Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence from those Members who are unable to attend the meeting.

Apologies were received from Councillor Habiban Zaman and Kim Taylor Co-optee.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on the 26^th February 2025.

RESOLVED- That the minutes of the meeting dated 26^th February 2025 be approved as a correct record.

Members will be asked to say if there are any items on the Agenda in which they have any disclosable pecuniary interests or any other interests, which may prevent them from participating in any discussion of the items or participating in any vote upon the items.

No Interests were declared.

Most agenda items take place in public. This only changes where there is a need to consider exempt information, as contained at Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. You will be informed at this point which items are to be recommended for exclusion and to be resolved by the Panel.

All items were considered in public session.

The Panel will receive any petitions and/or deputations from members of the public. A deputation is where up to five people can attend the meeting and make a presentation on some particular issue of concern. A member of the public can also submit a petition at the meeting relating to a matter on which the body has powers and responsibilities.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, Members of the Public must submit a deputation in writing, at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting and shall subsequently be notified if the deputation shall be heard. A maximum of four deputations shall be heard at any one meeting.

No Deputations or Petitions were received.

To receive any public questions.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11, the period for the asking and answering of public questions shall not exceed 15 minutes.

Any questions must be submitted in writing at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting.

No Public Questions were received.

Representatives from the Integrated Care Board will be in attendance to update the Panel on Dental Services across Kirklees.

Members of the Children’s Scrutiny Panel will be in attendance to consider this item.

Contact: Nicola Sylvester, Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer.

Tel: 01484 221000.

The Panel received a report on Dental Services which explained that the National Health Service (NHS) West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (WY ICB) had been responsible for commissioning and contracting NHS dental services since April 2023.

Alyson Corns, Humber and North Yorkshire ICB advised the Panel that in April 2023, WY ICB took on delegated responsibility from NHS England for commissioning and contracting of all NHS dental services.  WY ICB had agreed to deliver their dental commissioning responsibilities via a shared hub arrangement, hosted by Humber and North Yorkshire ICB and cover South Yorkshire.  Whilst WYI CB had the remit for commissioning dental services, Local Authorities had statutory responsibilities for oral health improvement, including commissioning evidence based oral health improvement programmes to meet the needs of the local population.

Both nationally and locally, access to NHS dentistry was a challenge with issues identifies relating to the national contract itself, workforce gaps, and procurement restrictions, making it difficult to secure new dental provision.  The Panel noted that dental contracting took place within the national context and challenges were well-embedded, meaning that WY ICB had many issues to overcome in their aims to improve dental services.  Improving access remained a priority for the ICB and work had been undertaken to improve dental services for those living in the area by building positive relationships with the profession and local dental practices to continue to improve services.

Questions and comments were invited from Members of the Health and Social Care, and Children’s Scrutiny Panels, and the following was raised:

• Up to date data regarding 5-year-olds who experience tooth decay would be provided in June 2025,
• 60% of children within Kirklees had seen an NHS dentist,
• There were no funds available for additional practices in areas where there was a deficit of practices,
• It was the Local Authorities responsibility to commission services in schools,
• There was one practice within Kirklees specifically dedicated to children’s access,
• There were two level 2 paediatric services across West Yorkshire where children could have inhalation sedation in a dental practice rather than hospital, the hope was to open another three practices,
• WY ICB had offered practices initiatives that were not reliant on Units of Dental Activity (UDA’s) to be delivered for example homelessness, to get away from the model of UDA’s, which allowed practices to deliver services in a unique way. Feedback was very positive,
• Income in practices was reliant on the UDA’s achieved,
• Children waiting for extractions through surgery had improved, theatre space had increased,
• Additional resources within the Dentistry team at the ICB had improved communication, which had improved productivity in practices,
• Data on the number of new patients treated due to measures taken by the ICB would be available in June 2025,
• Non recurrent funding was from practices that had not delivered 96% of their contract, the money was refunded to the WY ICB as it was ringfenced to dentistry who then invested in their priorities,
• The average time of referral in Kirklees from a dentist to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Adults Social Care Officers will be in attendance to provide a verbal update on the preparation and progress of the Council’s CQC Inspection.

Contact: Alexia Gray, Head of Quality Standards and Safeguarding Partnership (Adults)

Tel: 01484 221000.

The Panel received an update on the CQC Inspection scheduled to take place in May 2025.

Michelle Cross, Executive Director for Adults and Health advised the Board that notification had been received from the CQC of a Local Authority inspection on 9^th December, with a request to submit their self-assessment and Information Return (IR38) by 10^th January 2025.  Further notification from the CQC was received on 17^th March confirming that the onsite visit would take place w/c 26^th May 2025 with a requirement to submit a template of key individuals and team information by 31^st March 2025. 50 case files had been submitted and on 1^st April the CQC confirmed the 10 case files they would be focusing on, with a list of requirements needed for the case files.

Alexia Gray, Head of Operations and Safeguarding explained that work had taken place to ensure all parties involved in the visit had been briefed which included

teams and staff, Executive Leadership Team, Portfolio Holder, Partners and Service users.

Questions and comments were invited from Members of the Health and Social Care, Panel, and the following was raised:

·         There were concerns from the service that the cases CQC had chosen to review did not reflect the diversity of Kirklees,

·         The CQC had a focus on equality, diversity and inclusion, officers had been well prepared to include this in their reporting,

·         Through preparation for the inspection, the service found issues which were rectified and practice improved with a development plan in place,

·         During sessions with partners in health, it was clear that the front-line workers were aware of what their expectations were for the inspection,

·         Partnership working had come across very strong when completing the self-assessment, it was noted that some other local authorities did not have as strong relationship with their partners,

·         Front line staff were confident in speaking to inspectors, teams were positive in wanting to speak about the good work that they undertook,

·         During preparation, gaps in commissioning strategies were found, plans were now in place to make improvements,

·         General feedback from other Local Authorities was that the CQC report did not reflect the information in their return and self-assessments.

RESOLVED- That the CQC update be noted, and officer be thanked for the excellent work that had been undertaken in preparation of the inspection.

The Panel will review its work programme and agenda plan for 2024/25.

Contact: Nicola Sylvester, Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer.

Tel: 01484 221000

A discussion took place on the 2024/25 work programme and agenda plan.