islington fairness commission the first year of delivery...
TRANSCRIPT
Appendix 1
Islington Fairness Commission The first year of delivery (2011-2012)
www.islington.gov.uk/fairness
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Recommendation 1: Wages
Employers in Islington should pay all their directly employed staff as a minimum the London Living Wage (currently £8.30p/h). Employers should also review their procurement, contract and best value policies to ensure that, as far as possible within UK and EU law, the Living Wage is the minimum paid to all their contracted staff as well.
Key actions
Leading by example: seeking accreditation to be the first Living Wage (LW) council A cross-departmental Living Wage working group chaired by Cllr Andy Hull comprising HR and Legal specialists, Trade Union, public sector, housing representatives and colleagues from Citizens UK has been set up to oversee the delivery of this recommendation. The ultimate aim is for as many organisations as possible in Islington to meet LW accreditation criteria, meaning both their direct and contracted staff are paid at or above the LW. Around 110 council staff had their wages increased to meet the Living Wage criteria. The
council increased its lowest pay point (Scale Point 4) by 4 pence per hour so that all directly employed staff are now paid at or above the LW. Groups who tend to be paid low wages include women and BME – increases in minimum pay to LW are likely to have benefitted these groups.
In March 2012 Islington was formally recognised by Citizens UK as a Living Wage employer. This, along with Lewisham Council, makes Islington the first local authority to receive formal LW accreditation. We received this accreditation on the basis that a schedule of full LW implementation be drawn up and delivered by no later than March 2014.
82% of council contracts where London Living Wage (LLW) applies and which have been checked have been found to be compliant. This equates to 93% of the total value of those contracts and includes some of our biggest contracts such as Enterprise and Caterlink.
Adult Social Care – the most challenging area for this recommendation – has reviewed all
contracts let since 2009 (a total of 63 contracts) and the majority have been found to be compliant with LW criteria.
New procurement guidance has been developed and is available on the website to help ensure all new contracts put in place by the council require payment of the Living Wage.
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Schools & Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs) Work has also been done to assess whether other local partners pay LLW, with initial focus being on our schools and TMOs. We have written to all 62 of our schools and of those who have got back to us (32 so far
and counting) all of them pay their direct staff at least a Living Wage 14 of our schools have told us that their pay the Living Wage to their staff and that they
use contractors who pay the Living wage. We are now working with those schools to get them accreditation as Living Wage employers.
Samuel Rhodes School was the first Islington school to get accreditation as a Living Wage employer in August 2012
22 of 25 Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs) pay their direct staff the LW. One of our TMOs is working towards accreditation having confirmed payment of the LW across all staff.
Employers beyond the council Attention is now turning to employers beyond the council and good progress is being made. A public sector LLW champion has been appointed and is working with the G15 housing group which contains a number of major housing providers, such as Circle Anglia, which operate in Islington. A Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) LLW champion has been appointed and a briefing session has been held to encourage further VCS groups to engage with the agenda. The Islington Partnership Board members (NHS; City & Islington College; Police; Fire;
JCP; Housing) have signed up in principle to paying the Living Wage. The Fire service pay all their direct staff a Living Wage. They have considered payment of
the LLW as part of their procurement process since 2006; all contracted staff taken on since then are paid a Living Wage.
Over 110 employers from across the private, public and voluntary sectors in Islington are confirmed as paying at least their directly employed staff the Living Wage. In reality the number will be much higher as this figure is just for employers for which council has got information.
There are at least 39 other local voluntary and community sector organisations in Islington with plans in place to start paying the Living Wage.
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What more do we need to do? The London Living Wage group chaired by Councillor Andy Hull will continue to meet to ensure this momentum continues. Internally, the strategic procurement team will carry on its work to check the remaining council contracts are compliant with the LW criteria
We will continue to work with schools and TMOs to support them all to pay the LW and become accredited as Living Wage employers.
Further public sector employers in Islington that we will engage with on LW – beyond those on the Partnership Board – include Universities, Courts, Probation and Prisons.
The council’s Business Employment Support Team (BEST) team will target private sector employers in the borough to encourage them to go LW, starting with the top 100 employers in the borough by number of staff. The BEST team also work with local businesses to source opportunities and will look at whether the paid vacancies sourced by BEST can meet the Living wage criteria. Voluntary Action Islington will work with grant-makers in the borough to encourage them to consider Living Wage as part of the grants process.
A council scrutiny in early 2012 looked at work based learning and agreed a recommendation that the council should provide leadership in encouraging employers in the borough to pay fair wages to their apprentices (the national apprenticeship wage is currently £2.60). Our LBI apprentices now get the LW for the hours they work. Encouraging other employers to pay a fair wage to their apprentices is likely to form the basis of future work for the council on tackling wage inequality.
The council’s website will be used to communicate when organisations have signed up to be LW compliant across the borough, to encourage others to follow suit.
