Agenda item

Report of the Director of Community & Children’s Services.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Community & Children’s Services regarding the City of London Corporation’s Social Wellbeing Panel and Strategy.

Members noted that doing more to tackle social isolation had been identified as a priority in the Department of Community & Children’s Services Business Plan, in the City Corporation’s Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy, in the Mental Health Strategy and by the Adult Advisory Group. The City Corporation commissioned Dr Roger Green from Goldsmiths, University of London, to investigate the extent, causes and possible solutions to loneliness for people in the City of London. His research was presented to the

Community and Children’s Services Grand Committee in July 2016 and has underpinned the City Corporation’s further work on this issue. A month long public consultation was carried out on the Social Wellbeing Strategy, with face to face events, a consultation website and leaflets in libraries and other public venues. The strategy focussed on wellbeing, but this in turn would have a positive impact on health needs.

A Member queried the clarity of the strategy, which she found vague with regard to what was going to be implemented and pursued and would therefore be difficult to measure success against. Officers reassured Members that there was every intention of acting on these findings (and work had already begun in some areas) and undertook to circulate the action plan to the Committee electronically. Officers advised that the draft strategy would be considered at the Community & Children’s Services Committee meeting scheduled for later this week, the Health and Wellbeing Board at their meeting in June, and had also been submitted to the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness. The Chairman thanked officers for the report, and proposed a follow-up report taking a quantitative approach in order to establish the cost of loneliness and/or the cost benefit of addressing loneliness. Officers agreed this would be beneficial (i.e. for seeking funding) and was the natural progression for this work.

RESOLVED – That the action plan be circulated to Members, and the report be noted.