Agenda item

To consider a report from the Interim Director for Communities, a copy is

attached as item 7.

Before the Committee was a report by the Interim Director for Communities, copies of which had been circulated to all Members and a copy of which is attached to the signed copy of these minutes as Item 7.

The report set out the proposed new commissioning arrangements for Adur & Worthing Wellbeing from April 2022, for a period of five years.  The programme had been in place in Adur and Worthing since 2011, and was delivered through a partnership agreement with West Sussex County Council (WSCC) to provide a programme of wellbeing prevention and early intervention work with adults, through a blended approach of Wellbeing Advisors and additional health and wellbeing interventions, funded through a health inequalities formula.

Adur and Worthing Wellbeing provided an important contribution to the Councils’ new health and wellbeing strategy HealthyAW, by helping to improve the health and wellbeing of all our communities but particularly those people with the poorest health and wellbeing.  It formed an important part of the Councils’ wellbeing work in relation to Proactive work with our communities.

The current three year partnership agreement ended on 31 March 2022 and the report informed Members of the outcomes of the current programme and the new conditions and requirements for the new partnership and funding arrangements for the five year period from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2027.

A funding allocation had been proposed for the 2022-2023 financial year which had been signed off at WSCC Full Council in February 2022. Indicative funding for each subsequent financial year would be agreed by December, annually.

As we continued to move through the pandemic there was a renewed emphasis on reducing health inequalities and more targeted work with under-represented groups within the new service specification and partnership agreement. The programme was an important preventative support and advice provision that was intended to help to reduce pressure on the social care and health systems.

Members were asked to consider this work and agree to a new partnership agreement with WSCC Public Health for five years, which would be shaped and developed mutually through annual business plans.

The Committee welcomed the report and the approach being taken.

Decision

The Joint Strategic Committee:-

      I.         approved that the respective Councils continued to work in partnership with West Sussex County Council to deliver the Wellbeing programme in Adur and Worthing from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2027, subject to funding being agreed on an annual basis;

     II.         delegated authority to enter into the Adur Partnership Agreement and the Worthing Partnership Agreement with West Sussex County Council, as set out in paragraph 4.3, to the Interim Director for Communities, in consultation with the Executive Members for Health and Wellbeing, and subject to annual business plans;

   III.         agreed to receive the annual funding allocation from West Sussex County Council for the next five years of the partnership agreement, and recommended to the Councils to amend the revenue budget accordingly. The indicative amount for 2022-2023 was £513,973; and

   IV.         agreed for the in-kind contribution provided by the Councils’, as detailed at 6.3 in the report, to continue.

Call In:

The call-in deadline for decision (i), (ii) and (iv) will be 5.00pm on the 28th March 2022.

There is no call-in for recommendations (iii) to Adur and / or Worthing Full Councils.