Gwent Public Services Board
5th Business Meeting – 13:30pm Thursday 29th September 2022
Notes of Meeting
Present:
Name |
Organisation represented |
Huw Jakeway (HJ) - Chair |
South Wales Fire and Rescue
Service (SWF&RS) – Chair for the meeting |
Claire Germain (CG) |
Welsh Government |
Nick McClain (NM) |
Gwent Police |
Cllr Debbie Harvey (Cllr
DH) |
Newport City Council |
Cllr Anthony Hunt (Cllr AH) |
Torfaen County Borough
Council |
Nicola Prygodzicz (NP) |
Aneurin Bevan University
Health Board |
Sian Curley (SC) |
Office of Police and Crime
Commissioner |
Cllr Sean Morgan (Cllr SM) |
Caerphilly County Borough
Council |
Steve Morgan (StM) |
Natural Resources Wales |
Ann Lloyd (ALl) |
Chair ABUHB |
Anne Evans (AE) |
Torfaen Voluntary Alliance |
Howard Toplis (HT) |
Tai Calon Community Housing
Ltd |
Cllr Stephen Thomas (Cllr
ST) |
Blaenau Gwent County
Borough Council |
Stephen Tiley (ST) |
Gwent Association of
Voluntary Organisations (GAVO) |
Dr Sarah Aitken (Dr SA) |
Dir Public Health and
Strategic Partnerships, (ABUHB) |
National Probation Service |
|
Beverly Owen (BO) |
Newport City Council |
Paul Matthews (PM) |
Monmouthshire County Council |
Damien McCann (DM) |
Blaenau Gwent County
Borough Council |
Christina Harrhy (CH) |
Caerphilly CBC |
Jeff Cuthbert (JC) |
Office of Police and Crime
Commissioner (OPCC) |
Steve Morgan (SM) |
Natural Resources Wales |
Cllr Mary Ann Brocklesby
(Cllr MAB) |
Monmouthshire County
Council |
Louise Bright (LB) |
University of South Wales |
In Attendance:
Kathryn Peters (KP) |
Caerphilly CBC |
Sharran Lloyd (SL) |
Monmouthshire CC |
Rhys Cornwall (RC) |
Newport CC |
Lyndon Puddy (LP) |
Torfaen CBC |
Sarah Tipping (ST) |
Torfaen CBC |
Richard Jones (RJ) |
Monmouthshire CC |
Lyndon Puddy (LP) |
Torfaen CBC |
Andrew Parker (AP) |
Blaenau Gwent CBC |
Kate Williams (KW) |
Torfaen CBC |
Rachel Rawlings (RR) |
Monmouthshire CC |
Sarah King (SK) |
Blaenau Gwent CBC |
Eryl Powell (EP) |
Aneurin Bevan University
Health Board |
Heather Delonnette (HD) |
Caerphilly CBC |
Abigail Barton (AB) |
Monmouthshire CC (Comms
officer) |
Steve Honeywill (SH) |
Torfaen CBC |
David Arnold (DA) |
Blaenau Gwent CBC |
Paul Massey (PMa) |
Caerphilly CBC |
Apologies:
Cllr Jane Mudd (Cllr JM) |
Newport City Council |
Pam Kelly (PK) |
Gwent Police |
Cllr Steve Bradwick (Cllr
SB) |
South Wales Fire &
Rescue Service |
Maureen Howell (MH) |
Welsh Government |
Glyn Jones (GJ) |
Aneurin Bevan University
Health Board |
Stephen Vickers (SV) |
Torfaen County Borough
Council |
Sarah Simmonds (SSi) |
Aneurin Bevan University
Health Board |
Vice-Chair Huw Jakeway had agreed to Chair the
meeting since a substantive Chair had not yet been agreed by the PSB. The Chair
welcomed all attendees to the meeting, especially Louise Bright who would now
be representing University South Wales in place of Dr Ben Calvert. He also
congratulated Nicola Prygodzicz on her appointment as CEO of ABUHB and now as
member of the PSB, having taken over from Glyn Jones. The Chair also thanked
Abigail Barton from Monmouthshire CC who would be live tweeting about the
meeting from the Gwent PSB Twitter account. Apologies have been recorded in the
table above.
