Decision details

The Board will be presented with an item regarding its response to the Mayor of London’s Health Inequalities Strategy.

The Board:

(i)  Considered the draft Mayor of London’s Health Inequality Strategy and discussed the London wide and local implications following an interactive workshop, the Board endorsed the principle behind the five aims set out in Strategy.  However, the members of the Board raised a number of issues to be included in the response, these issues are outlined below:

(a)  The draft Strategy was too general in places. Members of the Board felt the aims should be more targeted and should set out with more detail what the intentions and results are, this will allow the correct interventions to be put into place locally, for example:

·  Needed to have more specific targets for cross London interventions, e.g.  the Mayor should set an air pollution level for all London Boroughs.

·  Specify what was within the Mayor’s power to affect change, rather than what his office can influence, for example there is no mention of public transport and how the Mayor’s powers could be used on the advertising of unhealthy foods and drink on TfL transport.

·  Why was Tuberculosis and HIV/Aids specifically raised, but not other diseases.

·  Transitory nature of our local population, which moves across borough boundaries.

·  The need for consistent messages and support levels across all partners regardless of where you are in the borough, sub regional or London area. 

·  Use of the Air Toxicity Tax to benefit all of London, not just the more affluent boroughs in central London.

·  Encourage a ‘children welcome here’ ethos in businesses and public bodies.

·  Encourage the ‘daily mile’ in all schools across London.

·  History shows that residents in affluent areas have benefited more from health interventions and programmes than the more deprived areas of London and what support was being offered to address this.

(b)  Suggested that initiatives, such as bicycle hire, are not concentrated in central London but are expanded to the outer London Boroughs.

(ii)  Delegated authority to the Deputy Chief Executive and Strategic Director for Service Development and Integration, to sign-off a detailed consultation response, based upon the feedback from the workshop session, on behalf of the Council in consultation with the Chair, Director of Law and Governance and the Director of Public Health;

(iii)  Encouraged partners to submit consultation responses and noted that ELHCP would also be including in their response many of the same points raised by the Board; and

(iv)  Agreed that the Mayor’s final Strategy will be reviewed to inform the refresh of the Barking and Dagenham Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy in 2018.