reported being registered with a GP, ranging from ex-prisoners to homeless individuals. The task group had spent a lot of time working on a basic standard of service people could expect from their GP, focused around the customer experience, and this formed the basis of the task group recommendations. She concluded by advising the Committee that a lot of GPs were already doing a lot of the recommendations, but not all GPs were doing everything. She offered thanks to the Scrutiny Officers and Partnerships Team who had assisted the Task Group.
The Chair thanked Councillor Daly for her introduction and invited comments and questions from those present, with the following issues raised:
Councillor Nerva (Lead Member for Public Health, Leisure and Culture) thanked the task group. He assured the Committee that although the Cabinet were not directly responsible for GP services, the Cabinet would want to take up these recommendations and champion the work outlined. The idea of a Brent GP standard was welcomed and he looked forward to working with the Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) on this.
Judith Davey (CEO, Brent HealthWatch) was pleased to have contributed to the report. She advised that Healthwatch Brent were also doing a substantial piece of work on GP access, and had participated in the HealthWatch England Survey about access to GPs. Of all HealthWatch providers in North West London (NWL), Brent HealthWatch had received the highest response to the survey by a substantial degree, which she felt was positive and had led to lots of insights from the survey. HealthWatch were also doing a deep dive of the number of Primary Care Networks (PCNs), including using their voluntary network to do ‘enter and views’. HealthWatch had been gathering testimonials from stakeholders through video, and the emerging findings were consistent with the Task Group recommendations.
Fana Hussain (Borough Lead Director - Brent, NWL CCG) agreed that the recommendations of the task group were fair and reasonable from a healthcare point of view, and health colleagues appreciated the work that had been done. She highlighted that GP access was not a straightforward area of work and was something healthcare continued to work on and strengthen on a regular basis. There ... view the full minutes text for item 10. |
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Transitional Safeguarding Task Group Final Report PDF 127 KB To receive the final report of the Transitional Safeguarding Scrutiny Task Group, which sets out the task group’s findings and recommendations. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Chair of the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee introduced the report, which he advised had been educational for members of the task group and helped them develop an understanding of what transitional safeguarding was. The task group had been equipped with background information quickly through briefing sessions with a leading national expert, Des Holmes. He highlighted it had been interesting to have not just the statutory partners coming to the table but also partners from the voluntary sector to explain how they supported this area of work. The learning had showcased good and outstanding areas of work. The recommendations were themed around the task group appreciating the good work already happening and building on that to improve transitional safeguarding further.
Councillor McLennan (Lead Member for Resources and Lead Member for Children’s Safeguarding, Early Help and Social Care) was glad the Committee recognised the vital importance of ensuring a safe transition from children’s to adult services. The wraparound services children had were not the same services they may get as an adult, and each service in adult social care had different thresholds and age ranges. It was challenging to link all of those services together but it was something the local authority was determined to achieve. A lot of the services supporting this cohort were non-statutory, so building upon those services was where the challenge lay.
Gail Tolley (Strategic Director Children and Young People, Brent Council) highlighted that this was not a solely Children’s Services remit and was grateful for the recommendations, which focused on the transition in safeguarding from child to adult. She had found the experience of the task group very helpful and the recommendations would be useful in terms of taking forward work in this area.
Claudia Brown (Operational Director Adult Social Care, Brent Council) echoed the previous contributions. She thanked the task group for the recommendations, and advised there would be a review of the SMART team who it was felt could play a role in supporting the work going forward.
A representative from Brent Youth Parliament advised that Brent Youth Parliament welcomed the report outlining that young people were the experts by experience, and hoped that was echoed and emphasised throughout the report.
The Chair thanked colleagues for their input, and drew the item to a close. The Committee RESOLVED to agree the recommendations of the task group.
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Any other urgent business Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Head of Executive and Member Services or her representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 60. Additional documents: Minutes: Co-opted member Reverend Helen Askwith advised that this would be her final meeting of the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee. The Committee extended thanks for her contributions over the years.
The Chair advised the Committee that this was also the final meeting for Angela D’Urso (Interim Strategic Partnerships Manager, Brent Council), who had assisted with the two task groups discussed during the meeting. He thanked Angela for her input and help.
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