Agenda item

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

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 had recently been held. The event had been very successful and positive feedback had been received from the attendees. Thanks were offered to the Adult Safeguarding team and officers for supporting the peer review and to Karen Roe, Communications Manager, for all her efforts in organising the Care Awards.

4.3      The Committee also discussed Childhood Obesity, Youth Providers Roundtable, Family Hubs Conference, the Speech and Language Therapy budget, Troubled Families and the Dementia Strategy.