North Yorkshire Council
Care and Independence Overview and Scrutiny Committee
28 March 2024
Director of Public Health Annual Report 2022-2023
1.0 Purpose of report
1.1 The purpose of this report is to introduce the Director of Public Health Annual Report 2022-2023: ‘In Our Words: a Child’s Life in North Yorkshire’.
2.0 Background
2.1 The Director of Public Health Annual Report is an independent report on the health of the local population. The Director of Public Health has a duty to write an annual report, whereas the local authority’s duty is to publish it[1].
3.0 Issues
3.1 The Director of Public Health Annual Report for 2022-2023 tells the story of the 151,000 children and young people aged under 25 who live in North Yorkshire. It reflects on the impact of the last few years, bringing in young people’s own words and creativity to help tell the story.
3.2 The report follows children through key milestones, and gives an overview of each phase of their life. For each phase, it reflects on health and wellbeing, looking at the key facts and figures, and the story behind the data.
3.3 It then explores the two key themes that emerged from initial work to develop the report: the rapid onset of digitisation, and mental health and wellbeing. Examples of innovation to address health inequalities are shared.
3.4 The report provides recommendations for all ages and for each life stage. It also gives an update on the recommendations from the DPHAR 2021-22, ‘Learning from COVID-19’.
3.5 A representative of North Yorkshire’s Youth Council, Addison Coudette, joined the Editorial Group and contributed to the development of the report. We are very grateful for his valuable input.
4.0 Milestones
4.1 Following Executive on 23rd January 2024, the report has been published on the North Yorkshire Partnerships website and the Director of Public Health is now sharing it with key committees and partners.
5.0 Financial implications
5.1 Whilst there are no specific financial implications in the report, it is intended to inform and influence service design and commissioning decisions for the children and young people’s health and social care system, and more widely with system partners.
6.0 Legal implications
6.1 The local authority has a legal duty to publish the Director of Public Health Annual Report, as outlined in the ‘Purpose of report’ at 2.1 above.
7.0 Climate change implications
7.1 Whilst the report does not focus specifically on climate change, there are some relevant themes, including the importance of outdoor spaces and healthy activity at all life stages, and access to public transport particularly for young people at the secondary and late adolescence/young adult stages.
8.0 Equalities implications
8.1 The report includes consideration of the unequal life chances of some young people, examples of programmes to reduce inequalities, and recommendations for the children and young people’s system to consider. It also highlights some differences between groups, for example in emotional resilience between girls and boys.
9.0 Recommendations
9.1 That the Care and Independence Overview and Scrutiny Committee notes the contents of the Director of Public Health Annual Report 2022-2023.
9.2 That the Committee considers the recommendations made within the report and how these relate to its work.
Louise Wallace
Director of Public Health
County Hall
NORTHALLERTON
11 March 2024
[1] Section 73B(5) & (6) of the National Health Services Act 2006, inserted by section 31 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012)