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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Rooms 18.01 - 18.03 - 18th Floor, 64 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6QP. View directions

Contact: Tristan Fieldsend, Senior Committee and Governance Officer  Tel: 020 7641 2341; Email:  tfieldsend@westminster.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Membership

To note any changes to the membership.

Minutes:

1.1       Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Emily Payne.

2.

Declarations of Interest

To receive declarations by Members and Officers of the existence and nature of any personal or prejudicial interests in matters on this agenda, in addition to the standing declarations previously made.

Minutes:

2.1       There were no declarations of interest.

3.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 168 KB

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 4 February 2019.

Minutes:

3.1      That the Minutes of the Family and People Services Policy and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 4 February 2019 be approved, subject to the following amendments :

 

·           Paragraph 4.2, first bullet point, be amended to read “She had recently attended a meeting convened by Jake Berry MP, in response to a request from Birmingham Ladywood…” and “It was proposed to invite all local authorities who had attended this meeting to the next Westminster Shisha Roundtable to raise awareness and discuss further the dangers of smoking shisha.”

 

·           Paragraph 4.2, second bullet point, be amended to read “…the Director of Public Health had published an annual report…”

 

·           Paragraph 4.3 be amended to read “…an holistic approach beingtaken to ensure good services. Significant work had been undertaken with the CCGs…”

·          

4.

Cabinet Member Update pdf icon PDF 438 KB

To receive an update on current and forthcoming issues within the portfolio of the Cabinet Member for Family Services and Public Health.

Minutes:

4.1      Councillor Heather Acton (Cabinet Member for Family Services and Public Health), provided a briefing on key issues within her portfolio. The Committee also heard from Senel Arkut (Head of Health Partnerships and Development) and Gaynor Driscoll (Head of Public Health Commissioning).

 

4.2      The Committee noted the update and held detailed discussions on the following topics:

 

·           Substance Misuse – A multi-disciplinary outreach based service had been established by the Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service (DAWS) to target drug use amongst rough sleepers. The service was intended to educate front line hostel staff in the identification of drug use and harm minimisation. It also had an early intervention approach with users to ensure they were aware of the dangers of drug use and direct them to available treatment where possible. A combination of services were working together to stop the escalation of drug use in this area and the Committee expressed an interest in undertaking a visit to DAWS to observe the work being undertaken. Following on from this discussion, the Committee was interested to learn what extent the Dark Web played in people obtaining drugs. Members were informed that users of the Dark Web covered a broad age range and tracking the purchasing of drugs through it was difficult due to its rapidly changing nature. The Committee was interested to learn more about the Dark Web and requested a briefing note on its role with regard to substance misuse.

 

·           Serious Youth Violence – A working group had been established to examine youth violence and ensure there was a multi-agency response to tackle it. Engagement with young people regarding the issues around knife crime had been undertaken in conjunction with scrutinising local data. The data revealed most knife crime in Westminster occurred in the West End and St James’s Park areas and related mainly to males aged 19-24 coming into the borough from other parts of London. An early intervention project had been implemented in five local primary schools taking a trauma-based approach to providing support to children and their families. A youth providers’ roundtable event was to be held, to discuss how work was undertaken together with all parties in addressing this issue.  

 

·           Adult Safeguarding – A peer review of the Council’s adult safeguarding provision had been undertaken by other Local Authorities. The Committee was pleased to note that the feedback received had been very positive, in particular with regard to the levels of engagement with service users and the overall holistic approach taken. It was felt there was a good focus on high-risk groups, including rough sleepers, hoarders and victims of modern slavery. The review did query though if there were too many groups and whether provision could be more focused. These comments were currently being assessed. The Committee noted that an updated adults safeguarding webpage was due to be published shortly and was informed of the extensive training provided to staff.

 

·           Westminster Care Awards 2019 – The Committee was informed that the Westminster Care Awards  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Sexual Health in Westminster pdf icon PDF 559 KB

To receive an update on sexual health within Westminster including emerging trends and services provided.

