A presentation from Public Health aimed at generating discussion on child poverty locally and looking at possible areas of work which could be taken forward in the community.
Information about this will then be collated to inform the Child Poverty Strategy Implementation Plan.
Officers: Sarah Heathcote & Amy McNaughton – Public Health
Minutes:
The Board received a presentation from Sarah Heathcote and Amy McNaughton from Public Health aimed at generating discussion on child poverty locally and looking at possible areas of work which could be taken forward in the community. A copy of the slides are attached to these minutes.
Comments and questions were then received, these included:
· It would be useful to get the different departments working more closely together. Answer: At a council level, we have a multi team working group, which meets regularly and works with a joined up approach.
· More employment in rural area would give more opportunity for people to find jobs and ear a wage.
· A bigger scale issue was the lack of rural areas which had access to gas, which provided a cheaper solution to central heating. A long term aim should be to encourage suppliers to make gas more available in our rural communities. Answer: Yes this was a larger problem. Locally, there was the Wiltshire Keep Warm scheme which provided advice and support to disadvantaged and elderly people in the community to help them to stay warm in their homes.
· What was the target temperature for homes? Answer: It was around the 19/20c. It was advised that if someone could not afford to heat their entire home, then they should try to keep the main room which they spent most time in at 20c.
· What pressures were put on private landlords to encourage them to make insulation improvements to their properties? Answer: A response would be fed back to the Board in due course.
Note: Since the meeting the following weblink was provided to explain what standard landlords were required to follow in regard to energy efficiency:
http://www.landlordsguild.com/how-to-comply-with-the-energy-efficiency-regulations-2015/
· The recent Children’s Centre consultation seemed to focus on reduction, which would only disadvantage struggling families with young children. Answer: That consultation was with the Children’s Services, but it was focused more on reducing the stock of buildings than a reduction in services.
· One interpretation of rural poverty included a lack of access to transport, in rural areas this was quite prevalent to us. We know that rural bus services are also being cut back, this can only add to the problem.
· Were Health Visitors (HV) proactive enough in the community these days, as when a woman has a child, she is the one who has to instigate a visit form a HV, some less confident or literate parents may not know to do this, and could slip through the net. Answer: The Country was in a positive place with HV at the moment, following a large investment by Central Government to improve the numbers of HV available per area.
The Chairman thanked Sarah and Amy for coming to present the item and asked those present whether they felt this was a topic which could be taken further in a special meeting.
It was decided that Steve Harris would invite interest for a special meeting on Child Poverty and finding ways to take the work forward with all town and parish councils. He would feedback the outcome to the Board at the next meeting.