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Dear colleagues,
I hope you are well and enjoying some brighter weather.
Despite heading closer to the Easter break, there is no let up in the world of adult social care and health.
This week, the Government published its update plan for care and support reform, ‘Next steps to Put People at the Heart of Care’. This is a two-year plan for system reform for 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 and follows the Government’s white paper from December 2021. Ahead of publication, there was speculation that many of the white paper commitments would be scaled back and this does seem to be the case. In response, we therefore noted the plan is a significant watering down of promises, which even as they stood would only have taken us on the first steps towards a more sustainable and refocused future for social care. It is particularly disappointing that previous planned investment in the care workforce has been halved and planned investment in housing transformation has gone. We noted that people who draw on care and support will understandably feel frustrated and concerned by developments. The plan notes that £600 million is yet to be allocated and we have been clear in our response that this funding must be ringfenced for adult social care and given to councils. The LGA will be reading the plan in detail and publish a briefing in due course.
Looking beyond just adult social care, the other major development this week is the publication of the Hewitt Review of integrated care systems. I am grateful to Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt and her team for involving the LGA and wider local government stakeholders in each of the workstreams that developed the findings and recommendations of the review. Councils look forward to continuing to work with the Department for Health and Social Care to ensure that the recommendations on the autonomy and accountability of integrated care systems are implemented fully and without delay.
I do hope you are able to find some time to relax over Easter and, for those standing in next month’s local elections, can I wish you every success for the final weeks of campaigning and the election itself.
Yours,
Cllr David Fothergill
Chairman, LGA Community Wellbeing Board
Stories
Spring Budget
The Chancellor of the Exchequer delivered his Spring Budget on 15 March setting out the Government’s spending priorities and ambition to achieve long-term, sustainable economic growth. The Chancellor’s statement included an expansion of free childcare for children over the age of nine months, reforms to support people into work and greater responsibilities for local leaders over local economic growth, amongst other announcements of note to councils. As always, please take a look at our on-the-day briefing which summarises the key announcements of interest to councils and an initial LGA view on the Budget proposals. The LGA also issued a media response to the announcements and LGA Chairman, Cllr James Jamieson outlined councils’ reaction particularly on the investment in leisure services and childcare and early years in an interview to Talk TV (from 1:26:39).
Public Health Grant allocations
On 14 March, the Government published the 2023/24 Public Health Grant allocations, alongside indicative allocations for 2024/25. The total public health grant for 2023 to 2024 will be £3.529 billion, a 3.3 per cent increase from last year. The grant will be ring-fenced for use on public health functions. The Department of Health and Social Care has also published guidance setting out the allocations and conditions for using the grant.
Councils finally have clarity on their public health allocations for the next year, but councils still face significant challenges as they try to meet soaring demand for services. At a time when NHS and social care pressures are greater than ever, vital sexual health, drug, alcohol and health visiting services cannot keep living a hand-to-mouth existence, with insufficient resources to meet this demand and late announcements about funding. We have called for a wider review of the adequacy of public health funding, to support the Government’s wider aims by improving health outcomes, reducing health spending and putting the NHS on a better footing for the long term.
New Champion for Personalised Prevention
The Government has announced the appointment of a new Champion for Personalised Prevention. Professor John Deanfield will lead the cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention service in England to develop evidence-based recommendations to deliver the Government's vision for a modern, personalised CVD prevention service. This will include engaging and working across the Government and with broader health and care system partners, including the NHS and local government. They will explore various ideas, including using personalised data to predict and prevent ill health. Cardiovascular disease and its risk factors are significant drivers of ill-health, economic inactivity and premature death. It accounts for up to 250,000 hospital admissions and around 140,000 deaths in England each year. We have welcomed the appointment of Prof John Deanfield and look forward to working with him to tackle health prevention issues and deliver a vision for a modern, personalised prevention service.
Veteran's data
A report on UK armed forces veterans within England has been published on LG Inform. The 2021 Census in England and Wales was the first to ask people if they had previously served in the UK armed forces and this LGA report will help readers understand how many armed forces veterans live in a council area. It also provides other useful information such as whether they live in a household or communal establishment and how many armed forces veterans there are in these households.
Voter ID awareness
From May 2023, residents will need to bring photo ID with them to in order vote in an election, in addition to being registered to vote. We know councils are working hard to ensure their residents are aware of the changes and processing Voter Authority Certificates for the upcoming local elections. We have produced a guide to Voter ID for residents and councils which includes information on what ID will be accepted and the process of applying for a Voter Authority Certificate. In addition, we have launched a new voter ID animation on our social media to help raise awareness of the changes. Please do share and support.
