Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Corporate Director of Resources which presented an overview of progress towards achieving the key outcomes of the council’s corporate performance framework and highlighted key messages to inform strategic priorities and work programmes at the end of quarter four, January to March 2022 (for copy see file of minutes).

The Council had been shortlisted for the LGC Award 2022 in the Public Health category for work on health, especially mental health and the winner would be announced later in the week.

Councillor Quinn referred to the free courses and community-based activities which had been attended throughout the year and confirmed that she had attended some of the sessions and highly recommended them.  There was some fantastic work within communities to ensure people were getting out and participating in physical exercise.

Councillor Quinn went on to suggest that educating young mothers and ensuring they had skills to cook healthy meals was a vital programme that could improve health and wellbeing.

With regards to long and independent lives Councillor Coult referred to figures regarding participation in sport and physical activity and inactivity and asked whether there was any further information that could indicate what was preventing 30.8% of the population from participating. She also queried whether there were any hotspots within the County.

A Harrington, Strategy Team Leader advised that it was difficult to get weighted data however she would liaise with colleagues in Public Health to see if they had a better understanding. She advised that a physical activity strategy was being developed and should be provided to the Health and Wellbeing Board in July 2022. 

With regards to hotspots in localities, the Strategy Team Leader was unable to confirm whether any intelligence could be shared, but she would investigate.

Councillor Hovvels confirmed that there were issues with transport, especially in rural communities and due to the increased cost of travel and the cost of living crisis, people would be more under pressure and this would impact on people’s health and wellbeing.  Despite the events being free, there were still costs associated with attending them which could prohibit participation.

Councillor Howey asked whether the benefits of walking could be promoted to those who lived in rural communities and parents who were driving children to school.  The Strategy Team Leader confirmed that she was aware that where possible schools promoted walking to school and the Council promoted physical activity as much as possible through their website, however there were often costs involved that restricted certain types of promotion.

Councillor Quinn agreed that every school could be involved in walking to school campaigns, such as the walking school bus.  This had been popular a number of years prior, but it relied heavily on volunteers.  Elected Members would help where possible as obesity rates were extremely high in school children and a lot of parents were unemployed yet still relying on cars.

The Chair added that elderly people with painful health problems were restricted when it came to exercise.

Resolved

That the Committee notes the overall position and direction of travel in relation to quarter four performance, the impact of COVID-19 on performance, and the actions being taken to address areas of underperformance including the significant economic and well-being challenges because of the pandemic.