Agenda and minutes

The Chair introduced everyone to the meeting and welcomed new Members to the Board: Cllr Kate Gregory (Cabinet Member for Public Health & Inequalities) and Cllr Sean Gaul (Cabinet Member for Children and Young People).

The Chair also welcomed Professor Sir Jonathan Montgomery to his first Board as Vice-Chair.

Apologies were received from Cllr Sean Gaul, Cllr Rob Pattenden (attending virtually), Cllr Georgina Heritage, substituted by Cllr Leigh Rawlins, and Lisa Lyons, substituted by Jean Kelly.

There were none.

Members of the public who wish to speak at this meeting can attend the meeting in person or ‘virtually’ through an online connection.

To facilitate ‘hybrid’ meetings we are asking that requests to speak or present a petition are submitted by no later than 9am four working days before the meeting i.e., 9am on <<DATE>>.  Requests to speak should be sent to simon.wright@oxfordshire.gov.uk

If you are speaking ‘virtually’, you may submit a written statement of your presentation to ensure that your views are taken into account. A written copy of your statement can be provided no later than 9am 2 working days before the meeting. Written submissions should be no longer than 1 A4 sheet.

There were none.

To approve the Note of Decisions of the meeting held on 13 March 2025 (HBW5) and to receive information arising from them.

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 March 2025 were approved as amended and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

Report by the Director of Adult Social Care

The Oxfordshire Learning Disability Plan is a strategy for adults, including the transition into adulthood. The Plan is for 10 years and will be reviewed at years 3, 5, and 7 to ensure its effectiveness and adaptability, applying any revisions required based on needs and demands at that time.

The Health and Wellbeing Board is RECOMMENDED to:

a)    Note the development of the Oxfordshire Learning Disability Plan 2025 – 2035 for adults.

b)    Approve the Oxfordshire Learning Disability Plan 2025 – 2035, acknowledging that following consultation, amendments may be made on the existing draft.

The Chair introduced the item to the Board and officers, as well as representatives from My Life My Choice, to present the report. They raised the following points:

-       The plan sets out some of the most important areas where people with a learning disability, their family, carers and professionals felt actions needed to be taken.

-       The plan is for 10 years, and will be reviewed in 3 years, 5 years and 7 years with people.

-       The key principles are working together in partnership, including everyone, focusing on people’s strengths, having choice and control, putting people at the centre and building strong communities.

-       Various methods of engagement were used including sharing your story forms, open focus groups and engagement events (café style).

-       Co-production was at the heart of the plan and future work plans.

The Chair noted the plan being a great example of co-production.

Cllr Helen Pighills noted the importance of employment and the extent to which reaching out to employers was feasible to support this plan. Karen Fuller, Director of Adult Social Care, noted the County Council’s Oxfordshire Employment Service and intention of linking with the government’s Connect to Work programme.

The Vice Chair asked about the admission of people into hospitals with learning disabilities and whether this plan would help combat that. Karen Fuller noted that it was something being worked hard on across the entire system in Oxfordshire.

Following a question from Cllr Leigh Rawlins, officers confirmed that this plan will link to the Carer’s Strategy, but that there was still more work to do.

The Chair thanked officers and representatives from My Life My Choice for their work.

The Board approved the recommendations in the report.

RESOLVED to:

a)    Note the development of the Oxfordshire Learning Disability Plan 2025 – 2035 for adults.

b)    Approve the Oxfordshire Learning Disability Plan 2025 – 2035, acknowledging that following consultation, amendments may be made on the existing draft.

The Board is to receive a verbal update.

The Chair provided an update on local government reorganisation and devolution in relation to the Health & Wellbeing Board and the process so far.

Caroline Green, Chief Executive – Oxford City Council, noted that all the proposals were the responsibility of those proposing them to meet criteria set by government and that work was continuing collaboratively on devolution across Oxfordshire & Berkshire. It was also noted that it was vital that collaborative work continued on important areas during this uncertain period.

Cllr Chewe Munkonge noted the importance of working and engaging with staff, as well as the complex nature of aggregation and disaggregation.

The Board noted the verbal update provided.

The Board is to receive an update from the ICB.

Report to follow.

The Chair introduced Matthew Tait, Chief Delivery Officer – ICB, to present the report and he raised the following points:

-       The NHS 10 Year Plan is due to be published in July 2025.

-       ICB’s are being reviewed and have been challenged to reduce their running costs by 50%.

-       A national blueprint for ICB’s has been published nationally.

