Questions by Members:-

Answers given:-

Is there any evidence to suggest that grouping many multiple-occupancy households in the more deprived areas across the District (that we are seeing more of) is responsible for heightened negative social factors such as drug and alcohol abuse, social services involvement etc. which is subsequently responsible for a large fraction of suicides?

Houses in multiple occupation tend to be associated with areas with the greatest deprivation for example Pier Ward has high numbers of houses in multiple occupation and also is one of the District’s most deprived wards and within the 10% most deprived wards nationally.

Those most deprived areas are more likely to be associated with negative social factors which could include drug and alcohol abuse.

However, even in areas where there are lower numbers of houses in multiple occupation but otherwise suffer from significant deprivation, they are likely to suffer from challenging social factors which also include drug and alcohol abuse.

Housing is however one of the significant drivers of poor health in our area and therefore improving the quality of housing will have a beneficial effect on residents health. 

There is a high suicide rate within Tendring compared to other areas although it is not possible to draw conclusions as to the individual drivers for suicide as there is not a common thread. 

Suicide prevention approaches tend to focus more around providing broader support, training for the wider population such as delivering mental health first aid training to staff or community work to help develop resilience.

Additionally, we are working with many departments as outlined in the strategy, and one of these is the planning department who we endeavour to make great strides with.

What are we doing about private landlords allowing tenants to live in poor housing conditions?

The help you are referring to means that the tenant must make the report, I cannot do it on their behalf. In my experience the tenant will say "if I phone them, I will be evicted". So how can we help?

John Fox - We can help them, this can be done through our housing teams. If there are any particular examples it is definitely worth directing us to them so they can be visited by a housing officer.

Damian Williams - it is a very complex matter but ultimately, we do not have power of entry if the tenant has not made the report. As it stands, we need the tenant to come to us and make the report.

Is this an opportunity to explore joint working across North Essex (such as Colchester and Braintree) and look at common issues and solutions to ensure best practices and shared understandings are implemented?

The draft Health and Wellbeing Strategy has been written in close alignment with partners including the local Health and Wellbeing Alliance (the Alliance) and also Essex County Council and their Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

The Alliance covers the northeast Essex footprint (Tendring and Colchester) and there is already significant joint working across this patch.  For example, there is a focus on health inequality and deprivation which is a common issue and a drive to address these issues via a wider determinants approach focussing on prevention and early intervention.

As Braintree sits outside the Alliance footprint there has not been significant interaction with them in relation to writing the Strategy although they can be invited to take part in the consultation exercise.

However Essex County Council’s Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy takes an Essex wide approach and is therefore relevant to Braintree and Colchester as well as Tendring and the draft Strategy aligns with this.    

Whilst I understand that we cannot establish specific drivers for suicide, do we have any idea on the demographic that is most effected by suicide in our district?

We are currently looking at statistics that show predominantly middle-aged men and women (which has changed in recent years from predominantly men of this age) are most affected but after this it is extremely difficult to determine if other factors such as occupation or other social factors are more prevalent.