Minutes:

5.1       Helen Byrne (Senior Commissioning Manager) and Gaynor Driscoll (Head of Public Health Commissioning) introduced the report, which provided an overview of access to sexual and reproductive health services across Westminster. The Committee also invited Alan McGowan (Lead Consultant at the Dean Street Clinic – Chelsea and Westminster Foundation Trust) and Leigh Chislett (Clinic Manager at Dean Street Clinic) to join the discussion on this item.

 

5.2       The Committee was provided with an outline of the sexual health services available within Westminster, how they were being developed and the challenges facing the Council and providers. There were two large sexual health clinics located in Westminster offering a wide range of services. They had a clear objective of trying to reach high-risk communities and this had been successful in reducing the number of new HIV diagnoses in Westminster by 81% between 2016 and 2018. Extensive work with other communities such as the Chinese community, rough sleepers and the transsexual community continued in an effort to reduce HIV as more treatment methods became available.

 

5.3       Sexualised drug use had emerged as a significant issue and WCC clinics were regarded as leaders in addressing chemsex. Pathways and systems had been developed with local providers to deliver innovative ways of working with this group. This included joint working with the Club Drug Clinic to deliver care packages to affected individuals for both their sexual health and their drug and alcohol use. A ‘party pack’ was being piloted to minimise the harm caused by chemsex practices and these would provide harm minimisation advice and help to reduce the transmission of blood borne viruses and sexually transmitted infections.

 

5.4       The Committee was interested to learn what methods were used to engage the various communities in Westminster. It was explained that e-services were available as part of a London wide initiative. The service had received positive feedback and continued to grow. Local services were also continued to be strengthened with an emphasis on prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care of STIs with a focus on the population including young adults, Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) and Men who have sex with Men (MSM). To achieve this, flexible services were being commissioned that addressed the changing needs of the population. It was acknowledged that services were particularly challenged due to the high number of people attending the clinics, many from outside Westminster. This was being managed through implementing action plans and demand management strategies to divert people to the online offer, although access to services across London remained an issue.

 

5.5       An update on the use of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) was provided which was a medication used to help prevent people from developing HIV if they had been exposed to the virus. The medication had not been implemented fully across England but was operating as a trial, which started in 2019 and was due to be completed by 2022. The Committee discussed the cost of PrEP, the number of people participating in the trial, the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

2018/19 Work Programme and Action Tracker pdf icon PDF 149 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

6.1      Aaron Hardy (Policy and Scrutiny Manager) presented the Committee’s Action Tracker and explained that the Policy and Scrutiny Team were currently scoping topics for the 2019/20 work programme.

 

6.2      The Committee noted a letter from NHS England regarding proposed changes to HIV in-patient services. After considering the contents of the letter, the Committee decided there was no need to consider a substantial item on the proposals at this point. It was requested that NHS England provide the Committee with a future update as the proposed service changes progressed.

 

6.3      The Committee was provided with an update on the task group established to focus on Young People’s Mental Health and Technology. The Chairman stressed the importance of Members keeping informed of the latest developments regarding technology and those Councillors wishing to participate in the task group were requested to inform Councillor Payne, the task group lead.

 

6.4      The Committee discussed potential future topics for meetings in 2019/20 and highlighted the following areas of interest:

 

·           Social prescribing;

·           Changes to GP services;

·           Sex and relationships education; and

·           CCGs finances.

 

It was noted that the list of potential topics would be drawn from horizon scanning exercises, discussions with officers and suggestions from members. Those topics identified would then be circulated to the Committee ahead of the first meeting in 2019/20.

 

RESOLVED: That

                                 

1)    The action tracker be noted; and

2)    The ongoing topic selection campaign be noted.

 

7.

Reports of Any Urgency Safeguarding Issues

Verbal Update (if any).

Minutes:

9.1       The Chairman advised there was nothing to report.

8.

Any Other Business

Minutes:

10.1    The Committee wished to record their thanks to Godwyns Onwuchekwa, who was leaving his role with Healthwatch Westminster, for his enthusiastic approach and his contribution to the work carried out in support of the Committee.