-       ICB’s are awaiting certainty regarding LGR and devolution, as well as national decision-making, such as the NHS 10 Year Plan.

-       The Place Base Partnership is focusing on prevention.

-       Positive workshops on neighbourhood health focusing on what the system want to achieve over the next few years.

Michelle Brennan, GP Representative, made reference to work on neighbourhood health, focusing particularly on prevention and stopping systems working in silos.

Ansaf Azhar, Director of Public Health and Communities, noted that despite changes to system structures, as a Health & Wellbeing partnership, 10 priorities were agreed upon and there are real indicators to measure if progress has been made and that it was important not to lose sight of that.

Cllr Leigh Rawlins asked whether procurement would be affected by structural changes. Matthew Tait suggested that the ICB would probably look to procure at scale more often and devolve tactical procurement to partner organisations.

The Vice Chair stressed the need to not wait for NHS England to be abolished in order to deliver change and shape pathways going forward.

The Chair noted the lack of an ICP meeting recently and asked if there were plans to hold one soon, as it was important to engage with elected politicians. Matthew Tait noted the point and said the NHS 10 Year Plan would provide some clarity over structures and a discussion would be best placed on how to engage with further detail.

The Board noted the verbal update provided.

Report by Caroline Green, Chair of Prevention of Homelessness Directors Group

This report provides an update on the ongoing work to address homelessness across Oxfordshire, in a period when the county and the wider country is experiencing rising homelessness and temporary accommodation use. It outlines key developments in service delivery and strategic governance, including recent changes to the Prevention of Homelessness Directors Group (PHDG) and developments with the Countywide Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy. The report also highlights progress made in tackling homelessness, identifies ongoing challenges, and updates on the work of the Oxfordshire Homeless Alliance. 

The Health and Wellbeing Board is RECOMMENDED to note the report.

Caroline Green, Chair of Prevention of Homelessness Directors Group, presented the report and raised the following points:

-       The report that set up the group stated homelessness cannot be considered as just a housing issue when it cuts across many responsibilities and that stronger collaboration was needed.

-       A county-wide Homelessness Strategy was signed off in 2021, but significant changes in context have occurred since then.

-       There was a 90% increase in Oxford of people requiring homelessness duties and 166% rise in temporary accommodation since last year reflects the magnitude of the challenge faced.

-       Expected to be a cut in grant funding for homelessness prevention from the government.

-       Importance of getting treatments and pathways correct initially to save funding in the long-term, in a shift to prevention.

-       Significant progress has been made but the focus is on outstanding actions.

-       The need for greater alignment between housing and social care, regardless of the outcome of local government reorganisation.

-       Commitment needed from all organisations involved to improve over the next year.

Cllr Kate Gregory, Cabinet Member for Public Health & Inequalities, asked about the government’s intention to move to longer-term funding settlements and if homelessness prevention funding would be included in that intention. It was confirmed that government had confirmed longer-term funding for homelessness prevention, moving to 3-year settlements, but that it was consulting on changes to how funds would be distributed across the country to areas of high deprivation, which Oxfordshire as a whole does not feature in the highest areas of need.

Veronica Barry, Executive Director of Healthwatch Oxfordshire, noted the issues around temporary accommodation and how the system can address issues, such as having healthy meals and proper cooking facilities. It was confirmed that the elimination of bed and breakfast use as temporary accommodation was a priority to address some of these issues.

The Chair thanked officers for their update.

RESOLVED:

The Health and Wellbeing Board noted the report.

The Board is to receive a verbal update with papers included in the agenda: the Better Care Fund plan and the letter confirming it had been accepted from NHS England, along with some slides for the Board’s information.

Ian Bottomley, Head of Joint Commissioning (Age Well), presented the report to the Board and raised the following points:

-       The importance of shifts from hospital discharge to prevention.

-       Homelessness prevention projects and specific dynamic learning teams being funding by the Better Care Fund.

-       The importance of reducing the amount of older people going into hospital.

It was noted that Oxfordshire’s work on the Better Care Fund and discharging people from hospital had improved considerably in the previous 5 years.

The Vice Chair noted the importance of sustainability to keep this work moving forward in the right direction and thanked the teams for their great work to date.

The Board was asked to approve a delegation to the Director of Adult Social Care & Chief Delivery Officer (ICB) to approve the quarterly reports of the Better Care Fund. The Board agreed to the recommendation outlined below.