The Chair explained that members had previously been
invited to put themselves forward for consideration for becoming the Chair of
the PSB, or to nominate one of their fellow PSB members. He announced that
Leader of Caerphilly CBC, Cllr Sean Morgan was the only member to be nominated.
The Chair therefore asked all members if anyone opposed Cllr Morgan as Chair of
the PSB and none were put forward. It was therefore carried that Cllr Sean
Morgan would be Chair of the Gwent PSB and agreed that he would take over as
Chair from the next meeting in December. The Vice Chair congratulated Cllr
Morgan who said that he was pleased to be taking on the responsibility.
All action points from the previous meeting had been
completed or on the agenda for this meeting and the note was approved by the
Board. Regarding the action from paragraph 9 (Circulate revised Terms of
Reference (ToRs) for comment by PSB), PMa explained that three revisions had
been made altogether and circulated for any further comment to the PSB. The
changes were to:
·
incorporate transparency and openness. It was noted that recordings of
future meetings of PSB would be made available on YouTube with a link from the
Gwent PSB website
·
make it clear that all PSB members play an equal part in proceedings and
have equal voting rights (except for the Well-being Assessment/Plan where only
statutory members may vote)
·
add the Gwent Marmot Region Leadership Group] as a sub group of PSB
No further changes had been requested and so it was agreed that PSB had approved the updated version. Action: PMa to circulate a “clean” version of the revised ToRs to PSB members and to load a link to the recordings of meetings from the Gwent PSB website starting from the 15 December 2022 PSB meeting
LP introduced the draft consultation paper (plus
appendices) on the Well-being Plan for Gwent. He acknowledged the significant
amount of work across the partnership and engagement groups in drafting the
document. He also explained that it had been written with the overarching
Marmot principles in mind to ensure the consultation and plan was developed
within the previously agreed approach taken by the PSB.
The draft Well-being (WB) Plan drew on the evidence
from the WB Assessment and identified three themes via the response analysis. The
Office of the Future Generations Commissioner’s also provided advice and this was
included as an appendix to the report. The proposed objectives in the draft
were further refined within the consultation draft and presented to the PSB as
follows:
· Objective 1 - We want to create a fair
and equitable Gwent for all
· Objective 2 - We want to create a
Gwent that has friendly, safe and confident communities
· Objective 3 - We want to create a
Gwent where the natural environment is protected and enhanced.
The statutory 12 week consultation period on the draft
Well-being Plan would begin on 1st October and end on 31st December 2022. The Engagement
Sub-Group had identified several methods of consultation across each of the
regions of Gwent with any local needs being tailored accordingly. The consultation
would help inform and refine the Well-being plan prior to formal approval
through statutory bodies in February and March. As the next meeting of the PSB
was in March 2023, there would not be enough time to have completed all the
required amendments so an additional meeting would need to be arranged for the
statutory members of the PSB to formally agree the plan in April 2022.
Comments
The Chair thanked the Team for all the hard work in
putting the draft plan together and invited comments and questions from
members. JC congratulated the team and wanted the plan to make reference to the
impact of the Cost of Living Crisis and Ukraine War. ST also congratulated the
team on a well-written document and how the Marmot principles had linked to the
objectives. He commented on the Community Cohesion objective (#2) in that it
read as if the Building Communities Trust was the “go-to” organisation for
consultation when this should be the CVVs generally. He would consider whether
any suggested amendments were needed and contact the drafting team if necessary
StM also recognised the hard work put in by the
team. He suggested that it could be amended slightly to recognise the
cross-cutting nature of the themes. And; in the first paragraph on the final
page in reference to the differences between Local Delivery Groups, PSB partners
should also Co-produce and deliver together where possible to achieve the
objectives; and on Objective #3 there should be a comma between food and
transport in step 5.
Cllr MAB thanked the team and agreed that the
objectives needed to be cross-cutting but should be clear about how this should
be done. She acknowledged that the document was meant to facilitate discussion and
supported the fact that the Marmot principles would be firmly embedded in the organising
structure for the final plan which would ensure that the objectives were truly
cross-cutting. NP agreed with Cllr MAB regarding the Marmot principles. She
felt it needed to go further in objective #1 in identifying the cause of child
poverty and not just the impact as it also needed to include tackling child
abuse in the steps. She would also like to see anti-social behaviour and crime
tackled in objective #2 although this could be discussed further during the
consultation.
