Agenda item

To inform the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWBB) around progress in implementing the Inclusive Communities Framework (ICF) which is one of the key enablers for the achieving the Kirklees Health and Wellbeing Strategy (KHWS) priorities of Mental Wellbeing, Connected Care and Support, and Healthy Places.

Contact: Jill Greenfield, Director Communities & Access Services, Sarah Mitchell, Head of Communities and Tamsin Macdonald, Local Area Coordination Manager

Jill Greenfield, Service Director, Community and Access Services, provided the Board with an update on the Inclusive Communities Framework (ICF), advising that it is one of the council’s four top tier partnership strategies.  Overall, it is a commitment to work better with communities and in order to achieve this there is a need to change the way things are done, it is a partnership commitment to be inclusive and to really focus on inclusion across the district.  When the ICF was developed, it was undertaken in collaboration with a number of partners including the voluntary and community sector.

The Board was directed to the presentation slides, which outlined a refresh of the ICF, and advised that it is acknowledged that some people in the community do not always feel like they belong, and that what matters to them is not important to other people and they do not know how they can get involved in their communities.

The ICF offers an opportunity to give a framework to be able to create safer and more cohesive communities, to enable people to feel like they belong and that they can play a part.  The focus is not on communities getting things done, the focus is on how organisations and institutions can work alongside communities.

The ICF has been designed to be used across the whole of Kirklees and it has been a challenge making it relevant to every organisation and particularly strategic partnerships.  It offers a guide on how that can be done across services and partners, community groups and initiatives.  It is important that there continues to be a focus on the best practice.

The ICF is made up of three guiding principles:

1.      Belief - That communities have solutions to problems; they have skills and knowledge that organisations do not have.

2.      Belonging - Building trust and promoting belonging in local places. People may be different, but they have shared interests and challenges.

3.      Care - Care more about what communities’ care about and showing this

 through action.

The ICF sets out five inclusive approaches:

Connecting - whether that is working in partnership with local people or creating more connections in and between communities

Communicating - communicating more and better with communities

Equalising – creating opportunities to work alongside local people sharing

knowledge and resources

Trusting - trusting communities more

Celebrating - celebrating communities

In terms of what the ICF has to do with the Kirklees Health and Wellbeing Strategy (KHWS), the Board was informed that, it is one of the key enablers for achieving the KHWS priorities around mental wellbeing, connected care and support, and healthy places.  For mental wellbeing the ICF does support the idea of connecting with and giving to others.  It is well evidenced around mental health in terms of life satisfaction being closely linked to social interaction and participation and that is a real part of the ICF to foster that social and community life pride in community and social connection.  Healthy Places, ensuring that there are community activities and opportunities for people to be active, and to stay socially connected.

The work undertaken to date has been to co-produce the ICF, launch the toolkit and upload it to the website, carry out numerous briefings and conversations and attend a number of boards and asked people to undertake the self-assessment.  There is an online platform where the self-assessments can be submitted, and the aim of the self-assessment is that this can become a dynamic framework and not a paper-based strategy.

After the first year of receiving the self-assessment information, the expectation is that this will provide the baseline for monitoring progress in subsequent years.  It will also help to identify collective priorities.  The framework is a guide to how things will be done.  Work is being undertaken on the self-assessment tool to make it better.

The ICF can be worked with and help, and support is available to help organisations and partners work with this, and it can make the difference across Kirklees.

The following questions were posed to the Board:

-       What is your role in implementing the ICF?

-       How do you hold partners to account with the different initiatives that come to the Board, does the Board ask how are you assured that the ICF is supporting that?

-       How can the Board use its influence with others to consider the ICF and how can the Board champion that?

It is more important than ever that there is an understanding of the lived experience of local communities, and there is an understanding to enable organisations to work alongside them in a way that matters to them and can co-create those solutions.

In response to the information presented, the Board asked a number of questions and made comment, including some of the following:

-       What types of organisations have already signed up to this framework?

-       It would be positive for an update to be provided to the Third Sector Leaders Board.

-       Are Healthwatch connected into this work?

-       That information on the ICF be circulated to Board members and will serve as a prompt for internal and external partners.

RESOLVED:

That Jill Greenfield be thanked for providing an update on the Inclusive Communities Framework and that further information on the ICF be circulated to Board members.