RESOLVED to:

a)    To delegate the approval of the quarterly reports of the Better Care Fund to the Director of Adult Social Care and Chief Delivery Officer (ICB), in consultation with the Chair of the Oxfordshire Health and Wellbeing Board.

Report by Director of Children’s Services

The Health and Wellbeing Board approved a new strategy in December 2023, with the priorities split between four thematic areas of Start Well, Live Well, Age Well and Building Blocks of Health. Delivery against the ambitions within the strategy is the responsibility of all organisations represented on the Board and is supported by an Outcomes Framework agreed by the Board in March 2024.

The Board has agreed to receive a rotating update on delivery of 1 of the 4 strategy themes at its quarterly meetings, meaning that over the course of a 12-month period an update on each theme would be presented once. This report is the first annual report of the thematic domain of Start Well covering:

Priority 1: The best start in life

All children in Oxfordshire should experience a healthy start to life and be ready for school, especially in our most deprived communities.

Priority 2: Children and young people’s emotional wellbeing and mental health

More children and young people in Oxfordshire should experience good mental health and emotional wellbeing.

The Health and Wellbeing Board is RECOMMENDED to:

a)    Note the progress of the delivery of priorities 1 and 2 under the thematic domain of Start Well within the Health and Wellbeing Strategy along with key challenges.

Jean Kelly, Deputy Director of Children’s Social Care, and Anna Jennings, Head of Transformation – Children’s Services, presented the report and raised the following points:

-       New partnership boards established with strategies and implementation plans in place to drive improvements.

-       Beginning to develop Family Hubs network across Oxfordshire.

-       Work continuing to develop on having mental health support teams in every school by 2029.

-       Ensure that families are aware of all support available to them through better signposting.

-       Working with JNSA to get better data to identify support requirements.

Cllr Gregory asked if the geographical study on Family Hubs was being worked on with regards to where Children’s Centres currently are and what the timeframe was on their introduction. It was confirmed that all the buildings were being mapped out, with the usage of community venues wanted to help develop services. It was hoped that some of the Family Hubs may open by the end of next year.

The Vice Chair asked about how pupil absence and physically active children was measured. It was noted that new partnerships, including school leaders, were being formed to tackle pupil absence. Ansaf Azhar, Director of Public Health and Communities, confirmed that the metrics on physically active children was picked up via the Health Improvement Board and that Active Oxfordshire had been commissioned to do further work on this.

Michelle Brennan, GP representative, asked if there was work underway to teach young children how to use the NHS app and how Family Hubs could be linked in with neighbourhood health to understand the provisions on offer.

Cllr Leigh Rawlins, South Oxfordshire District Council, asked about the provision of assessments in pre-schools to identify emerging needs. It was noted that there were early years assessments undertaken, before pre-school, that tried to identify such needs and that ways of identifying the earliest opportunities to support children and families was vital.

The Chair thanked officers and the report was noted.

RESOLVED to:

a)    Note the progress of the delivery of priorities 1 and 2 under the thematic domain of Start Well within the Health and Wellbeing Strategy along with key challenges

The Board is to receive a verbal update.

Kate Holburn, Deputy Director of Public Health, presented the report and raised the following points:

-       The 3 Marmot Principles that had been started with were: giving every child the best start in life, creating fair employment and good work for all and ensuring a healthy standard of living for all.

-       Work across all workstreams was outlined, such as an Early Years Summit, a draft ‘Get Britain Working’ plan for Oxfordshire and completing a draft housing health needs assessment.

Cllr Chewe Munkonge, Oxford City Council, noted the importance of social value and asked what other partners were doing to bring this into work across the whole of Oxfordshire. It was noted that all partners incorporated social value and that the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership were holding a social values workshop to fully understand social value from employers point of view.

RESOLVED:

The Board noted the verbal update.

Report by Director of Public Health and Communities

This paper updates the Health and Wellbeing Board on progress in developing a place-based approach to research in Oxfordshire. It summarises: the forthcoming research strategy for Oxfordshire County Council (OCC); current work of the Oxfordshire Community Research Network (OCRN) and developing partnerships between local councils and the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University.

The Board is RECOMMENDED to:

a)    NOTE content of paper and ADVISE where OCC, the Oxfordshire Community Research Network and the Local Policy Lab can support the work of the Health and Wellbeing Board and vice versa.

Adam Briggs, Deputy Director of Public Health, and Foyeke Tolani, Head of Research, presented the report and raised the following points:

-       The impact of how research can support decision-making, and the unique position Oxfordshire has with world class educational facilities within the county.

