To provide the opportunity for the scrutiny committee to consider the newly refreshed strategy for Talk Community.

The committee considered a report on Building Strong Connected Communities, Talk Community Strategy, 2024 – 2027.

The Service Director Communities provided a brief overview of the key considerations from the report.

The principal points of the subsequent discussion included:

        i.         The Chairperson asked about the delivery in 2024-25 and the implementation of the Talk Community communications strategy with regard to who is doing this and how its effectiveness will be measured. It was also asked whether this will be included in the upcoming parish summit.

      ii.         In response, the Corporate Director Community Wellbeing noted that Emily Lowe will be leading on the work regarding the communications strategy and will be doing it in partnership with stakeholders as to what Talk Community does and what it doesn’t do and how partners work together within that Talk Community. In relation to how it is working, the Corporate Director Community Wellbeing added that there needs to be clear metrics in the communications strategy.

     iii.         In response to a question on structure, the Corporate Director Community Wellbeing noted that the Talk Community function remains under the Community wellbeing directorate and the Cabinet Member Adults, Health and Wellbeing is still the portfolio holder for Talk Community. The line management under Emily Lowe sits with her and Emily Lowe reports back to the Director of Public Health. There has been no change to the work of the team and the revised strategy will help shape the work further going forward.

     iv.         The Chairperson raised the concern of partners, in recent years, who feel that Talk Community should have grown and not just be focused on health outcomes.

      v.         In response, the Corporate Director Community Wellbeing noted that public health has a wider remit around health and wellbeing and that is where Talk Community can be effective, particularly around prevention.

     vi.         The Director of Public Health added that the focus on prevention is important for Talk Community in addition to strengthening early help to help people avoid crisis. Talk Community’s links across the health spectrum can also be strengthened by operating within public health. 

    vii.         In response to a question about whether the approach should be replicated across the whole council, the Corporate Director Community Wellbeing agreed that this work can be done across a wide breadth of different issues and across a number of different directorates.

  viii.         In response to a question about Talk Community hubs, the Corporate Director Community Wellbeing acknowledged that Talk Community is not just about having a hub and that the role of development officers for areas of the county is important in working alongside communities and existing facilities to help identify what is working well in different communities and share that best practice.

     ix.         The Cabinet Member Adults, Health and Wellbeing agreed that whilst Talk Community hubs exist across the county, there is no interest in imposing on any particular parish or village what they should be doing in helping to support the people in their area. It is desired to make it clearer to those outside of the areas with Talk Community hubs to emphasise the work of Talk Community.

      x.         In response to a question on the potential prioritisation of Talk Community services in the rural areas, the Corporate Director Community Wellbeing agreed that there are areas which have differing need and noted that there are two main functions to the outcomes framework; one is to look at the effectiveness of Talk Community and the other is to evaluate the effectiveness in terms of addressing those health inequalities. 

     xi.         In response to a question of how the strategy align with the work of Community Paradigm, the Chief Officer Healthwatch noted that it does align and Talk Community is fundamental in helping to drive forward work with communities.

    xii.         In response to a question about the role of development officers, the Corporate Director Community Wellbeing acknowledged that more information could be provided and they could be linked up with ward members to provide them the opportunity to understand better what they do.

  xiii.         The Cabinet Member Adults, Health and Wellbeing added that if ward members do not get notification from their development officers about when they hold their network meetings, they should raise it with the Community Wellbeing team as they help provide the opportunity to understand what exactly is going on in their areas.

Resolved:

1. That the Talk Community strategy encourage the adoption of best practice in community support models across Herefordshire.