LP responded that they expected to see the plan
change during the consultation and was grateful for the feedback. He said that
the plan was developed following the response analysis phase and that the
document had been structured according to advice from Welsh Government and the
Future Generations Commissioner and was a statutory requirement. But the
document would evolve over the five year life of the plan.
SA was in the process of writing to the Director of Public
Health annual report, structuring it on the Marmot principles. It was helpful
in being able to identify what would have to be done. She would share the
report with the Well-being Plan team to see how the plan might be structured
following the consultation.
The PSB were asked to consider three recommendations
Recommendations:
·
to approve the
draft Well-being Plan for statutory consultation between 1st October and 31st
December
·
to agree that the
draft Well-being Plan can subsequently be sent to the statutory recipients set
out at 4.2 of the paper
· agree to identify a date in mid-April to sign off the
final Well-being Plan for publication. –
The PSB agreed to each of the recommendations above,
subject to any relevant amendments being made following the above comments from
PSB members
Action1: PMa to contact members to arrange a suitable
date in April to agree the final Well-being Plan
Action2: HD to adjust the narrative in the Well-being
Plan according to the above comments before publishing for consultation on 1st
October.
Dr SA introduced her paper updating PSB members on
progress in developing a Marmot Region in Gwent. Highlights included: the
Leadership Group meeting for the first time, chaired by Paul Matthews; a launch
event with Sir Michael Marmot was planned for 21st October in Newport; Five
Stakeholder events in each Gwent county were being organised for November,
combining the Well-being Plan and Marmot consultations in a single event. PSB
members were invited and to nominate who else they would like to attend.
Cllr ST said he was unavailable but would send a
representative. PM said that the plan was to develop the bridge between the
Well-being Plan and Marmot as a delivery mechanism. Committing to being a
Marmot region would have a profound effect on organisations adopting this and
the event on 21st October was a good opportunity to become more familiar with
Marmot.
The Chair asked if the PSB membership on the Marmot
Group was appropriate to which the response was that any PSB member who wished
to be involved was welcome.
Dr SA said that the Public Health Wales team was
available to help partners organisations make Marmot relevant for themselves
and take to relevant groups. They would produce the annual report that could be
fed through each organisation whilst waiting for the Well-being Plan to be
finalised.
KP gave a comprehensive verbal update on behalf of
the Gwent Humanitarian Leadership Group. The full report is attached as annex A to the minutes below.
There was one action: AUBHB said that the transport
contract to take arrivals to the testing centre for screening appointments and
chest X-rays ends at the end of October. The Civil Contingencies Lead asked
whether PSB organisations would be able to help provide capacity.
Action: PSB members to consider what assistance they could provide in transporting arrivals to the testing centre
SK updated members on progress towards a Regional
Scrutiny Committee for the PSB. The item covered proposed next steps and
presented six recommendations for consideration by the PSB:
Recommendations
·
Recommendation
1 – Operating Organisation
BGCBC is the
lead organisation to facilitate committee support, with each other statutory
partner organisation to identify a liaison Single Point of Conduct (SPOC) to
interact with lead organisation.
·
Recommendation
2 – Resourcing Committee Support
Each statutory
partner excl. BGCBC, who will provide support in-kind) provides a nominal
financial contribution to support the development and operation of the scrutiny
committee. An estimated total cost of £15k would mean £2,140 for each statutory
organisation and is based on existing models in place for CCRCD scrutiny
processes, hosted by RCTCBC.
·
Recommendation
3 – Identifying Membership
2 LA elected
member are identified by each of the 5 LAs, and an additional one
representative from the following partner organisations (note these cannot be
officers of the organisations):
•
The Fire and
Rescue Authority
•
Third Sector
•
Health Board
Member
•
NRW
·
Recommendation
4: Timeframe for Regional Scrutiny
Regional
Scrutiny to commence from 2023, with:
•
Initial Six Months
(Jan to June 2023) - Training for identified members in Jan/Feb 2023, an
initial formal meeting of the committee in March/April to scrutinise the final
draft well-being plan, and report back recommendations to Gwent PSB
•
Following Six
Months (July to December 2023)
•
Regional Scrutiny
will follow a forward work programme, with meetings being aligned to the Gwent
PSB meeting cycle to allow for effective interaction between the committee and
PSB.