-       The vision of the research strategy was to collaboratively carry out and promote the use of high-quality, people-centred research to make Oxfordshire a greener, healthier and fairer county.

-       The role of the Oxfordshire Community Research Network, including some of the strengths and weaknesses of the work so far.

The Vice Chair noted it would be useful for the Board to test assumptions they make with the research network. He also stated that it was important to not unnecessarily research in Oxford, as plenty of good research came from outside of Oxford.

The Board noted the report.

RESOLVED:

a) NOTE content of paper and ADVISE where OCC, the Oxfordshire Community Research Network and the Local Policy Lab can support the work of the Health and Wellbeing Board and vice versa.

Reports by Director of Public Health & Communities

Every Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) has a statutory duty to carry out a Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) every three years. The last PNA for Oxfordshire was published in 2022 and has been kept up to date with supplementary statements reflecting changes in provision. The 2025 PNA is now due for publication in October 2025.

The Health and Wellbeing Board is RECOMMENDED to:

a)    To receive an update on progress and the project plan timelines on the production of the 2025 Oxfordshire PNA

b)    To note that the 2025 Oxfordshire PNA is now out to formal 60-day consultation

The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) is a statutory annual report provided to the Health and Wellbeing Board and published in full on the Oxfordshire Data Hub.  It provides an evidence-base for the Health and Wellbeing Strategy and is an opportunity for an annual discussion about the key issues and trends from a review of a wide range of health-related information about Oxfordshire. It should be used as a tool by all partners of the Health and Wellbeing Board to ensure that services provided by their organisations are suitably tailored to the local needs in Oxfordshire identified by the JSNA

The Health and Wellbeing Board is RECOMMENDED to:

a)    Provide feedback on the proposed design of the 2025 Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)

b)    Via relevant officers in their organisations, contribute information and intelligence to the JSNA to further its development and participate in making information more accessible to everyone

c)    Note that the JSNA 2025 will be provided to the Health and Wellbeing Board for sign-off in September 2025.

Anjna Sharma (Soar Beyond Ltd) and Craig Miles-Clarke, Senior Research Officer, presented reports on the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) & JSNA (Joint Strategic Needs Assessment) updates and raised the following points:

-       Undertaking research of current health needs and views from local users on predicted future service needs.

-       The PNA is out for a final 60 day consultation.

-       Different services, including pharmacies, and key demographics were mapped out across Oxfordshire and outside of Oxfordshire’s borders as residents access pharmacies outside of the county as well.

Caroline Green asked about the mapping of services for substance and alcohol abuse, particularly as some areas had quite high demand. It was stated that provision was not nationally funded but that these services were quite equally spread, with slightly less provision in West Oxfordshire and slightly more in Oxford.

Cllr Helen Pighills, Vale of White Horse District Council, asked if digital provisions for pharmacies were mapped out. It was noted that this was considered in the report and that residents could access this at a local or national level, but that it was not tracked and was a growing question.

The JSNA online page was indicatively demonstrated to members of the Board, showing how it could be used to access data on specific health conditions, such as drug misuse. Ansaf Azhar confirmed that this showed the move to a digital platform.

It was confirmed that the PNA and JSNA were coming to the Board in September for approval.

RESOLVED:

PNA:

a) To receive an update on progress and the project plan timelines on the production of the 2025 Oxfordshire PNA

b) To note that the 2025 Oxfordshire PNA is now out to formal 60-day consultation

JNSA:

a) Provide feedback on the proposed design of the 2025 Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)

b) Via relevant officers in their organisations, contribute information and intelligence to the JSNA to further its development and participate in making information more accessible to everyone

c) Note that the JSNA 2025 will be provided to the Health and Wellbeing Board for sign-off in September 2025.

To report on views of health care gathered by Healthwatch Oxfordshire.

Veronica Barry, Executive Director of Healthwatch Oxfordshire, introduced the report and raised the following points:

-       Spoke to men across Oxfordshire to feed into men’s health strategy.

-       Ran public webinars on prevention work, menopause and had planned sessions in the future for the upcoming NHS 10 year plan.

-       Films around navigating language support and receptionists in GP surgeries had been made and distributed, and it was confirmed it had won an international film award for their work.

RESOLVED:

The Board noted the report.

To receive updates from Partnership Boards. Reports from –

·       Health Improvement Board (verbal); and

·       Children’s Trust Board

·       Place Based Partnership (to follow)

The Board received updates from the Children’s Trust Board, the Health Improvement Board and the Place Base Partnership, and noted the written and verbal updates.