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Recommendation 2: Pay differentials
All major employers in the borough should publicise their pay differentials to enable them to be scrutinised and challenged where appropriate. In the case of Islington Council, this should mean establishing a formal sub-committee, including officer, member and union representation, to review pay differentials within organisations with a view to reducing income inequality where possible.
Key actions Reducing the highest pay and increasing lowest pay at the council
The incoming pay of the Chief Executive was reduced from £210,000 to £160,000. Pay at scale 4 was increased by four pence per hour to ensure that the lowest pay level in the council pay level in the council would be at or above LW.
The reduction in the pay of the Chief Executive coupled with the increase in low pay for those on Scale Point 4 has reduced the pay differential at Islington council to a ratio of 1:10.6. The Council is now able to lead by example in encouraging other employers in the borough to reduce their pay differentials.
What more do we need to do? Having successfully reduced the pay ratio in the council, the council has decided to refrain from approaching the top 100 employers specifically about this ambition and will integrate it into a broader conversation about what employers can do as part of their corporate social responsibility agenda.
This recommendation is now closed.
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Recommendation 3: Debt
Islington council should explore the possibility of passing a by-law to prevent pay day loan companies from operating in the borough. And it should vigorously use its enforcement powers and those of its partners to take action against illegal activity by loansharks who prey on vulnerable Islington residents.
Key actions
Financing debt advice LBI has provided £300,000 of financial support to the Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB) so
they can provide financial capability classes, budgeting assistance and debt advice. The CAB dealt with 2967 debt enquiries, providing debt casework for complex cases and helping people challenge debts and file for bankruptcy.
LBI has provided £500,000 of financial support to Islington Law Centre (ILC) and £185,000
to Islington People’s Rights (IPR). Between June 2011 and June 2012 Islington Law Centre advised approximately 450 clients about debt and opened 208 new substantive cases about debt matters. IPR has provided welfare and debt telephone advice to up to 60 people a week and face to face casework support for up to 30 people a week.
LBI successfully bid for £959,200 from the Big Lottery Fund to improve the financial
confidence of young people living in social housing in Islington. The council and its partners will begin the programme in 2013.
Tackling loansharks and payday companies
LBI held a campaign to raise awareness of loansharking and the assistance available to its victims. The campaign, which involved our voluntary sector partners, used recovered proceeds of crime money to hire a shark mobile and to hand out leaflets at locations including Morrison’s on Holloway Road, the Andover Estate, Ambler Primary School and Iceland on Junction Road. Islington Councillors have been supporting MP Stella Creasy’s national campaign for
better regulation of payday loan companies.
Trading Standards investigated lenders operating or registered in the borough and have reported three suspected rogue credit brokers to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The OFT is now investigating these organisations.
LBI’s Trading Standard’s team and our partners operated a stall at a number of student Fresher’s Fairs throughout the borough to raise awareness of the dangers of payday loans.
The Credit Union held a demonstration outside payday loan shops to raise awareness of
the high cost of their credit. A number of Islington Councillors attended this
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demonstration. The Credit Union has also provided briefings to social workers to inform them about their services, so that staff can promote the Union to their clients.
The Illegal Moneylending Team is conducting a door-knocking campaign in partnership with LBI to raise awareness of loansharking and the help available.
The campaign is focused in parts of the borough with disproportionately high numbers of young single people who are more likely to be BME and disadvantaged, based on their assessment of groups most at risk of loan sharks.
Debt Management A series of debt consolidation pilots provided debt brokerage for residents who owed two or more debts to the council. The brokerage was designed to ensure that requests for repayments from residents took into account their other debts, and allowed residents to agree to a single payment which they could afford to make each month. The Credit Union has reduced the amount of time it takes members to access funds from
three days to the same day, making it more competitive in the payday loan market.
Membership of the Credit Union is on target to reach 4,380 by September (up from 2,866).
Debt brokerage assistance has been given to approximately 100 residents by the council
What more do we need to do?
LBI is also exploring using planning legislation and/or the Sustainable Communities Act to inhibit the opening of new payday loan shops through the closer scrutiny of “change of use” planning applications.
Proposals are being developed for a Resident Support Scheme to provide financial support for some residents in financial hardship or crisis, with the intention of putting more families on a more secure financial footing, without the need for high interest loans.
In partnership with the CAB, Registered Social Landlords (RSLs), City and Islington and other agencies in the borough, LBI will initiate a 3 year project in 2013 with £959,200 of Big Lottery Funding to improve the financial confidence of young people in Islington.
LBI is agreeing a package of financial support with Haringey Council for the London Capital Credit Union worth more than £1,000,000 in grants and loans. Both boroughs are developing processes that will use frontline services to recruit their residents as members of the Credit Union and all new council housing tenants will be encouraged to join the Union. Certain groups at high risk of debt problems will also be offered a one-off £40 incentive if they open a Credit Union account and make regular deposits. All Credit Union actions are expected to be implemented by October.
