Agenda and minutes

            The Chair announced that he had recently been appointed as Vice Chair of the Cheshire Police and Crime Panel.

            The Minutes of the meeting held on 11^th June 2019 were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

            It was reported that no questions had been received

            The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Enterprise, Community and Resources, which updated the Board on the positive work that key partners were doing in partnership with the Police and Local Authority to make Halton safer. Following recent events in Runcorn, Widnes and trends that were emerging across the country with regard to knife crime and violence against the person by young people, Halton had established a multi agency response to what was becoming a significant concern for our communities. The purpose of this response was to have a better understanding of the current picture in Halton in respect of knife crime and violence against the person, especially that being perpetrated by young people.

            The Board received a presentation from Cheshire Police outlining their response to tackling weapons. Members were advised on:

·         the knife related offence recorded volumes during 2018/19 for the Cheshire Force and Runcorn area;

·         Operation Abolish - Prepare;

·         Operation Abolish – Pursue;

·         Operation Abolish – Prevent;

·         Operation Abolish – Protect;

·         Community knife sweeps; and

·         The work of the Tackling Weapons Working Group.

RESOLVED: The report be noted.

            The Board considered an update report on the work carried out to tackle alcohol and substance misuse across the partnership in the Borough. Members were presented with a number of indicators, which were used to monitor the extent of alcohol and substance misuse in Halton. The data presented highlighted the number of:

·         Under 18 alcohol specific admission episodes;

·         Hospital admissions for young people aged between 15 and 25 due to substance misuse;

·         hospital admissions due to alcohol related conditions for adults;

·         community treatment service referrals for alcohol;

·         alcohol detoxification services referrals; and

·         substance misuse referrals and outcomes.

The Board also received an update on emerging issues across the partnership which included:

·         Alcohol Care Teams – Work was underway across Cheshire and Merseyside to develop an NHS response to the provision of hospital based alcohol care teams, as well as a local dashboard. This work was being overseen by the Health and Care Partnership who had identified alcohol as one of their priority areas.

·         Treatment completions - Services have performed consistently well with successful completions across all four cohorts of service users. To support those leaving services, CGL had developed additional support groups, some focusing on abstinence, as well as developing further peer support group, both in service and within the community.

·         Education and Employment - This year service users had been supported to gain a total of 265 qualifications in a wide range of topics. 41 individuals had been supported into employment, with a 63% sustainment in jobs for over 6 months.

·         Blood Borne Viruses - Cgl has completed 312 BBV testing after their triage in 2018/19 as opposed to 100 clients tested in 2018/17. Also this year, 4 individuals had commenced treatment, with 2 completing and 15 service users referred to hepatology for treatment.

·         The Recovery Café - The recovery café continued to thrive and was a self-sufficient enterprise ran entirely by volunteers. Each week approx. 50 service users, friends and family members attended the café.

            RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

            The Board considered a report of the Director of Public Health which provided an update on the work of Halton’s Food Safety and Standards Team, in particular the ongoing operation of the National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme and proposed changes to the law on allergen labelling. The report examined how well the food businesses in Halton were performing in relation to the National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme and new and developing issues with regard to Food Safety and Standards.

            The Board was advised that the National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme was now an integral part of the good premises inspection programme. The Council had adopted the national scheme in 2011.

            The Authority was still required by the Food Standards Agency to submit an annual service plan which included a detailed risk based inspection programme for all the Borough’s food premises. Following an unannounced food hygiene inspection businesses were awarded a score from 0-6  based on the inspection findings. The score was available on the Food Standards Agency’s website. Window stickers were also provided to enable the business to display the score on the premises.

            In practice, only those premises with the higher ratings of 3 and above voluntarily display their score. There was no current legal requirement in England for all businesses to display their score. The Food Standards Agency was committed to making the display of ratings in the UK mandatory, however this would require legislation to pass through UK parliament. The Board agreed that a letter would be sent to both local Members of Parliament requesting that they called upon the Secretary of State to urge that mandatory food signage be displayed in all food premises in England.

            RESOLVED: That

1.    the report and the overall improvement in food hygiene standards be noted; and

2.    a letter be sent to both local Members of Parliament requesting that they call upon the Secretary of State to urge that mandatory food signage be displayed in all food premises in England