Agenda item

The purpose of this item is to address the Mental Health Motion passed by Oxfordshire County Council at its meeting on 9 December 2025. Oxfordshire County Council passed a motion requesting that the Health & Wellbeing Board (HWB) invite the Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee (JHOSC) to investigate and report on how mental health services provided by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and wider system partners are addressing the rising prevalence and impact of poor mental health among adults and children in Oxfordshire.

The wording of the motion agreed was as follows:

“This Council being deeply concerned by the impact of poor mental health on adults and children in the County asks the Health and Wellbeing Board to request the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee to investigate and report back to them and to the County Council on how Mental Health services provided by Oxford Health and other organisations are tackling this issue.

Such an investigation of issues needs to include addressing accessibility to services including:

·       Prevention

·       Assessment

·       Therapeutic support

·       Medication

·       Emergency intervention such as "sectioning"

·       Inpatient beds

How these issues impact on other public services such Community Safety, Public Health, Housing, Schools, Fire and Rescue and the Police also needs to be assessed and understood. Most of all poor mental health impacts on individuals, families, and communities around the County and this must be addressed.

Council requests that the outcome of the investigation be sent to the appropriate Secretaries of State.”

The Health and Wellbeing Board is RECOMMENDED to:

1.    AGREE to request the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee to investigate mental health services and follow up as outlined in the wording of the motion.

Councillor Jane Hanna, Chair of the JHOSC, presented an update on recent scrutiny work relating to children’s mental health and SEND services.

Councillor Hanna explained that the Committee had undertaken an in?depth examination of SEND provision and children’s mental health, prompted by sustained increases in demand and complexity across the system. She described how scrutiny had focused not only on service performance but on how partners were working together, and whether the system as a whole was structured to respond effectively to children and families.

She reported that evidence presented to the JHOSC demonstrated a more unified and deliberate focus by partners on SEND children than had previously been evident. This had been particularly important given that SEND pressures were a significant driver of escalating demand across education, health and social care. The Committee had welcomed this increased alignment but remained concerned about the scale of unmet need.

Councillor Hanna referred to the 2025 Ofsted inspection, which had concluded that effective action had been taken since 2023. However, she stressed that Ofsted’s findings should not be interpreted as indicating that the system was “fixed”. The Committee’s view was that progress had been made in the right direction, but that the pace of improvement remained constrained by structural and systemic barriers.

She outlined the key challenges identified during scrutiny. These included limitations in time and workforce capacity across all partners, the cumulative impact of organisational change, and the complexity introduced by the formation of the Thames Valley Integrated Care Board, which covered a much larger geography than Oxfordshire alone. Councillor Hanna explained that partners were subject to different national policy requirements, performance regimes and delivery timelines, which were not always aligned and made joint working more difficult.

A recurring theme during scrutiny had been the lack of clarity about local flexibility at place level. Councillor Hanna explained that partners were often uncertain about where discretion existed and how far they could adapt national requirements to meet local need. The Committee had concluded that greater clarity and confidence around local decision?making was essential if improvement was to accelerate.

She reported that the Cabinet Member for Children had attended the scrutiny session and had spoken candidly about the long?term sustainability challenge facing children’s services. Funding pressures, reductions in preventative services, and increasing statutory demand were affecting all partners, not just the local authority. Councillor Hanna reminded the Board that the JHOSC had repeatedly highlighted, since 2023, the need for a stronger focus on securing sustainable, long?term funding for children’s services rather than relying on short?term mitigation.

Councillor Hanna also highlighted the prominence of children’s and young people’s voice during scrutiny. The Committee had discussed how feedback from children and families was often fragmented across the system and had explored ways in which those voices could be brought together more coherently. This had led to discussion about the role of Healthwatch and other local voice mechanisms, and how they could be strengthened.

She concluded by emphasising that the update provided to the Board was necessarily a summary, and that a much more detailed scrutiny report would follow. She stressed that the Committee’s work was intended to support system improvement rather than laying blame.

In discussion, Members of the Board reflected on the scale and depth of the JHOSC’s scrutiny work. The Board acknowledged that health scrutiny of this nature was time?intensive and often underestimated, and commended the Committee for its evidence?based and constructive approach.

The Chair thanked Councillor Hanna for the update and noted the strong alignment between the JHOSC’s findings and the Board’s own responsibilities for strategic leadership, integration and prevention.

The Board RESOLVED to:

1. AGREE to request the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee to investigate mental health services and follow up.