A new centralised team is being established to engage proactively with residents who owe two or more overdue debts across two or more council services. The team will assess resident's ability to pay, and ensure that repayment agreements are affordable. The project will also provide incentives and referral to advice agencies to help residents reduce their debts. This new service anticipates working with 1,000 residents struggling with indebtedness during the first year. The team will use the CARS debt management system that is currently being implemented. The system will allow staff to view all debts owed to the council by the resident.
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Recommendation 4: Employment
Employment for Islington’s residents is the best way to tackle poverty in the borough. Employers in Islington should, by means of legitimate positive action (such as advertising job opportunities in local media before national media) increase the proportion of local people they employ, especially among currently under- represented groups, such as disabled people. In the case of Islington Council this should mean increasing the proportion of Islington residents in its workforce from 23 per cent to 30 per cent by 2014.
Key actions Setting up a Single Employer Face (SEF) to get people into work The SEF focus is on getting workless parents and young people closer to the labour market and into work. The Business Employment Support Team (BEST) delivers this by working with key services that support those seeking work, such as Jobcentre Plus. BEST source job opportunities and enlist local businesses to deliver ‘employability’ support, including events in schools and community centres, work clubs, interview practice and mentoring. BEST has engaged with 126 businesses, generating:
606 paid (including 199 apprenticeship opportunities) and 161 unpaid employment opportunities.
179 paid (including 87 apprenticeships) and 43 unpaid positions were filled by Islington residents.
16 LBI apprenticeship positions have also been filled
Tackling worklessness among parents Islington Council and JobcentrePlus (JCP) have established a Parental Employment
Partnership (PEP) to provide tailored, co-ordinated support to workless parents.
The employment support team, Islington Working for Parents (IWP) and JCP now use a
shared PEP assessment tool – JCP have completed 806 assessments since February 2012 –
to identify barriers to employment and link parents to the services which address those
barriers.
IWP has provided personalised support to 666 Islington parents since July 2011. Since
July 2012 the team has focussed on supporting parents of younger children so that they find suitable employment before their youngest child reaches five, at which point their benefits would otherwise be reduced.
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Improving the skills of our residents The councils’ Adult and Community Learning (ACL) service and City and Islington College
(CANDI) have agreed a joint strategy for adult skills and have developed a joint curriculum
offer for unemployed residents which will be delivered from September 2012.
In April 2012 ACL merged with IWP creating Islington Learning and Working (ILW) to
orientate ACL’s work more towards employment. The majority of ACL’s over 2,700 learners
are unemployed – and over 1,000 are parents – so we provide our learners with CV writing
skills, interview skills and work experience opportunities to help move them towards work.
Between July 2011 and July 2012
ACL enrolled over 2,700 learners on a range of Skills for Life, ICT, Family Learning and
Employability courses, and is supporting learners in diverse ways to make progress
towards employment.
Recruiting local people
Islington Council actively targets local residents for work experience and apprenticeship opportunities in the council. Options for increasing the proportion of local staff have been looked at but are fraught with difficulty. There is a freeze on council recruitment, there are legal barriers to preferential treatment for local candidates and there are financial and practical barriers to incentivising existing employees to move to the borough. Nonetheless, by bringing more services in-house, the proportion of local residents directly employed by the council has increased. The Fair Islington work experience scheme has been launched with ambitions of providing 70 three-month work experience placements this year at the council for local people. Candidates receive mentoring and free training as part of their placement. Local employers, by engaging with the SEF and through other routes, continue to provide more opportunities for local people.
By July 2012, 27.5% of council staff were living in Islington (855 of 3,968), up from 22% in
March 2012 (681 out of 3,153). This is close to the 2014 target of 30%.
As part of the Fair Islington work experience scheme 2 people are completing their work
experience with the council and at least 7 more are about to be placed with the council .
What more do we need to do? The council has set itself the challenging target of reducing unemployment in Islington to
the London average of 12.6% by 2015.16.4% of our residents are on key out of work benefits compared with 12.6% in London and 12.2% nationally. This means around 1400 parents need to move into work over 2012-2015, 600 of these would need to be moved into work by council services, representing 200 parents per year between March 2012 and
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March 2015. We have set this target because we want to make a real impact on the high levels of worklessness in Islington.
Our focus will be on trying to move people into the employment opportunities that are available. Our data shows us that there are jobs in Islington, - currently 1.34 jobs per working age person are available including entry level work – and SEF’s success in generating opportunities show that there are businesses out there who are taking people on In partnership with JCP and ACL we need to make sure that our residents know what is out there and have the confidence to apply for opportunities, and have the skills to be successful when they apply.
