Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillors Simon Arnold, Darran Davies and Peter Money (Councillor Stuart Mathers was present as his substitute).

There were no declarations of interest in matters coming before this meeting. 

It was noted that the first half of Agenda Item 7 would be held in public and that the second half of that item would be held in private.  

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2021 be agreed as a correct record. 

The Chairman welcomed Councillor Sue O’Brien, Cabinet Member for Families, Education and Wellbeing, to the meeting. 

It was noted that the recommendations included in the draft final report on children’s dental services in Agenda B reflected the recommendations that had been agreed by Members at their last meeting on 20 July 2021.  The Chairman advised that he had spoken to partners about the proposed recommendations which had been well received.  He had also spoken to the relevant Council officers and Cabinet Members who had all provided positive feedback. 

Councillor O’Brien noted that the Committee’s report had been highlighted at the Hillingdon Health and Wellbeing Board meeting on 14 September 2021 as the issue of children’s oral health sat within the Child Healthy Weight Action Plan.  With the schools now reopened for the new academic year, the report was thought to be timely as actions could now be rolled out.  It was noted that there had been absolute buy in from partners. 

Councillor O’Brien recognised that the review had started before the pandemic and that there had been a change of Members involved over the course of the review.  She thanked all of the Members that had been involved for their hard work on the review and for a fantastic report. 

It was thought that the two most important recommendations would be those in relation to ongoing oversight by the Select Committee and the Health and Wellbeing Board. 

RESOLVED:  That the final report be agreed. 

The Chairman noted that Councillor Arnold had previously requested that the Committee receive an update on the progress of the Hillingdon Hospital development at this meeting.  As there had been little information currently available, it had been agreed that a brief update would be provided as part of the health updates at the meeting on 7 October 2021 and that a more detailed discussion could take place at the meeting on 27 January 2022. 

It was proposed that the health partners attending the meeting on 7 October 2021 be asked to focus on two main issues (alongside any other issues that they wanted to raise):

1.    What action had been taken to prepare for winter pressures?

2.    What action was being taken to deal with the backlog that had arisen since the start of the pandemic?

In addition, it was agreed that health partners be asked to provide actual numbers in relation to any backlog that had arisen.  It was also agreed that The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust be asked to provide an update on action taken in relation to infection prevention and control following the improvement plan that had been put in place. 

RESOLVED:  That the Work Programme be agreed. 

The Chairman welcomed those present to the meeting. 

Sergeant Allyson Keith advised that she led ten police officers (Safer Schools Officers (SSOs)) that made up the Safer Schools Team in the West Area.  The Team worked with secondary school head teachers in the Borough in relation to safeguarding, diversionary and preventative actions.  Each of the ten officers on Sgt Keith’s team were designated to work with three schools an also worked with the Council and other partners.  Each secondary school in the Borough had a named officer contact within the Schools Team. 

The role of SSOs was to break down barriers and build relations with young people.  The SSOs maintained a presence in the schools, routinely giving presentations and working in partnership.  This had resulted in the creation of mutually trusting relationships whereby young people would proactively reach out to the SSOs. 

It was noted that a lot of the work undertaken by the SSOs was in relation to safeguarding.  The team worked hard to divert young people away from crime rather than criminalising them.  To this end, two clubs had been set up for these young people which were each staffed by two of Sgt Keith’s team with links to other agencies.  These clubs covered a number of schools but were resource intensive so the creation of additional clubs was not possible within existing resources.

Over the summer holidays, the team had been working with young people to reduce truancy from school.  They had also been working with police cadets in the Borough to undertake underage test purchases of alcohol from off licence premises (as there were links between this behaviour and child criminal exploitation (CCE)).

Members were aware of diversionary activity that had taken place within the Borough and noted how effective this had been.  Sgt Keith advised that the team had links with Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) and looked at what the schools could do to help those young people that had been identified.  The team also worked with the Youth Offending Service, Social Care and other agencies once the school had brought a young person to their attention.  Action was then taken to map out the young person’s contacts to get a clearer picture of how to help them. 

In terms of preventing a young person from being involved in criminal activity, it was noted that the Schools Team was reliant on the DSL flagging young people with early indicators such as persistent disruptive behaviour.  At the request of Members, Sgt Keith agreed to look at what effective preventative action was taken in other Boroughs to identify any gaps in the Hillingdon provision and forward this information on to the Democratic Services Manager. 

Sgt Keith advised that the amount of information provided varied from school to school.  However, all schools valued the service provided by the team.  For example, although it was not thought that there was an issue in Hillingdon, schools welcomed weapons screening as they saw it as the police supporting schools by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.