·
Recommendation
5 – Agree Draft Terms of Reference
Agree the
Draft Terms of Reference for the Regional PSB Scrutiny Committee, to include
other key recommendations from June meeting (appendix 2) i.e.:
•
Voting: One vote per organisation (regardless of
number of members).
•
Chairs and Vice
Chairs to be identified at the first meeting of the Committee. BGCBC to make
formal nomination for Chair to aid the inception of the process as the lead
organisation.
•
Meeting
arrangements as previously included e.g. key issues for hybrid meetings, with
physical location for all meeting being General Offices, Ebbw Vale, Blaenau
Gwent.
•
Quorum status of
each local authority area to be represented,
·
Recommendation
6 – Evaluation Approach
Agree that the
arrangements set out for implementing and operating the Regional Scrutiny
Committee are reviewed after one calendar year
StM supported all the recommendations. Re
Recommendation #1, NRW would find it difficult to provide cover on the scrutiny
committee because of capacity (having to cover the 15 PSBs in Wales). However,
would seek guidance from the NRW Chair the following day on the possibility of
providing one for Gwent as it was a merged PSB.
Action: StM to
confirm with SK whether NRW could provide a representative on the Scrutiny
committee but also consider other ways of contributing to their work
ST - Under recommendation #3, GAVO were happy to
provide a representative on the Scrutiny Committee.
ALl explained that Health boards were unitary boards
and assumed that non-executive members were needed for scrutiny committee. And
regarding the Terms of Reference (ToR) queried why overview and scrutiny
function was only on behalf of the Local Authorities. SK replied that the PSB
Scrutiny Committee would be on behalf of all the PSB Statutory Bodies.
AL said that she had many commitments as her role
also covered Gwent so she would not be able to form part of the scrutiny
committee but could possibly contribute in other ways. SK replied that she
would consider alternative ways for PSB members who could not participate in
scrutiny committees to contribute in other ways.
HJ said that SWF&R would try to provide two
members for the scrutiny committee given that SWF&R covered the five local
authority areas and suggested that other PSB members who could not provide a
permanent member for scrutiny committee could be invited to some meetings.
CG said that the ToR wording was correct in saying
that the duty as set out in the Act was that it was the Local Authorities
collectively discharging their duty which would be on behalf of Local
Authorities rather than all PSB members.
PSB members were asked to vote on whether they
accepted the recommendations and the results were as follows:
· Recommendation 1 – All supported
· Recommendation 2 – All supported although RC would like to see what the actual cost for Blaenau Gwent CBC’s “in kind” support of the Scrutiny Committee amounted to. SK said that the costings was based on the CCR budgeting model but the costs of BGCBC would become more apparent once the committee was up and running. This would then be reviewed at a later date.
· Recommendations 2 – All supported although SM was still due to report NRW’s position the following day and ST would like the membership to ensure that it was politically balanced.
· Recommendation 4 – All supported
· Recommendation 5 – All supported (again subject to GAVO and NRW to check availability)
· Recommendation 6 – All supported
KW provided an update on progress achieved so far by
the Community Safety Review Group. The Gwent wide Community Safety workshop
with multi-agencies in June had highlighted the many complexities involved. The
Working Group is now in the process of developing a framework, timeline and
workplan. Further discussions would be held with the chairs of the other
regional boards to inform the review. The Working Group will bring back the
findings from the next few months to the next PSB meeting and provide
recommendations on next steps.
As Chair of the Area Planning Board, SA wanted to
know where “prevention” would sit within the response structures such as the
three adverse childhood experiences –. KW reiterated the great complexities of
all the regional bodies and their responsibilities for Community Safety not
being referenced and welcomed suggestions for recommendations to be included in
the review from all PSB members.
JC was unsure as to how the Gwent Police and OPCC
were linked into the review. KW said that both organisations had been closely
involved in the previous workshop and were represented on the Working Group.