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Recommendation 5: Jobs for young people
Employers in Islington should do more to support young people who are at risk of falling into the cycle of poverty. In particular they should support the new initiatives being developed to the end by Business Board including their programme of mentoring and work experience which will support young people into employment or training or help them to start with a business of their own.
Key actions
Launch of Youth Employment Strategy (YES) The Council launched a Youth Employment Strategy (YES) for tackling youth unemployment outlining two ambitious targets to be achieved by 2015. The YES outlined how this was to be achieved via the provision of high quality universal education, clear information on progression routes to work for 16-19 year olds and tailored activities/support for young people transitioning into work. We have set the following targets for increasing the number of young people in work:
to have 100% participation in learning by those aged 16-18 who live in Islington (Zero NEETs)
to halve youth unemployment among 18-24 year olds
Youth Employment Event In April 2012, the BEST organised ‘Ready to Work: A Fair Future for Islington’s Young
People’. This event, held at Linklaters, encouraged more businesses to tackle youth
unemployment in Islington by pledging support for specific initiatives.
The following has been achieved since April 2012:
Of the 71 businesses that attended, 66 made pledges
19 apprenticeship opportunities have been secured from those businesses ,along with 6
other paid positions
11 businesses will be offering work experience opportunities and 7 are considering
participation in the Business Works mentoring scheme.
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Providing opportunities for young people at the council There are 8 elected youth councillors (including a Youth Mayor), who represent young people in Islington by giving a voice to the issues that matter to them. The current youth councillors have set youth employment as one of their priorities, with a particular focus on:
Introducing conversations about employment earlier on in school
Ensuring 1:1 career support is available for young people
Making sure there are opportunities to access meaningful work experience
16 Islington young people have started apprenticeships with the council since January 2012.
Islington council won a London Councils apprenticeship award 2012 for ‘Best Work with supply chain to create apprenticeships’ and was also shortlisted for a ‘Best Manager’ award.
What more do we need to do? The council has deliberately set itself a challenging target of reducing youth unemployment to fewer than 1,000 by 2015 because we want to see a significant reduction in youth unemployment. The 2011/12 baseline for the number of people in Islington aged 18-24 claiming Jobseekers Allowance is 1,755. To meet this target we would need to get 255 young people (net) into work per year between March 2012 and March 2015. The YES strategy sets the direction for activity to meet these targets. Achieving the ambitions of the YES will require:
a strategy spanning provision to people through the 14-25 age range
use of intelligence, tracking of outcomes and design of services which joins up with the work of schools
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Recommendation 6: Corporate Social Responsibility
Islington Chamber of Commerce and its partners should develop a plan to promote the following important activities among businesses and charities in the borough, for example through a Fair Islington kitemark scheme:
Pay at least the London Living Wage to all staff
Have a pay differential of less than 1:20
Ensure access to both premises and opportunities for disabled people
Offer apprenticeships and/or paid internships
Offer work experience placements
Have employee representation on remuneration panels
Recognise trade unions
Offer family-friendly employment practices, including flexible and part-time working and job-sharing opportunities
Offer support for childcare, including childcare loans
Support workless people to prepare for the world of employment
Key Actions Recognising the contribution of businesses A breakfast meeting for Islington businesses, hosted by the Chamber of Commerce, explored the demand among businesses for a formal reward and recognition system such as a kitemark. The group of businesses felt that a recognition scheme should not be too onerous and it should also recognise the contributions that many businesses have already made. The council has taken the lead on this recommendation due to the limited capacity of the Chamber of Commerce. The BEST team has responsibility for working with businesses and developed a menu of
offers with a strong focus on how businesses can contribute to Islington. Examples include: providing interview sessions for lone parents, and paying the Living Wage.
The BEST team approach businesses about the employability agenda and have begun to introduce conversations about the Living Wage agenda where appropriate. Interpreting the CSR agenda widely allows businesses to be recognised regardless of the size of their contribution, for example, by adding in contribution to events such as school fairs. This should help SMEs get recognition and feel part of Islington’s fairness agenda.
There are now case studies of local businesses that have supported Islington communities and residents available on the website. For example, Browns brassiere at Angel, who contributed to the torch relay in Islington by providing breakfast for participants.
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What more do we need to do?
Islington will continue with a rolling programme of recognising businesses through publishing case studies of businesses on the Islington website every few months.
The Islington Business Board will host further events celebrating businesses that have contributed to the regeneration agenda
A review will be carried out before March 2013, to test out whether there is appetite to do something more substantial to recognise the contribution of businesses to the borough.
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Recommendation 7: First 21 months
There should be a major review, convened by the new Health and Wellbeing Board, of all public, private and voluntary sector activity in Islington to support parents, and parents-to-be, from the point of a child’s conception to his or her first birthday. In particular, this should look at significantly improving the coordination of services, especially those delivered by GPs, Midwives, Health Visitors and the Council.