Supporting people with a learning disability or autism to vote in the local elections
This LGA briefing includes links to resources to help councils reach people with a learning disability and autistic people and other groups of people who may face barriers to voting. It will be of interest to social care staff and providers.
"My Vote My Voice" local election campaign resources
The My Vote My Voice campaign aims to encourage people with learning disabilities and autistic people to vote. The campaign aims to get young people and adults, who are either autistic or have a learning disability, to register to vote, and ultimately to vote in the next General Election. It includes accessible resources including information about the new voter identification requirements being introduced at the 2023 council elections.
Integrated Care Systems: autonomy and accountability - Commons Health and Social Care Committee report
Integrated Care Systems: autonomy and accountability, Seventh Report of Session 2022–23 features evidence provided by the LGA and highlights the importance of local government as equal partners in achieving the Integrated Care Systems aims of improving population health outcomes and addressing health inequalities. The report highlights the need for adult social care commissioners and providers to be fully involved in ICS and recommend that all ICBs include a public health professional or director on their boards.
Tackling Loneliness Annual report
The Government has published the Tackling Loneliness annual report. This year’s annual report captures the ongoing and new actions that the government and partners are undertaking over the next two years to address loneliness.
How Mayoral Combined Authorities can make ageing better in England
The Centre for Ageing Better has published a new briefing on how Mayoral Combined Authorities can seize the opportunities and address the challenges of their ageing populations.
NICE health and care system resource
The health and care system is under pressure, and recovering core services and improving productivity is an immediate priority. To help with this, NICE has developed a new web resource that pulls together relevant guidance and recommendations supporting this work in one place: Supporting the health and care system in improving productivity It includes relevant NICE guidance and recommendations aligned to each of the NHS 2023/24 priorities and operational planning guidance and priority areas of the NHS Long Term Plan.
NHS Health Check Data
New data on council-run health checks has pointed to an increase in checks offered. A 4.2 per cent increase in NHS Health Checks offered to the total eligible population in the third quarter of the 2022/23 period was recorded. A 1.7 per cent increase in NHS Health Checks received by the eligible population was also recorded within the same period. Free health checks, commissioned by councils as part of their public health responsibilities, help relieve pressures on our NHS and care system, save lives, and prevent people from developing life-threatening conditions. In the last ten years, councils have done a tremendous job in inviting nearly 23.5 million eligible people to have a health check, of which almost 11 million have taken up the offer.
Perinatal Mental Health Care
The Institute of Health Visiting and the Maternal Mental Health Alliance has published a new resource to enable and inform high-quality, compassionate care for families impacted by perinatal mental health (PMH) problems. This collaboration began from a shared desire to encourage and embed good PMH practices within services supporting women, babies, and their families. This new resource highlights why improving PMH care is crucial, what good care looks like to practitioners and families with lived experience and ten best practice principles.
£25 million for women's health hub expansion
Women across the country are to benefit from better access to care for essential services for menstrual problems, contraception, pelvic pain and menopause care.
Sexual health
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has published data showing that gonorrhoea diagnoses were 21 per cent higher in first nine months of 2022 than in the same period in 2019. Young people aged 15 to 24 years remain the most likely to be diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and the UKHSA is reminding people to wear a condom and get tested regularly if having sex with new or casual partners.
Public health conference 2023
In March we marked the eleventh LGA Annual Public Health Conference, organised in partnership in partnership with the Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) and the Faculty of Public Health (FPH). To coincide with the conference, the LGA launched the 2023 annual public health report, along with an animation for social media celebrating all that councils have achieved in the last decade. The report focused on the cost of living pressures facing communities and received coverage in the Daily Mail, ITV and the Evening Standard. The conference had a record almost 1,300 delegates register to join for the conference across the three mornings and a total of 43 speakers and chairs participated. It provided a much-needed opportunity for the public health community to come together, share learning and plan for the future. Thank you to everyone who attended and took part in the Q & As.
National Children and Adult Services Conference 2023
Wednesday 29 November – Friday 1 December 2023 | Bournemouth
Bookings are open for #NCASC23
The National Children and Adult Services Conference is a must-attend annual event for councillors, directors, senior officers, directors of public health, policy makers and service managers, and any individuals or organisations with responsibilities for children and adult services in the statutory, voluntary and private sector. Join us to hear about and respond to the very latest thinking on key policy and improvement agendas in social care, children’s services, education, health and related fields.
