Agenda item

The Executive Councillor for Communities, Health and Leisure Councillor B Pitt to present a report on the Community Health and Wealth Strategy and the creation of a Delivery Fund.

With the aid of a report by the Interim Corporate Director (People) (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Council considered a report seeking the adoption of a Community Health and Well Strategy and the approval of a Delivery Fund to enable progress to be made with delivery.

In introducing the report, the Executive Leader explained that the Strategy was supported by the Cabinet in September 2024 demonstrating the Council’s commitment to place residents at the heart of service delivery. It also aligned with the Council’s Priority to ‘Improve the Quality of Life for Local People’. Council’s attention was then drawn to the three core themes within the Strategy – economic resilience, social connection and physical and mental health.

The Council were also reminded that the May 2024 Corporate Peer Challenge had identified the need to properly resource the delivery of the Huntingdonshire Futures Strategy, and the fund would enable the Council to do this in part. The Community Health and Wealth Building Strategy directly addressed five themes of that Strategy.

In terms of the proposed new delivery fund, the Council were advised that this had been made possible from in year exceptional income from higher interest rates and that the fund would follow the principles of a sovereign wealth fund, whereby a one-off windfall income was treated as exceptional and is invested for the longer-term benefits of the residents who live there. It was also explained that other partners would be encouraged to contribute to the fund to embed a holistic approach to social success and to support cross partner working. By inviting partners to co-design the process, it was hoped to deliver a health model which they wished to fund on an enduring basis.

Having acknowledged the benefits of co-production in engaging the views of local people as part of the process, the Executive Leader reiterated that the Council were committed to evidencing the impact of the Strategy to ensure it was providing value for money. The Council were also advised that it was proposed to bring further details of the operation of the delivery fund to Overview and Scrutiny for further input and review.

In commenting on the report, Councillor R Martin emphasised the need for a set of clear performance indicators to ensure that the Strategy and its initiatives were having a meaningful impact. He also emphasised the need for such indicators to be regularly provided to ensure transparency and suggested that quarterly reporting through the democratic process would enable the Council to pivot if the Strategy was not delivering what had been promised, whilst also developing public trust.

Whilst acknowledging many of the positive ideas within the Strategy, Councillor J A Gray expressed his concerns at the absence of any detailed proposals regarding the governance of the delivery fund. In response to which, the Executive Councillor for Climate, Transformation and Workforce reinforced the comments outlined within the report that open governance and transparent reporting of both spend and impact would be central to the use of the delivery fund. She also reiterated that subject to approval of the Fund, a detailed report outlining the mechanics of its operation would be brought to Overview and Scrutiny for further review. Her comments were supported by Councillor Wakeford who concurred that many of the concerns raised would be addressed in the forthcoming report on the governance processes. Councillor Wakeford also took the opportunity to address comments which had been made regarding income generation targets in the current year which had allowed the Council to bring forward the proposal.

Councillor Davenport-Ray also took the opportunity to highlight the importance of the community wealth aspects within the proposal and the importance of allowing residents a say in what these funds should be used for.

Finally, Councillor Hassall emphasised the need to involve partners and secure partnership funding to assist with the implementation of the Strategy. He was hopeful that the concerns he had raised at Overview and Scrutiny regarding the absence of any success criteria would be addressed to ensure that it would be successful.

In drawing the discussion to a close, the Executive Leader thanked all Members for their contributions and reiterated the intention to bring detailed proposals on the operation of the delivery fund to Overview and Scrutiny for further review and consideration. She also acknowledged the need for performance indicators to be visible and robust but emphasised the need to be swift and adept to make the best use of the fund to ensure that it made a genuine difference to Huntingdonshire residents.

Whereupon it was 

RESOLVED

a)  that the Community Health and Wealth Building Strategy as appended as Appendix A to the report now submitted be approved; and

b)  that the creation of a £750k Delivery Fund be approved for use over the next 3 years to support the delivery of the Community Health and Wealth Building Strategy; noting the intention to bring detailed proposals on the mechanics of operation to the Overview and Scrutiny Panel for further input and review.