Key actions Agreeing key actions for this programme of work Significant commitment and action from the Health and Wellbeing Board is driving progress on this recommendation. Achieving significant and appropriate changes to the commissioning and delivery of services requires careful planning. A high level steering group with director and consultant level representation from maternity, health visiting, children’s and health services was established in October 2011 and has met regularly since then to identify early actions and to develop an action plan outlining milestones and achievements. Two high level areas for action have been identified:
Improving communication and links between primary care and children’s centres.
GP forums have been hosted in three children centres in the borough, to inform GPs about the range of services available for families at childrens centres.
GP focused children’s centre promotional information has been developed that identifies what children’s centres are nearest to the GP practice and the activities provided at the centres that may be relevant to local GPs.
Providing more antenatal maternity care in the community (children’s centre)
A GP survey looking at the current level of antenatal provision and communications between maternity and children’s centres has taken place across all Islington General Practices. Together with other information sources and stakeholder interviews, this has given the programme the most comprehensive overview of maternity care in the community in Islington, how it works, and the opportunities to address gaps, make improvements and deliver efficiencies.
These results have shown that the maternity offer in children’s centres has developed considerably in recent years, highlighted examples of effective and innovative practice between services, and identified priority areas for attention, notably around communication and information. These directly inform the action plan described below.
Actions to continue to improve early access to maternity services.
Engaging stakeholders
A first 21 months stakeholder workshop has been held which brought together over 60 practitioners working in maternity and children’s services alongside parent representatives and other stakeholders to discuss how services for parents and children during the first 21
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months could be improved. Members from the workshop, including parent representatives, have subsequently formed an Advisory Group to develop the detailed action plan. The themes for action that emerged from the workshop were consistent with the areas identified in the IFC report as described in the section above, but emphasised particular actions and focus on key areas. The major themes that emerged from the workshop were:
Addressing social isolation and mental health: To reduce the mental health issues that can be caused and exacerbated by isolation after birth.
Children’s Centres visibility: To make more children’s centres more visible in the community and to professionals, particularly with GPs.
Integration and coordination of services: To provide a seamless offer that links all relevant services, particularly around transition points for families, recognising the particular importance of good and timely communication and early intervention.
Midwives and Health Visitors: To provide continuous, high quality care for parents and children, focused on prevention and early intervention.
Housing: the right housing for all parents and young families
What more do we need to do? The Advisory Group, which has representation from Public Health, Children’s Services, Children’s Centres, Midwifery, Health Visiting and Parent Representatives, has developed a detailed Action Plan which was agreed by the Health and Wellbeing Board at its meeting in September. This plan has three major parts, which will be supported through the commissioning plans of the Council and Islington Clinical Commissioning Group, as well as through the active involvement of stakeholders:
A programme of promotion and engagement with communities and services to encourage early access and promote the services and help available via children’s centres. This is covered by an overarching communications plan. This includes promoting early access to booking in maternity services, with targeted work with groups more likely to book late, including women from African communities and younger more disadvantaged women, and a range of ways to better promote the links between children’s centres and GPs.
Changes to how services link and work together. This covers actions to ensure that there are effective and timely communication links between the different services over this time period; putting into place shared care arrangements between maternity services in children’s centres with local GPs and ensuring that all women have the opportunity for at least part of their care in children’s centres to introduce the range of help and facilities available; improving the accessibility and offer for Healthy Start multi vitamins, including vitamin D; effective referral arrangements between GPs and children’s centres for families experiencing difficulties; and improving children’s centre links to housing advice/support and adult mental health services.
Local learning pilots to test out ways of delivering evidence-based best practice in early intervention, starting as part of maternity care, and supporting the promotion of strong social networks between parents and parents-to-be.
Addressing social isolation and mental health problems. Social isolation and mental
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health are viewed as a cross cutting theme across all of the above areas for action. The Healthy Children’s Centre initiative is leading work to improve access and links to adult mental health services and to identify the range of support services available to meet the different levels of mental health need across the first 21 months period.
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Recommendation 8: Affordable childcare
Islington Council and its partners should establish a local ‘Childcare Coalition’, involving schools, public sector organisations, the voluntary sector, for example Islington Childcare Trust, and employers to increase the amount of affordable childcare available in the borough, especially during school holidays. This should include, for example, protecting the extended schools offer despite cuts to its funding. The ‘Childcare Coalition’ should also work to persuade employers to support parents in working flexibly around childcare provision.
Key Actions Funding more childcare In June 2011 the council allocated £500,000 per annum of New Homes Bonus to make childcare more flexible and affordable. Considerable progress has been made in working with schools to preserve and develop after school childcare to meet the needs of working parents. We have also been able to support four holiday provisions being run by voluntary sector providers in partnership with schools. We have funded voluntary sector organisations to expand holiday childcare during Easter
and summer 2012, including piloting an extra extended day model up to 6.30/7.00pm.
