Agenda item

To receive Task and Finish Group Reports

Minutes:

Pauline Purnell, former Chair of the Children and Young Peoples Overview and Scrutiny Panel and Councilor Mrs Watkins former Chair of the Health and Adult Social care Overview and Scrutiny Panel presented the report of the Task and Finish Group ‘ A Focus on reducing teenage conceptions rates in the city’. It was reported that:-

 

  1. there was confusion between conceptions and live births. The task and finish group did not receive information on conception rates broken down to postcode levels for reasons of anonymity.

 
  1. teenage conception rates were very much a social issue rather then a health issue and despite this the majority of funding to tackle teenage conception rates went to health agencies;

 
  1. it was identified that early intervention was key, those performing non-teaching roles in schools, such as Parent Support Workers could help to identify vulnerable groups or individuals;

 
  1. the media played a large role in the sexualizing of underage girls. Magazines could be considered explicit in their content. It was accepted that this was a difficult area but could be tackled by raising parents awareness of magazine content;

 
  1. there was a very small amount of time in schools to provide sex education, teachers could be supported in identifying at risk teenagers and Children.

 

 

In response to questions from members of the board, it was reported that:-

 

  1. within the difficult financial climate there was little funding for a new programme of work in this area. The task and finish group found that Educational Welfare Officers are lacking training in this area which is one issue which could be addressed with minimal costs.  Although recommendations within the report are not costed, it was likely that a high level of funding would be required to deliver a programme on sexual health resulting from the recommendations

 
  1. information on conception rates was requested from the NHS, for reasons of anonymity, the information received was not broken down to postcode level which made it difficult for the group to understand how conception rates differed across the city. This information was available in other cities with anonymity maintained by providing a sample over a longer period of time.

 
  1. although witnesses were not called from outside the city, a large amount of written information from other local authorities had been received. The task and finish group would had like to have received witnesses from outside the city, however this was not possible due to time constraints.

 

Agreed that:-

 

(1)   the Board thanks the members of the task and finish group, officers and witnesses for providing the report;

 

(2)   the report and its recommendations are commended to Cabinet;

 

(3)   accurate timely relevant statistics regarding conceptions in the city are provided by Health agencies and that the Chief Executive of the Primary Care Trust or his representative is invited to a future meeting of the Board to discuss data sharing between agencies;

 

(4)   for future task and finish group reports a list of background reports and written responses is inserted into the final report.

 

(5)   the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services would champion the report at Cabinet;

 

(6)   the press would be notified when the report is presented at Cabinet and a press release issued;

 

(7)   an addendum containing the background material is provided when the report is considered at Cabinet.

 

Supporting documents: