Agenda item

RESOLVED that:

1)    the report be noted

2)    the Chair would recommend to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee that the Mayor and Cabinet decision on 14^th July be considered for post-decision scrutiny.

Catherine Bunten – Service Manager for Joint Commissioning summarised the report. Questions were taken from the Committee and the following was noted:

1.    The virtual family hub would bring together online services such as midwives and health visitors, as well as providing online information and signposting to other services for communities. Family Thrive would be available online for short interventions. Families could also access speech and language and ASD assessments as a ‘one stop shop’. This would avoid clients being ‘buffered’ between referrers.

2.    It was important to make sure the online information was kept current and correct and that the same information was available across all of the places it was published. The virtual hub would complement physical services such as GPs, shops, schools, libraries etc.

3.    One Member expressed concern about the Youth First timetabled hours, and staffing levels. The committee heard that young people had contributed to the creation of the draft timetable. The intention was to attract more volunteers.

4.    One Member noted that the change of opening hours at the Honor Oak venue meant that a hot lunch would no longer be available. This had been an important part of alleviating food poverty in the area, which had worsened since the pandemic. Holiday activities including food programmes were being put in place for the summer.

5.    The Committee heard that in Telegraph Hill ward, a local food provider, Feed the Hill, now linked to the tenants association on the estate where the youth provision is.

6.    The youth service was looking at having a youth foundation who could bring youth services together and bring more income into borough to meet need. The Young Mayor was working with young people to define what youth provision in Lewisham could look like.

7.    The Compass contract decision was going to Mayor and Cabinet on 14 July which meant that the Committee would not get to scrutinise the report. In summary, Compass had worked reasonably well, particularly as regards sexual health and substance misuse. Sexual health would eventually become the focus, with the provider using the hub building.

8.    The Chair said he would recommend to the Overview and Scrutiny Business Panel that the decision that Mayor and Cabinet would take on 14July be considered for post decision scrutiny. He encouraged members to attend the meeting and comment.

9.    There were plans to increase sex education and to do proactive work with schools to tackle the issue of sexual harassment in schools. Officers said the scale of the issue is greater than initially though and social media had probably played a part. Strengthening prevention and joining up services was important. Historically, teams and services had not always connected up well. Young people might have a key person that they trust – a teacher, youth worker, or someone else. It was vital to ensure a joined up network of professionals around young people so that when concerns are raised, help would be available.

RESOLVED that:

1)    the report be noted

2)    the Chair would recommend to the Overview and Scrutiny Business Panel that the Mayor and Cabinet decision on 14^th July be considered for post-decision scrutiny.