Agenda item

       Resolved

            That Cabinet:

i)         agrees to commit £90,000 of annual funding to continuation of the Community Champions programme.

ii)       agrees to commit £400,000 of non-recurrent funding to create a fund to support innovative proposals which focus on reducing health inequalities.

Reason for Decision and OptionsConsidered

As a core part of the Labour Manifesto and the Council Plan, there was a clear commitment to reduce inequalities.  The need for this had been highlighted and exacerbated throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as in the wider context explored in the findings and demands of the independent Race Equality Commission that reported in January this year.  Underlying this was also a clear need to continue to improve how the Council engaged with all its communities through long-term, ongoing conversations because this would be the way in which we could best understand, and then address, what we could do together to help people live healthy and happy lives.

During the last two years we had worked with people in the community who wanted to help respond to the crisis, and who were able to use their networks to promote messages about what everyone should do to protect themselves and others from COVID-19. We had built a different kind of relationship by looking at what we could do collaboratively, identifying barriers to accessing and making use of accurate information, and providing tailored support. In January 2022, the council received a £485,000 grant from the Department of Levelling up, Housing and Communities to deliver a Community Vaccine Champions programme that built on this approach, working with voluntary sector partners, including the EACH consortium.  We were developing a new matrix for providing community support, starting with talking to groups to understand what the council could do to help increase capacity, particularly for those smaller voluntary sector organisations who continued to work with us to promote vaccination, and with a view to expanding the work to address wider health issues.  After the funding came to an end in autumn 2022, it was proposed that £90,000 of Public Health Grant be used to continue and build on the key elements of the Community Champions programme.  Details for how this resource would be used would be developed during this year, as the programme was rolled out and evaluated, and would be co-produced with community representatives.  A large part of the resource was likely to be used to fund some workforce to lead on the programme.  This would support continuation of an approach which would help with long-term engagement with our local communities, responding to one of the demands of the Race Equality Commission to put communities at the heart of health programme design, and with a focus on supporting broader health and wellbeing.  This was particularly important for those people in the parts of the borough that were identified in the Commission’s findings as feeling left behind and under-served by health services. 

There was also an opportunity to commit £400,000 from the Public Health Grant to a one-off fund to support new and innovative proposals from across the Council which focus on our priorities for reducing health inequalities, based on our understanding of what we know about our communities.  This would entail an internal bidding process and a cross-Council decision-making panel, chaired by the Director of Public Health.  Assessment criteria were to be finalised, but key proposed criteria would include the points below:

·       Specific aim to reduce health inequalities, particularly in relation to the Race Equality Commission health demands and prioritising communities who have most felt the impacts of covid. 

·       To be used for a new area of spend and/or continuation of covid recovery support.  Bidders could assure themselves that there is no duplication with existing spend or services provided. 

·       Bids would need to be submitted by Council teams.  Teams were strongly encouraged to co-develop their bids with local partner organisations (e.g. NHS) and/or community, voluntary or faith groups.  Teams were also encouraged to submit joint bids with other teams across the Council.

·       Sustainability, to ensure a meaningful and long-lasting use of the funds – e.g. something that then became embedded in existing work/services, such as training for staff/communities or pump-priming a longer-term area of work.  Bids could also be submitted to pilot and evaluate a new approach or service, as long as there was alternative sustainable funding to then take it forward.

·       Bids could be any value up to a maximum of £100,000.

·       Funding for successful bids could cover more than one financial year (e.g. for a 3-year initiative).

·       The bidding process would be developed in detail by the Public Health department, in collaboration with other departments such as Finance, Strategy & Engagement and Community Development.

All spend must be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Public Health Grant, and approved as such by the Director of Public Health.  Bidders would be asked to specify which category of the grant conditions their bid will meet.