Agenda item

To provide Cabinet with an update on the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance and to seek Cabinet’s approval to accept funding offered to Tendring District Council from both North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group and East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust and the associated governance framework.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)    notes the current status of the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance and endorses the continued  involvement of the Council within the partnership;

(b)    approves the acceptance of £165,000 funding from the North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for the healthy housing project in accordance with the governance framework, as set out in the draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), attached as Appendix 2 to item A.8 of the Report of the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships;

(c)    approves the acceptance of £400,000 funding from the North East Essex CCG and the East Suffolk and North East Essex Foundation Trust for the addressing inequalities at place project in accordance with the governance framework, as set out in the draft MOU, attached as Appendix 3 to the Portfolio Holder’s report;

(d)    authorises the Assistant Director of Partnerships, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships, to agree the final MOUs;

(e)    authorises the Assistant Director of Partnerships, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships, to agree the outcomes and spending proposals for each project, in consultation with this Council’s Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer, highlighting the implications for each within a published report;

(f)     authorises the Assistant Director of Partnerships to attend the Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care System Board; and

(g)   authorises the Assistant Director of Partnerships to attend the North East Essex Health and Well-being Alliance Board.

Earlier on in the meeting Councillors McWilliams and G V Guglielmi had each declared a Personal Interest in this matter insofar as Councillor McWilliams had been appointed to serve as Tendring District Council’s representative on the Governing Body of the East Suffolk and North East Essex Foundation Trust and also insofar as Councillor G V Guglielmi had been appointed to serve as Essex County Council’s representative on the aforesaid Governing Body.

The Cabinet gave consideration to a report of the Partnerships Portfolio Holder (A.8) which provided it with an update on the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance and which also sought its approval to accept funding being offered to Tendring District Council from both the North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group and the East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust and the associated governance framework.

Members were aware that the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance (the Alliance”), brought together a range of partners consisting of the local NHS, Councils and voluntary and community organisations within Colchester and Tendring that were committed to working collaboratively in order to improve the health and well-being of local residents. All members of the Alliance had signed up to a memorandum of understanding (MOU).

Cabinet recalled that the Alliance sat underneath the Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care System (ICS) which brought partners together over a wider geographic foot print and was the Government’s preferred option for organising health. However, whilst wider health commissioning decisions were undertaken at an ICS level and the ICS oversaw the operation of the Alliance there was a strong desire both at an Alliance and ICS level and supported by Government for subsidiarity so that wherever possible decisions were made locally.

Members were reminded that the North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) had been formally established on 1 April 2013.  It was a clinically led organisation which comprised 32 GP practices across Colchester and Tendring. They were responsible for commissioning most health services for the people of North East Essex, including hospital care, community health services, mental health services, learning disability services and urgent and emergency care and primary care.

The CCG had developed an Alliance Committee which had a number of representatives from the Alliance sitting on it and which had the power to make local decisions.  However, the CCG could not delegate its responsibilities and therefore voting rights on this Committee remained with the CCG.

It was reported that the current key work streams of the Alliance included the developing strategy work with a specific focus on inequality, integration and the development of the ‘Live Well’ domains and how this would be delivered through neighbourhood teams.

Cabinet was informed that in March 2021, the CCG had offered three separate funds to Tendring District Council in relation to delivering work around public health, namely:- 

-    £165,000 for the Healthy Housing Project (which added to a previous £165,000 to extend a project for providing mental health support to residents identified by staff for example when undertaking a housing inspection and providing wider housing and health support;

-    £158,000 for community transport in Tendring; and

-    £200,000 for addressing health inequalities in place.

It had been subsequently agreed that the community transport funding would be more suitably allocated directly by the CCG who wanted to ensure that the existing service provision continued.

Due to time pressures in March it had been agreed at Management Team level to accept the funding whilst acknowledging that MOUs had not been received for each of the projects and that, therefore, this Council had no obligations in respect of that funding.

Subsequently, in April 2021, the East Suffolk and North East Essex Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) had offered an extra £200,000 to Tendring District Council for health inequalities.

Cabinet was advised that draft MOUs had now been supplied however, it was understood that the governance framework for formally accepting the funding and that for each project the outcomes and spending proposals would be agreed with further formal decisions in the future.

Having considered all of the information contained in the Portfolio Holder’s detailed report:-

It was moved by Councillor McWilliams, seconded by Councillor G V Guglielmiand:-

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)    notes the current status of the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance and endorses the continued  involvement of the Council within the partnership;

(b)    approves the acceptance of £165,000 funding from the North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for the healthy housing project in accordance with the governance framework, as set out in the draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), attached as Appendix 2 to item A.8 of the Report of the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships;

(c)    approves the acceptance of £400,000 funding from the North East Essex CCG and the East Suffolk and North East Essex Foundation Trust for the addressing inequalities at place project in accordance with the governance framework, as set out in the draft MOU, attached as Appendix 3 to the Portfolio Holder’s report;

(d)    authorises the Assistant Director (Partnerships), in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships, to agree the final MOUs;

(e)    authorises the Assistant Director (Partnerships), in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships, to agree the outcomes and spending proposals for each project, in consultation with this Council’s Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer, highlighting the implications for each within a published report;

(f)     authorises the Assistant Director (Partnerships) to attend the Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care System Board; and

(g)   authorises the Assistant Director (Partnerships) to attend the North East Essex Health and Well-being Alliance Board.