Easter 2012 – two voluntary schemes expanded their offer
Four schemes are being run by the voluntary sector in partnership with specific primary schools
Summer 2012 - seven holiday schemes piloted extra extended day up to 6.30/7pm (previously 6pm). One voluntary sector scheme is offering extra places and another offering an extra week.
We have provided schools with match funding to increase after school provision
Six additional schools are offering after school childcare – 25 schools in total
230 additional after school places will be available from autumn 2012
Two schools are piloting after school extra extended day up to 6.30/7pm (previously 6pm)
Childcare for employment We have also expanded provision to those in greater need. The Schools Forum has
maintained £308,000 funding to add to the council’s additional funding of £345,000. The main emphasis of the new funding scheme is on providing childcare to support parents to work, and there are also discounts for siblings and disabled children and about 70 funded places for vulnerable children over 5 years old.
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The Childcare Coalition has supported the Parental Employment Partnership (between Jobcentre Plus and the council) which has designed a single application process for parents to access the council’s childcare bursary fund and JCP’s Flexible Support Fund to pay for the short-term cost of childcare as they seek or start work, take on volunteering or work placements or do training.
We have worked with JCP to support parents with childcare costs: April 2011 – July 2012, 107 bursaries have been awarded, to a total value of £69,000. The majority of these were for starting work or attending training or work experience. In 2011/12, £54,000 out of the £85,000 allocated was spent. In 2012/13 to date, £15,000 of the allocated £85,000 has been spent. In addition, we have awarded 19 discretionary payments (£1,500) to support parents to move closer to work (e.g. childcare or fares to attend job interviews).
Employers and childcare CCOL has also set up an Employer Engagement task group, which is supporting and encouraging local employers to embrace family-friendly, flexible working policy and practice. This work has included connecting employers to the council’s Family Information Service, which can help parents find suitable childcare. Advice on becoming a family friendly employer, to be available on the internet, is being developed in liaison with local businesses. Currently work has taken place with businesses in the Nag’s Head area. We have worked with employers to make employment opportunities work for parents: The
BEST team has had discussions with local employers which have led to the adjustment of the working hours of some of their job vacancies, volunteering and work experience placements to be more parent-friendly, for example at Waitrose and the Co-op.
What more do we need to do? Reducing child poverty by increasing parental employment remains a very high priority in Islington. Childcare continues to be the barrier to employment most frequently cited by parents. We therefore need to ensure that the resources of the council and its partners and associated policies remove this barrier for many more parents. Key actions in the next year are: Affordable and flexible childcare
Develop a strategy to ensure we can provide up to 1,400 additional free 15 hours childcare places for the most disadvantaged two year olds over the next two years.
Improve take-up of the childcare bursary.
Work with partners to pilot new approaches to childcare e.g. increasing affordability of au pairs or nannies, running a childcare cooperative
Over fives childcare via schools and the voluntary sector
Evaluate the extent to which out of school provision is enabling parental employment and other priorities.
Support primary schools to offer holiday provision in 2013, including in partnership with the voluntary sector, and continue to support the voluntary sector directly.
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Employer engagement:
Develop simple childcare resources/communications for employers e.g. webpages
Gather available data on the extent to which local employers are providing flexibility around childcare and report via the BEST monthly update
As part of engagement with local businesses the BEST team will ask them to consider whether they can offer flexible working suitable for parents
The Childcare Coalition will meet in October 2012 to review progress to date, its priorities up to March 2014, its programme of work up to summer 2013 and its membership.
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Recommendation 9: ‘Islington Reads’
A new community collaboration should be set up, organised by a partnership of public sector and voluntary sector organisations, to share reading skills across communities in Islington. This will help both children and adults to improve their literacy.
Key Actions Setting out a strategy to improve literacy Islington Reads brings together local communities, the voluntary and community sector, schools, children’s centres and statutory partners to raise levels of literacy across the borough. A strategy has been produced to support this initiative which focuses on five main areas:
Raising aspiration and achievement in children and young people through the promotion of reading
Promoting the benefits of reading to all Islington residents
Improving access to reading materials
Increasing the choice of reading materials
Supporting those who cannot read, or experience barriers to reading, to overcome them
The initial work involved mapping the current offer of reading promotion. To date, 48 separate initiatives for the promotion of reading, run or hosted by Islington Council, have been identified. These are being delivered through a network of 237 local schools, children’s centres, libraries, services and other organisations. All organisations providing reading activities and/or making books available are being flagged through the Families Directory which is maintained by Children’s Services. A brand has been developed that any organisation promoting reading, which is contributing towards the aims of the strategy, can use to become part of Islington Reads. The Islington Reads steering group continues to oversee the programme, ensuring that the strategy is implemented and that local activity is a coherent and efficient use of existing resources. Developed Islington Reads strategy, with launch events held at Platform in March and
Central Library, in partnership with Creative Islington, in June 2012.