CG said that a wider review on the partnership
landscape in 2020 concluded with recommendations should be driven locally which
was also supported by Welsh Govt. The Minister for Finance and LG would be meeting
soon with PSB Chairs and looking at progress and how PSBs could be supported.
The Chair thanked the Working Group for their work
and suggested that there was still an opportunity to feed into the Well-being
Plan, particularly prevention. He also wondered where the statutory duty on
serious violence sat. KW explained that all statutory duties were being
considered in the review and how the statutory duties would be carried out.
This would also include looking at resourcing. SA said that SW Fire & Rescue
had already addressed prevention and this needed to be replicated on a wider
basis.
LP introduced the paper that was designed to open
the discussion on how the PSB could help improve the coordination and
communication between partners to support citizens and business with the cost
of living crisis. He thanked the authors, SB and Richard Lewis
The report incorporated a lot of current data on the
crisis as well as implications. And it also included several references to the
individual work that was taking place amongst the partner organisations to help
in cost of living support, particularly for more vulnerable communities.
The rapid rise in inflation, the cost of fuel and
utilities coupled with other ongoing factors such as the recovery from covid,
global fuel demand and Brexit was having detrimental impacts that adversely
affected disadvantaged areas the most. And this would only help to widen the
inequalities gap. The report highlighted some significant areas of impact to
those households’ abilities to maintain the essentials and thus the resulting
need for further help from public services.
Recommendation:
The PSB was asked whether (through GSWAG) it could take
collective action to pool advice and organise assistance services on a Gwent wide
basis to help mitigate some of the impacts around the cost of living crisis.
SA felt that the first real challenge for the PSB was
how to make a more immediate impact. She posed the question of how the PSB
could help provide support for community based staff and a central resource of
information. JC anticipated that certain types of crime were likely to increase
and there were already signs that this was happening where people participated
in “low-level” crime who had always previously been very law-abiding. He
thought it was important that all public services were aware of this and to
treat instances with some empathy. It was also more likely that smaller traders
were less able to cope than, for example larger supermarkets.
DH agreed that people should be treated with empathy
and that a one-stop link to information and a one-page information sheet could
be made available for the public. HT found a lot of the information in the
paper useful and said that Housing Associations had been making preparations
for the last 6 months and would like to contribute to the PSB’s efforts in
providing support and sharing advice.
CH thought that the public needed to be aware of
what advice and support was available – and then to make access to that support
as quick and simple as possible. The PSB also needed to avoid duplicating
effort and for example, get the advice to the public via various means such as
through GP surgeries etc.
NP was supportive of the proposals but wasn’t sure
that this would be enough and so should explore what more could be done to help
those most adversely affected - working together should make a greater
difference. Cllr MAB said that every local authority was doing its best to
provide help and advice and also thought that they should be careful not to
duplicate effort. And the PSB should look to try and fill any gaps, where
possible. She felt that mapping all the detail at a regional level may not always
be appropriate since some localised response was more appropriate and
information needed to be more targeted at the right areas.
SA asked how the most vulnerable and in need were
being reached. People’s health was affected by lower temperatures and so those
at being treated at home, for example needing equipment would have higher
energy bills. She also asked if there was a hardship fund available for such
people or whether it was an income-based assessment.
Cllr ST agreed that a lot of mapping work was being
carried out by local authorities but needed to be careful not to
over-complicate things for the public.
LP was grateful for the feedback and suggestions and
agreed that it was important to avoid duplication, take regard of regional and
local circumstances and reduce the complexity of the advice and support.
Action: It was agreed that GSWAG would undertake further coordination work on support and report back at the next meeting but also to provide updates to the PSB in the meantime.
SC informed members regarding the Knife Angel Sculpture which was to be sited in Friars Walk, Newport
during November. The 27ft sculpture was a memorial made from 100,000 seized
knives and used to spread a message of anti-violence and anti-aggression within
communities. She encouraged attendees to help promote the initiative and get
involved where possible in, for example, school visits, youth and community
engagement events and campaigns. For more information see the website:
https://www.britishironworkcentre.co.uk/the-knife-angel-official/ .
