Agenda and minutes

Social Care, Housing and Public Health Policy Overview Committee - Wednesday, 23rd October, 2019 7.00 pm

Venue: Committee Room 6 - Civic Centre, High Street, Uxbridge UB8 1UW. View directions

Contact: Anisha Teji  01895 277655

Link: Watch the LIVE or archived broadcast of this meeting here

Items
No. Item

32.

Apologies for Absence and to report the presence of any substitute Members

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Tony Eginton with Councillor Scott Farley.

 

 

33.

Declarations of Interest in matters coming before this meeting

Minutes:

None.

34.

To receive the minutes of the previous meeting pdf icon PDF 133 KB

Minutes:

RESOVLED: That the minutes of the meeting on 25 September 2019 be agreed as an accurate record.

 

35.

To confirm that the items of business marked as Part I will be considered in Public and that the items marked as Part II will be considered in Private

Minutes:

It was agreed that all the items on the agenda be considered in public with the exception of Agenda Item 11 – Mental Health Verbal Update.

 

 

36.

Consultation On The Proposed Hillingdon Homelessness Prevention And Rough Sleeping Review And Strategy pdf icon PDF 53 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Deputy Director - Housing, Environment, Education, Health & Wellbeing, Policy and Strategy Manager (Housing) and Service Manager - Homeless Prevention and Housing Allocations presented the proposed Hillingdon Homelessness Prevention and Rough Sleeping Review and Strategy 2019 – 2024.

 

It was reported that local authorities had a statutory duty to publish a Homelessness strategy every five years. A further review had been carried out due to the changes in homelessness legislation implemented by the Homelessness Reduction Act 2019 (HRA). The Rough Sleeper Strategy published in August 2018 required local authorities to update and make all strategies available by winter 2019. Prior to a wider consultation exercise, the draft Homelessness strategy had been published to the Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Social Services, Housing and Public Health. It was intended that the policy documents would be considered by Cabinet in December 2019.

 

The report and policy document set out the key challenges in Hillingdon relating to homelessness and rough sleeping. It explained how the Council would work with partner agencies to prevent homelessness, provide access to suitable accommodation and support homeless households.

 

It was highlighted that the number of rough sleepers at Heathrow remained high and the HRA had resulted in an increase in staff workloads. It was noted that there were variety of reasons that caused homelessness including family eviction, domestic abuse and the end of assured shorthold tenancies. A variety of statistics around the loss of last settled homes, support needs and homeless placements by other boroughs was explained to the Committee.

 

The Committee heard about the six priorities of the new strategy including the ability for residents to access housing advice, prevention, eliminating the need to sleep rough in Hillingdon, increasing the availability of affordable housing, managing temporary accommodation and focussing on partnership arrangements.

 

The Committee was keen to ensure that there was enough refuge in the Borough for people escaping domestic abuse and it was considered that the assistance provided to other boroughs needed to be applied fairly. The Council’s homelessness forum had involvement with local church groups and other community organisations and their input was key.

 

It was confirmed that the Winter Night Shelter would be in place to support rough sleepers and the Council had been successful in receiving cold weather funding to help pay for bed and breakfasts.  These initiatives would help to identify rough sleepers and provide quick accommodation. Although the levels housing for asylum seekers were high in Hillingdon, it was highlighted that other boroughs experienced higher numbers.

 

Concerns were raised about the increase in workload and ways to mitigate this was discussed.  The Committee was informed that as the homelessness assessments were more in depth, this had resulted in a 50% increase in workload per officer.  Groups of officers were creatively used in different areas to manage workloads and services.

 

It was noted that affordability was a continuing issue and more had to be done in relation to registered social landlords. With domestic violence being on the rise, concerns  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

37.

Children And Young People Mental Health And Emotional Wellbeing Update October 2019 pdf icon PDF 238 KB

Minutes:

The Transformation Project Lead Commissioner Child and Adolescent Emotional Wellbeing, Mental Health and Corporate Director of Adult, Children and Young People Services and Director of Public Health were in attendance to introduce the report.

 

The report provided an update on key achievements in implementing the Hillingdon Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing Local Transformation Plan which was being supported through the development of the Hillingdon THRIVE network.

 

It was reported that the key challenges previously had been around the need for earlier intervention with children and young people that was not clinic based. The waiting times for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) had always been an issue nationally and therefore new ideas of engagement were introduced. The progress made in 2018/19 and the development of the early intervention and prevention initiatives in Hillingdon was highlighted to the Committee. It was noted that the KOOTH online counselling services had been well received.

 

It was reported that there had been an increase in engagement with black and minority ethnic (BAME) young people, schools and GPs were the two highest referring agencies to KOOTH and the current contract with Hillingdon had been extended to July 2020. Goal based outcome measures had been introduced which was working well. It was noted that KOOTH 18 – 25 was a planned area for development. Significant and inappropriate workload had allowed services to profile their offer to enable more effective preventative work to be conducted. As a local authority there was additional value and services that could be provided to residents and this demonstrated a good example of shared working.

 

The triage approach and referring children and young people to appropriate services was applauded by the Committee and Members welcomed a similar initiative for adults’ services.

 

The Committee was keen to view data indicating how many schools and colleges had taken up KOOTH and how many students were going ahead with it in any future reports. Although the success in meeting the 85% target was positive, there was still a 15% deficit that could not be ignored.

 

The CCG and other partnerships need to be congratulated on the new approach and the fact that the issues in tier 1 and tier 2 were being addressed. However, concerns still remained about the support available for tier 3 and 4 and whether enough was being done to address the issues at that stage. The legislative change moving assessments to three – four weeks was welcomed.  

Members thanked for the report.

 

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the following key progress including:

 

1.    The development of the local offer available for Children & Young People and families in ‘Getting Advice’ and ‘Getting Help’ (building resilience and early intervention and prevention), particularly, the continued progress and performance in Q1/2 2019, by the new on-line counselling service KOOTH which had increased access to emotional well-being and mental health services for children and young people living in Hillingdon.

 

  1. Developing an integrated early Intervention and prevention model. A draft service  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

38.

Review Topic Proposals pdf icon PDF 86 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee decided a topic for the next review. It was keen to select a topic that fell within the remit of the Committee and that would make a difference. It was agreed that the next review would be on autism and a scoping report would be produced for the next meeting.

 

It was considered that applying for housing benefit online and semi - independent living for young people also be considered good review topics.

 

RESOLVED: That a scoping report be produced on autism.

 

39.

Minutes from the Corporate Parenting Panel meeting on 17 September 2019 pdf icon PDF 52 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members reviewed the minutes of the Corporate Parenting Panel meeting, noting the activity undertaken with young people and sought clarifications where required.

 

RESOLVED: That the Corporate Parenting Panel minutes from the meeting on Tuesday 17 September 2019 be noted.

 

40.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 57 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That the work programme be noted.

 

41.

Forward Planner pdf icon PDF 53 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That the forward plan be noted.

 

42.

Mental Health Verbal Update

Minutes:

This item was discussed as a Part II item without the press or public present as the information under discussion contained confidential or exempt information as defined by law in the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985. This was because it discussed ‘information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)’ (paragraph 3 of the schedule to the Act).

 

The Committee was provided with an update on mental health services.  Members noted the verbal update and clarifications were sought were required.

 

RESOLVED: That the mental health update be noted.