Written the Education Library Service action plan covering work with schools, with a focus on volunteer reading help and sharing good practice. So far this has led to the setting up of a volunteer programme between Aquaterra and two schools in the borough.
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Actions to increase reading Held over 850 Baby Bounce and Under 5s story sessions in libraries, which have attracted
14,500 children
Organised Islington’s first Word Festival in May to promote and celebrate reading and writing across the borough; Word2012 had over 40 events with more than 40,000 participants and audiences
Increased the number of adults participating in this year’s Six Book Challenge which invites less confident adults to read six books and record details in a reading diary. Nearly 600 people took part, including over 300 at HMP Pentonville library.
Distributed 400 books at a Book give-away at Leisure Centres in partnership with Aquaterra
Participated in London City Read programme to commemorate Charles Dickens in April, with 31 events in libraries, schools and other venues.
Participated in events and workshops for the Pop-Up Festival of Stories in June with 25 sessions in local schools and libraries for 750 children.
Increased number of children participating in annual Premier League Reading Stars programme by 66% to 50.
Recruited 29 young volunteers to support children’s Summer Reading Challenge
What more do we need to do?
By April 2013 Islington Reads aims to have:
Undertaken two borough-wide festivals which promote reading
Increased the number of children finishing the Summer Reading Challenge
Increased the use of Books on Prescription and mood boosting books
Scoped provision for teenagers and older people, to complement existing activities.
Encouraged further partnership activities with local businesses, arts organisations and Trade Unions.
Recruited more volunteers to meet the growing demand from schools
Encouraged schools without volunteers helping children to read to start using volunteers in this way
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Recommendation 10: Giving time, giving money
Islington Giving should be supported to:
champion Islington’s needs and encourage residents and businesses to donate time and money to the campaign
continue its efforts to recruit, train and deploy 500+ new volunteers in the borough by 2014
establish a new ‘Good Neighbours’ scheme to reduce social isolation, particularly among older and disabled people, and build community spirit in the borough
Islington Council should, with Voluntary Action Islington, co-ordinate the valuable volunteering time it affords its employees, so that such efforts are targeted at Islington recipients in greatest need.
Key Actions Setting the agenda for volunteering in Islington A council task and finish group completed a review in November on volunteering in the borough and presented a series of recommendations on how to support volunteering, including rewarding volunteers, and broadening the range of volunteering opportunities. One of the recommendations was to set up an advisory group to provide a strategic overview of volunteering in the borough and engage partners and this group met for the first time in September. The council has set an ambitious target of 4,500 residents volunteering locally up to 2015
The council has awarded a three year contract for volunteer brokerage, at £55,000 per year, to FutureGov/Isledon Partnership. The contract is to deliver improved local volunteer arrangements with the aim of getting greater numbers of people involved in giving their time across the borough. FutureGov/Isledon Partnership have created a not for profit community interest company to deliver the new arrangements which will primarily be through the web. The new approach will be outreach focussed, and firmly aimed at engaging new audiences. Development work (including creating the new website) is underway and the new service will start in October 2012.
Volunteering in the community The council’s community chest programme, which is administered by Islington Giving on our behalf, together with independent programmes from Cripplegate and the Richard Cloudesley Foundation, fund volunteering activity within Islington. Voluntary Action Islington (VAI), Cripplegate and Islington Giving have put prospective volunteers in touch with opportunities, often in small community groups, including a substantial number of new BME organisations. As part of the service agreements between the council and voluntary organisations funded
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through the Islington Community Fund, groups have been asked to monitor and increase the use of volunteers. They will also engage with the new volunteering brokerage arrangements as a condition of funding. In December, Islington Giving and Help on Your Doorstep launched a pilot of a Good Neighbours scheme which reduces social isolation and builds social capital by offering peer to peer support and volunteering opportunities with people supporting each other with everyday living is on-going with a view to extending it for a further two years dependent on first year success.
Islington Giving and Cripplegate Foundation have connected over 300 people with
volunteering opportunities during 2011/12
A pilot is currently running for 40 residents as part of the Good Neighbours scheme
Encouraging council staff to volunteer Council staff volunteering has been revamped with good information for staff and a “Be part of a fairer Islington” campaign. Employees interested in volunteering have been linked with local community groups who needed help with things such as IT, communications and finance. A 'volunteering opportunity of the month' has been introduced to ICBulletin. We now have nine ambassadors to promote volunteering opportunities within each council department, and they use vacancies notified by the local voluntary sector to engage staff. Hundreds of volunteers from the council supported the torch ceremony and the opening and closing ceremonies.
Around 270 council employees donate through the payroll deduction system. They give
approximately £48,000 a year to different charities - both local and national.