We are now taking bids to run workshop sessions at the conference. Workshops provide a vital opportunity for attendees to explore current issues, discuss new and future developments, and see examples of innovation and good practice.
To book your place and to find out more, please visit the conference website.
COVID-19 vaccine: spring booster
On 7 March the Government accepted the advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) that a small group of people at higher risk of severe COVID-19 would benefit from an extra booster vaccine dose this spring. Those eligible are those aged 75 and over, residents in care homes for older adults, and individuals aged five years and over who are immunosuppressed (as defined in tables three or four in the COVID-19 chapter of the Green Book. The NHS will plan to begin offering spring boosters to eligible members of the public from 17 April 2023, with vaccination in care homes beginning slightly earlier from 3 April. Eligible individuals will be asked to wait until around six months after their previous booster before coming forward.
COVID-19 and minority ethnic communities
A study by the University of Manchester has found that rates of severe illness and death among ethnic minority groups during the pandemic were primarily driven by a greater risk of infection. The study found that some ethnic minority groups were up to three times more likely to test positive for COVID than white people.
In response to the finding, we have called for the need for structural changes to address health inequalities amongst those in our black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, which the pandemic has now exacerbated further. There is a need to work on reducing deprivation, and if successful much of the associated problems dissipate to an extent. This means more support for education and employment to aid recovery and progress against health inequalities.
Next steps to put People at the Heart of Care
Department of Health and Social Care
The Hewitt Review: an independent review of integrated care systems
Department of Health and Social Care
Public health annual report 2023: Supporting communities in difficult times
ADPH and LGA
Exploring adult social care funding and delayed discharge
NHS Confederation and LGA
Spring Budget 2023: On-the-Day Briefing
LGA
Top tips for CQC assurance preparation
LGA
LGA response to the Hewitt Review of ICS accountability and autonomy
LGA
Exploring adult social care funding and delayed discharge
NHS Conferation and LGA
Integrated Care Systems: autonomy and accountability, Seventh Report of Session 2022–23
Health and Social Care Committee
Events
LGA Annual Conference and Exhibition 2023 (4-6 July)
4 July 2023 - 6 July 2023 | Bournemouth
National Children and Adult Services Conference and Exhibition 2023
29 November 2023 - 1 December 2023 | Bournemouth
Media
LGA on 'Next steps to put people at the heart of care'
4 April
Unfunded NHS pay rises could lead to cuts to public health services
23 March 2023
Cost of living a ‘second health emergency’ after COVID – councils and public health directors
21 March 2023
LGA statement on Budget 2023
15 March 2023
Significant challenges remain for public health services – LGA on public health settlement
14 March 2023
NHS pay rises cannot be additional burden on councils – LGA responds to NHS Confederation and NHS Providers salary warning
9 March
Parliamentary
Illegal Migration Bill - impacts on councils
The Government introduced the Illegal Migration Bill on 7 March to underpin the Prime Minister’s priorities around asylum. The stated intent of the high-profile bill is to deter illegal entry into the UK and remove people assessed as having no legal right to remain in the UK. It also proposes to set an annual cap on resettlement through safe and legal asylum routes. As part of this, the Secretary of State is required to consult representatives of local councils in the UK on the capacity to accommodate and provide integration services, though the engagement route is not specified. It also increases powers for the Home Office to direct councils to transfer lone children from Home Office accommodation and clarifies that the Home Office will not take corporate parenting responsibilities for these children. The LGA will work with government to explore the implications of the bill on councils as part of its ongoing work, alongside council representatives, across all asylum and resettlement programmes. We will share more information as it becomes available.
The role of carers in England and their economic contribution
On 6 March Peers debated the recognition of carers in England and their economic contribution. Baroness Penn (Conservative) opened the debate by saying that carers play a vital role in communities across the country. Lord Haskel (Labour) said that the paid-for system remains inadequate, as millions of men and women, and even children, have to step in as part-time carers, limiting their time in work, education or training, at great cost to the economy. He asked when the Government would introduce the social and economic reforms to the social care system that would enable these voluntary part-time carers to fully participate in and contribute to the economy. In response, Baroness Penn said that the Government have set out a long-term plan for the reform of adult social care.
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