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ITEM CA17

CABINET – 19 JULY 2005

ORAL HEALTH/HEALTHY EATING - SCRUTINY REVIEW
BY OXFORD CITY HEALTH OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY SUB-COMMITTEE

Report by Director for Learning & Culture

Introduction

1. The Oxford City Sub-Committee of the Oxfordshire Joint Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee have carried out this review, into "Oral health and the promotion of healthy eating promotion to young people, particularly focusing on 5-11 yr age group", with the following particular purposes:

• Identifying the availability of oral health / healthy eating programmes within school & community settings, focusing on:

1. Areas of high deprivation within Oxford City PCT areas and particularly primary schools, which have 20% or more of their pupils with entitlement of free school meals.
2. A target age group of 5-11 yrs

• Identifying constraint factors which impact on successful uptake of programmes.
• Examining case studies of best practice and how these can be adapted to a local setting.

2. The Review Report contains a number of recommendations addressed to the County Council, principally as local education authority. The report’s executive summary and recommendations are reproduced herewith (Annex 1). The full Review Report has been sent to Cabinet Members and is available for public inspection. Annex 2 (download as .doc file) sets out officer comments on the recommendations and suggests a response where appropriate.
   
   (Scrutiny Review of Oral Health/Healthy Eating Report - download as .doc file)
   
3. The Oxfordshire Joint Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee on 9 June 2005 endorsed and commended the report and its recommendations.

The Review Report

4. The Review Report highlights that there is a need for a co-ordinated county-wide response to increasing the oral health and healthy eating of young people, particularly in the primary sector, targeting young people and families from communities where there are pockets of deprivation across the county. Generally the dental health of young people is poorer than it should be, particularly for children on free school meals.
5. There are 21 recommendations within the report which are grouped under:

• Oral Health and Deprivation/Accessibility to Dental Health services (R1-3)
• Fluoridation (R4)
• Oral Health/Healthy Eating Programmes around schools (R5 –15)
• Working with the community (R 16 – 20))
• Resources (R21)

6. The recommendations ask that we should:

• Draw on good practice and extend the provision where outcomes are promising
• Seek joint funding with the District Councils, the PCTs and others for staff and the running costs of programmes, target support to where families do not currently access dental services.

7. Because of the wide-ranging nature of the Review recommendations the response set out in Annex 2 draws on inputs from the Oxford City PCT, the Healthy Oxfordshire Schools Team (HOST), and Trading Standards and Strategic Policy & Economic Development (SPED) in the Environment & Economy Directorate, as well as officers from the Directorate of Learning & Culture.
8. The breadth of the Review’s recommendations fits well with our development of a Children and Young People’s Plan (CYPP) and the outcome of ‘Be Healthy’. This programme focuses the attention of all agencies working with children and young people to help them to become physically, mentally and sexually healthy, to adopt a healthy lifestyle and to choose not to take illegal drugs. The Healthy Oxfordshire Schools Team. (HOST) has within it Sex and Relationship, Drugs, Healthy Schools and Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship Education consultants, led by a PSHCE Adviser. Some of these posts are jointly funded. There is a multi-agency steering group that supports and guides the development of the Healthy Schools’ Programme in schools.
9. The recommendation from the Best Value Review of Children Services, that we should develop local area level management of multi-agency teams currently being trialled within the Excellence Cluster and the Integrated Support Service pilot areas, could be a useful mechanism for addressing some of the recommendations. The Extended Schools networks linked with the development of new Children Centres and childcare facilities, can also provide other opportunities to better engage families within deprived communities across the county on these issues.
10. A review of Catering Facilities Management (CFM) is currently underway. Decisions relating to Schools Meals Service may need to await the outcome of this review.

Resource Implications

11. Recommendation 5: HOST to seek additional funds for staffing (currently a proposal is being developed between HOST and PCTs);

Recommendation 7: Extension of School Fruit & Vegetable Scheme to be costed and resources identified;

Recommendation 11: Refer to the Review of CFM on completion for cost implications;

Recommendation 12: Refer to the Review of CFM on completion, for cost implications;

Recommendation 18: to be considered when Evaluation of the Healthy Living Initiative is complete;

Recommendation 19: Extension of the Healthy Living Initiative to other areas with high indices of deprivation could have cost implications;

Recommendation 21: The funding of additional staffing linked into the existing HOST would have to be found from within OCC/strategic partner funds.

RECOMMENDATIONS

12. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to welcome the Scrutiny Review and endorse the response on the part of the County Council set out in Annex 2 to the report.

 KEITH BARTLEY
Director for Learning & Culture

Background Papers: Nil

Contact Officer: Shannon Moore, Senior Adviser, Partnership and Extended Learning, City Schools, Tel (01865) 428116

July 2005

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