The next meeting was scheduled for 15th
December 2022 @ 13:00pm via MS Teams –
Draft agenda items were as follows:
·
Update on
Well-being Plan consultation
·
Marmot Region update
·
Recommendations
of the Community Safety Governance Review
·
the UK
Government's 10 Year Drug Strategy "From Harm to Hope" - developing a
partnership approach in Gwent
·
Update Ukraine Humanitarian
Response
The Chair thanked all attendees and those who helped
draft papers for their contributions and closed the meeting.
Action
Summary
Agenda Item # |
Action detail |
Responsible |
2 |
Circulate a “clean” version
of the revised ToRs to PSB members and to load a link to the recordings from
the Gwent PSB website from the December 2022 PSB meeting |
PMa |
3 (action1) |
Contact members to arrange
a suitable date in April to agree the final Well-being Plan |
PMa |
3 (action2) |
Adjust the Well-being Plan
according to PSB comments before publishing for consultation on 1st October. |
HD |
5 |
Consider what assistance
could be provided in transporting arrivals from Ukraine to the medical screening
centre |
All PSB members |
6 |
Confirm with SK whether NRW
could provide a representative on the Scrutiny committee but also consider
other ways of contributing to their work |
StM |
8 |
Undertake further
coordination work on support for Cost of Living Crisis and report back at the
next meeting but also to provide updates to the PSB in the meantime. |
LP/GSWAG |
Annex
A – From item 5 above -Update on the response to humanitarian crisis in Ukraine
The Gwent Humanitarian Leadership Group has been meeting since the March PSB when the request was made to consider the regional response to the crisis. The group comprises the resettlement leads of the five local authorities, with Wendy Warren- Head of Planning Civil Contingencies and is chaired by Superintendent Mike Richards on behalf of Chief Superintendent Ian Roberts.
The group discusses the situational awareness and shares best practice on problems encountered. Where possible the group is striving for a consistent response across the region. However, the workload in each of the five local authority areas varies considerably with three of the five hosting Welcome Centres or hotel populations that have arrived through the Welsh Government Super Sponsor route.
The information on numbers of arrivals and people accommodated varies daily with a regular accommodation sitrep provided by Welsh Government. There are a number of all-Wales coordinating mechanisms in place at the strategic level and at the operational level a 2-weekly meeting with WG officials and WLGA. Each organisation on the PSB will be sighted on the numbers of arrivals in their area through their corporate management structures.
The all-Wales data platform is now operational with ISPs just being developed. Financial support is now transferring from WG to local authorities with the first claims submitted. The tariff amount, of £10,500 per arrival for those on the Homes for Ukraine hosted scheme is supplemented by additional tariff for school aged children rising from early year at approx. £3.5k to secondary school at approx. £8.7K.
In common with all displaced cohorts the primary focus is around housing, finances/benefits, health screening and registrations, school enrolment and training or employment.
The super sponsor route, originally intended to support 1000 visas was suspended in July due to the numbers arriving. Arrivals are slowing and contracts in some of the Welcome Centres and Hotels have been extended. There are several projections at lower and higher arrival numbers. In the lower scenario accommodation will not be outstripped by demand; at the higher level demand would outstrip accommodation supply in late December. The significant issue facing agencies are the numbers of arrivals in Welcome Centre and hotel accommodation and the potential for the current hosting arrangements to break down.
Various planning contingencies are being used by Welsh Govt but it is clear that the overriding pressure will be on providing more sustainable accommodation. The distribution will be to local authorities, with figures based on population and the numbers already being supported through hosting arrangements.
Local host families are supported in their role to help integrate arrivals into the UK with advice and support from resettlement teams and specialist third sector agencies.
Not all hosting capacity, identified through expressions of interest has been taken up. The current collaborative focus is on moving people through the system to either hosted arrangements or some other form of transitional accommodation. WG have made available additional transitional accommodation funding for this. The funding is not earmarked exclusively for Ukraine support and is intended to provide accommodation for anyone at risk of homelessness or in unsustainable accommodation. Local authorities are currently working up plans for a mixture of accommodation types to receive arrivals from the Welcome centres and hotels.
