Agenda item

Councillor Pressel had given notice of the following question to Councillor Hibbert Biles

“Councillor Biles gave the following answer to a supplementary question from me in Council on 8 September (page 28 on the agenda of our last Council meeting):

"I think children's centres do promote oral health but in actual fact it is the responsibility of the NHS not this Council. We are a monitoring organisation."

Please could you tell me if this is correct?

The latest Public Health Annual Report in its section on oral health says that the local authority "has an emphasis on prevention". It gives a long list (page 55 to 56) of what we do, with much of the work being in pre-school settings, so I'm puzzled by the Cabinet member's statement. I hope this work won’t be lost if the children’s centres are closed.”

Councillor Hibbert Biles replied:

“On 1st April 2013 the statutory responsibility for the commissioning of commissioning dental epidemiology transferred from the NHS to local government.

The dental public health functions of LAs are described in regulations and include a statutory requirement to provide or secure provision of oral surveys. The statutory instrument states that:

A local authority shall provide, or shall make arrangements to secure the provision of, the following within its area—

Oral health surveys to facilitate—

                                                    i.     the assessment and monitoring of oral health needs,

                                                   ii.     the planning and evaluation of oral health promotion programmes,

                                                 iii.     the planning and evaluation of the arrangements for provision of dental services as part of the health service, and

                                                 iv.     where there are water fluoridation programmes affecting the authority’s area, the monitoring and reporting of the effect of water fluoridation programmes.

                                                  v.     The local authority shall participate in any oral health survey conducted or commissioned by the Secretary of State under paragraph 13(1) of Schedule 1 to the 2006 Act (powers in relation to research etc.) so far as that survey is conducted within the authority’s area.

Domain 4 (Healthcare public health and preventing premature mortality) of the Public Health Outcomes Framework includes and indicator relating to “tooth decay in children aged 5.” Continued local dental epidemiology survey provision will be required for the monitoring of this indicator.

Oxfordshire County Council have a requirement to provide a capacity to collect dental epidemiology (surveys) which help inform on the local oral health of the population. This information can help NHS England in understanding the need for dental services locally.

In April 2015 OCC let a contract to Community Dental Services CIC for the collection of dental epidemiology, thus meeting the Council’s statutory requirement. The County Council collect data in line with the National Dental Intelligence Programme which provides a scientifically robust methodology and allows comparability of local data with regional and national data.

All Dental Services are commissioned by NHS England, which does include an element of oral health promotion in these contracts. Oral health promotion is on the same footing as providing dental services which is a clear NHSE responsibility.

OCC does not have a statutory obligation to deliver oral health promotion.”

Supplementary: In response to a question concerning the outcome of the steps taken Councillor Hibbert Biles advised that the survey results were not yet available and she would let Councllor Pressel have this information once it was available.

Councillor Phillips had given notice of the following question to Councillor Hibbert Biles

“Does the Cabinet Member for Public Health and the Voluntary Sector share the Association of Directors of Public Health 'deep concern and disappointment' about the Tory governments' £200m cut to non-NHS public health budget which will result in a 6.2% reduction to Oxfordshire's budget and explain what this cut means for the county's Public Health services?" 

Councillor Hibbert Biles replied:

“Yes, the cut to the non-NHS public health grant is disappointing. Our Government has to make difficult choices in all areas of public spending.

Prudent management of the Public Health grant  by the County Council means that we plan to make this reduction without impact on front-line services.”

Supplementary: Councillor Phillips referred to a further 10% cut in the medium term to the non-NHS public health grant and whether this would impact on front-line services. Councillor Hibbert-Biles replied that it was not certain what future funding would be and the Council had to wait and see what it was.

Councillor Howson had given notice of the following question to Councillor Tilley

“To ask the cabinet member the cost of non SEN home to school transport contracts in Oxfordshire for the summer and autumn terms of 2015 compared with the same periods in 2014 and the same figures for SEN transport? Within these figures, how much is due to in-year pupil arrivals that could not be placed within statutory walking distance of a school?”

Councillor Tilley’s response is set out in the attached annex to these minutes:

Supplementary: Councillor Howson noted that some of the information was awaited and explained that his concern was over whether the expected savings would be delivered and if not whether representation should be made to government over funding. Councillor Tilley confirmed that the additional information would be sent to Councillor Howson.

Question from Councillor Roz Smith to Councillor Nick Carter

"Delays with the start of the building project at Windmill School are well documented. Would the cabinet member agree that lessons have been learnt regarding the lack of early communication from Carillion, and continuing communication that lead to unnecessary stress and wasted time?”

Answer

As with all our building projects we are always learning lessons and seeking to improve the way they are taken through from inception to completion.  Schools provide an added complexity due to;

1.      the fact that there is an additional link between the school and its governors and the council and;

2.       the delivery timetable is more rigid due to school term dates. 

The council is working closely with Carillion to improve communications with schools and they have changed their structure to reflect this need.  

Supplementary: Councillor Carter undertook to look into concerns raised by Councillor Smith that materials were being ordered and not used. However he commented that if additional materials were having to be specified then this was likely to be as a result of changes made to the original specification not just by Carillion.