Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the last meetings held on 31 May 2023 and 28 June 2023

RESOLVED that the minutes be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

RESOLVED that the minutes be noted.

Ailsa Rutter, Director of Fresh and Balance, gave a presentation covering:

• The harmful effects of smoking and second-hand smoke

• Current smoking and vaping prevalence in England

• Costs to Stockton

• The Fresh comprehensive tobacco control programme since 2005

• Smokers options to quit

• Vaping to quit smoking research

• Impact of vaping on health

• Government commissioned evidence updates

• Vaping prevalence and challenges

• Regulations on vapes and gaps in regulation

• Disposable vapes

• Evidenced based tools and resources

Key issues highlighted and discussed:

• In the short and medium term, vaping posed a small fraction of the risks of smoking but vaping was not risk free, particularly for people who had never smoked

• There was significantly lower exposure to harmful substances from vaping compared to smoking. However, there was similar or higher exposure to harmful substances compared with not using any nicotine products

• There was no significant increase of toxicant biomarkers after short term second-hand exposure to vaping among people who did not smoke or vape

• The addition of flavours to vapes was important to encourage smokers onto vapes, however, marketing of flavoured vapes to children was concerning

• Opinion was split on banning single use vapes. It had been suggested that more investigation was needed into the unintended consequences of banning single use vapes

• Research indicated a 50% growth in experimentation in vaping in 11 – 17-year-olds but only a small increase in current vaping from 6.9% to 7.6%

• It was hugely challenging to reduce smoking prevalence in mental health settings

• Concerns were expressed about marketing of vapes to children, the long term impacts of vaping on health and the gaps that existed in current regulation

RESOLVED that the presentation be noted.

The Board received a report providing an update on the evaluation conducted in June 2023 on the Warm Spaces in Stockton-on-Tees scheme. The initiative had been launched in October 2022 and had grown to a current membership of around 60 venues, with feedback evidencing that many of them had become quickly established as key assets within their communities.

The report set out the key feedback from the consultation exercise carried out with participating venues and the plans for the scheme’s development, widening the scope of its offer into a second phase throughout the autumn and winter into 2024.

The Board commended officers on the initiative and supported the proposed action plan and priorities.

RESOLVED

1.  That the report’s key findings from the feedback report be noted.

2. That the proposed action plan and associated priorities for ‘Phase II’ of the scheme, with a 2023-2024 timeline, be endorsed.

3. That Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council’s Public Health contribution of £30,000 per annum for this year (2023/24) and next year (2024/25) be noted, to support the bespoke development of Community Spaces in Stockton-on-Tees, building on what was achieved in the first phase of the Warm Spaces scheme and working towards long-term sustainability.

4. That a further report be received to provide an update on progress in late 2023.

The Board received a presentation on the Healthy Streets pilot including:

• Pilot areas

• Traffic Surveys

• Community Engagement

• Next Steps

O Resident’s survey running to 31 July

o Aspen Garden’s resident focus group – August

o A series of creative engagement events over the summer holidays facilitated by university researchers

o A design team to be appointed to work on design stage from September – November 2023

RESOLVED that the update be noted.

The Board received a report providing revisions to the Health Protection Collaborative terms of reference following discussion by the Collaborative in July 2023.

Discussion at the Collaborative had reflected that there was a strong commitment to the group as a local systems overview and collaboration forum to share information and offer mutual support and challenge. However, a stronger commitment from some partners to attend more regularly would be welcomed and it had been suggested that themed meetings around particular issues would be helpful and would encourage attendance by key partners for these discussions. It was also agreed the Collaborative would meet every two months in future, rather than monthly.

RESOLVED that the proposed amendments to the Health Protection Collaborative terms of reference be approved.

The Board received a presentation on the NHS Draft Joint Forward Plan – July 2023 which was a requirement of Integrated Care Boards and partner NHS Trusts. The presentation covered:

• National Guidance

• North East and Cumbria Plan

• NHS Plan aligned to Partnerships

• Service, Enabler and Place Action Plans

• How the Plans fit together

• Timetable and Engaging Stakeholders

RESOLVED that the presentation be noted.

There were no Member Updates.

The Board agreed that the Healthwatch Annual Report would be presented to the October meeting.

RESOLVED that the forward plan be noted.