Agenda item

For the committee to consider the report and its recommendations.  Presented by Louise Wallace, Director of Public Health.

The Director of Public Health presented the 2022-23 Annual Report “In Our Words:  A Child’s Life in North Yorkshire”, which focussed on the 151,000 children and young people under 25 living in North Yorkshire, which had been prepared in conjunction with the Youth Council.  The report highlighted the rapid impact of digitisation, and mental health and wellbeing and made a number of recommendations, as well as providing an update on the 2021-22 Annual Report, “Learning From COVID-19”.

The following points were raised in the discussion by members, and answers given by officers:

a)    Members sought information on the factors driving the decline in poor oral health in children under five, and what steps were being taken to address this.  Members also discussed the links between poor oral health and financial deprivation. 

Work on the oral health promotion service was ongoing, alongside NHS colleagues.  A range of measures was been undertaken to address the problems, including improving awareness and education in schools through measures like workshops in schools, supervised tooth brushing sessions, and information handout packages.  This was being expanded across the Humber and North Yorkshire.  It was recognised that this was a multifactorial issue with a range of causes, that required a similarly diverse approach to tackle the problem.

Ensuring a good start in life was key from a public health standpoint, and deprivation was linked to a range of poor health outcomes.  There were flexible commissioning arrangements in deprived areas to ensure help could be targeted quickly to address arising issues, and work was ongoing to prepare a range of recommendations to tackle the issues.  The forthcoming Growing Up in North Yorkshire survey would help provide an evidence base to track progress and show how wellbeing and resilience was being developed.

b)    The fact that 20% of children in Scarborough were classed as living in poverty was highlighted as concerning.

Scarborough was identified as a particular area of concern and the high levels of depravation in that area and along the coast was recognised.  A poverty proofing toolkit for schools was under development to address deficiencies, and approval had recently been obtained to reform the provision of free school meals by making them opt-out rather than opt-in, so children would be included in the scheme by default and removing the need for families to apply.  In each case this would provide £450 of support annually.  Mental Health Support Teams were also active in the area, and the role of local care partnership was also recognised.  ICB representatives undertook to find further information on mobile fluroide varnish services in the area and pass this information back to members.

c)    Members asked what steps were being taken to address the recommendations in the report, and how negative trends could be addressed.

The Joint Strategic Working Group brought together ICB place leads, North Yorkshire Public Health, and Children’s Services to identify areas where health services and the local authority could work more closely together.  The Healthy Children and Families Board worked to identify key priorities and brought together key themes outside of health such as criminal justice, safeguarding, the voluntary sector, and education.

Members thanked officers for their report, and highlighted that they were willing to offer assistance in acting as a link to their communities, highlighting initiatives to residents and providing feedback and local context.

Resolved:

That the report be noted.