Ty Magor is the largest Welcome Centre in the region with smaller populations in centres or hotels in Blaenau Gwent and Newport. It will be a challenge to move people out of these arrangements and in some cases there is an anecdotal reluctance from the cohort who may have settled where they are housed. Numbers will be allocated out to each local authority. This is to present hosted arrangements although transitional accommodation will feature over the coming months.
The cohort, in general, and in comparison, to previous humanitarian crises, have arrived with good language skills and an ability to find employment relatively quickly.
To that end, for those who arrived to hosted arrangements the LAs are finding ways to support move on to the private rented sector where possible by offering rent support in the first stages e.g. bond and/or first month’s rent using the tariff. This is being agreed across four of the LAs.
Recognising that hosting is going on for longer than anyone may have envisaged when offering up a space in their home, and the cost-of-living crisis, the tariff is also being used in some LAs to provide a top-up to the UK government £350 per month thank you payments to £600. The expectation being that this may sustain the hosting arrangements for longer. Early feedback is that this is the case as some hosts were starting to worry about their own family finances and this additional recognition is a welcome relief.
This creative use of tariff money follows on from experience gained in settling Syrian and Afghan cohorts which arrive under slightly different schemes run solely by the UK government.
Maintaining hosting arrangements is a focus of all teams as we recognise the pressure that will be placed on housing services should they fail.
Health Response to the arrival
of Ukrainian refugees
Within the Aneurin Bevan Health Board, the Primary Care and Community Service Division is coordinating the humanitarian workstream and post arrival pathway to meet the health requirements of refugees arriving from Ukraine. The development of the pathway has involved primary care, maternity services, public health nursing, mental health, learning disabilities, CAMHS, specialist TB service, BBV team and radiology.
The Health Board response has drawn significantly on support from within Primary Care, specifically the Health Inclusion Service and has received input from specific specialities to accommodate the needs of the response including the paediatric services. The Covid Testing service continues to provide a vital role undertaking the lead for planning and coordinating the day-to-day activity.
The initial stage of the post arrival pathway was delivered by the Health Board from Innovation House adjacent to the first Gwent Welcome centre at Ty Magor working in partnership with Monmouthshire County Council. The team continue to use this as a base however when a further Welcome Centre was opened in Blaenau Gwent, the team accessed space in a Health Centre in the local area providing ease of access for individuals from both the Welcome Centre and those living with families in the area.
The Health Inclusion Service work with other health care professionals to provide the health checks and screening required.
This includes:
· Initial health check within to respond to any urgent needs
· Chest X-Ray at a local hospital as part of the health screening for active TB
· Comprehensive health assessment undertaken (using the “Blue Book” assessment for asylum seekers) either through a home visit or at Innovation House
· Blood tests at Innovation House as part of the health screening for latent TB and blood borne viruses
· COVID-19 vaccinations.
With GP registration completed at the Welcome Centre or via individual hosts. Following registration ongoing GMS provision is delivered in line with the National Enhance Service - Positive Welcome for People Fleeing War and Persecution in Ukraine. This includes all essential, additional and enhanced GMS services, including:
· vaccinations and immunisations
· child health surveillance
· cervical screening services
· chronic disease management
· palliative care
· referral to secondary care
Catch up immunisations will be arranged according to the priorities recommended by Public Health Wales and the algorithm for those with unknown or incomplete vaccination status.
Throughout the post arrival pathway referrals are made to maternity services, health visiting, mental health, sexual health, therapies and other secondary care specialities as required.
The specialist TB service will follow up patients who are positive for active or latent TB in line with the All Wales pathway for the management of refugees at risk of multi-drug resistant TB. Anyone identified with Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C or HIV will be managed according to existing pathways. PHW AWARe will be notified of any communicable diseases.
When the refugees first began to arrive, the full screening service was available two days per week. An appointment system was implemented and now works flexibly depending on the numbers of arrivals. The demand is currently reduced as the Welcome Centres and hotels in use have been filled and individual sponsor settings accommodating families and individuals utilised resulting in less refugees are coming to the Gwent area. As of the 27th September 856 individuals have had the initial health check and blue book assessment completed of the 1,022 people we are aware have come to Gwent. Others are awaiting aspects of the screening or have declined aspects of the screening offered.