In April 2012, the council received a silver award from the Government and Institute of Fundraising in recognition of its excellence in raising substantial sums for charities through employee payroll giving.
Out of 288 council employees who completed a recent staff survey, over half either volunteered, fundraised and/or donated money.
What more do we need to do?
Recently recruited volunteering champions in each department within the council will lead efforts to encourage people to volunteer. They will be attached to a community group and encourage fundraising for their group.
There will be more internal communications to promote staff volunteering. The staff survey which is being carried out in September and October 2012 will give us more information on the amount of volunteering that Islington employees do.
We will continue to work with employers in the borough to encourage their staff to get involved with local volunteering. Islington Giving will put infrastructure in place to support this, including setting up a new online system to enable residents to quickly and easily sign up to volunteering opportunities.
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Recommendation 11: Public space
Islington Council and partners should identify all unused communal space in Islington, especially on estates, to free it up, make it accessible and use it, following the example of successful projects such as Edible Islington and the London Orchard Project.
Key Actions Involving residents in choosing space to bring back into use Intensive work to support grass-roots activity has been carried out throughout the year, with great success. This work has included developing the infrastructure, funding streams and resources to support community projects and local engagement. Local communities, including existing resident groups have been actively engaged in working towards this recommendation. These groups have brought huge amounts of good will and volunteer time to the projects, and will help ensure that local space is better used and maintained. Consultations have been held with councillors, housing officers, Tenants and Residents Associations (TRAs) and residents to gather views on further potential projects. The projects range from bringing back into use a playground on the Girdlestone estate to converting a tarmac football pitch into a food growing area at Hilldrop Estate. A template Gardening Group Agreement and Food Growing Plot Agreement have been agreed for use across all Housing Area Offices to standardise practice across the borough.
Over 40 resident groups have been engaged in projects, and other groups and individuals
have been included in consultations to support the choice of projects.
42 under-used spaces on estates have been identified and assessed, and a programme for improving these areas has begun, with funding of between £20-000 and £200,000 per project.
8 new spaces have been brought into use already:
Highbury Quadrant: natural play space
Trecastle and Penderyn Way: natural play space and allotment space
Whittington Hospital: sensory garden
Hollins, McCall and Harvist estates: community food growing spaces
Rowstock Estate: community food growing spaces
Peregrine House: community food growing spaces
Increasing resident management of communal space Local residents groups have been given funding to maintain seven parks and three
tenants/residents association gardening groups at:
Landseer Gardens
Arlington Square
Canonbury Gardens
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Paradise Peace garden
Thornhill Bridge Community Garden
Penn Road Gardens
Barnsbury Square
1a Penn Road
Rowstock Gardens
Forest Court These groups have signed service level agreements with the council and are now maintaining the areas and receiving the contract payment in place of Enterprise, the council contractor which previously had that responsibility.. An additional four estate gardening clubs are currently deciding whether take on a similar role. A template Gardening Group Agreement and Food Growing Plot Agreement have been
agreed for use across all Area Housing Offices to standardise practice.
What more do we need to do? There will be a focus on increasing resident involvement in public space projects, by
building on the knowledge and engagement already gained, and on assisting small groups to develop their projects under the small grants programme. The council has ear-marked £50,000 for small grant funding and has identified 18 community projects to date who will be invited to apply in the autumn for up to £5,000. These projects include a water harvesting scheme, development of a food growing area and planting up the frontage of an estate.
The Housing Executive will make the final recommendations on which of the 42 major estate projects will go ahead at its meeting on November 2012.
The Housing service is also keen to give Gardening Groups similar levels of recognition and support, including financial support, to that of TRAs, and will be exploring options for doing this in the autumn.
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Recommendation 12: Anti-social behaviour
A single telephone number should be established for reporting antisocial behaviour, requiring collaboration between Housing Associations, Homes for Islington, Islington Police and the Council. This should improve residents’ experience when reporting antisocial behaviour and simplify the route to getting concerns addressed. The resulting coordinated response should enable a more effective and efficient approach to tackling antisocial behaviour, particularly on estates.
Key Actions Setting up a single ASB telephone The single telephone number for reporting ASB has been launched. It can be reached on 020 7527-7272 and operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It brings together expertise from community safety, noise patrol, estate management and other teams, supported by a new intelligence gathering unit and a new IT system to capture and analyse information. The successful launch of the ASB number has prepared the way for capturing better intelligence about ASB (in terms of victims, callers and perpetrators) which informs work by council teams and the police to understand and respond to specific types of ASB. Work has begun with Barnsbury Housing and Hyde Housing to explore where support is required by Registered Providers of Social Housing in addressing ASB. The single telephone number for reporting ASB went live at the start of February
From February to mid-September 2012 just over 8,000 calls were received on the ASB line. The most common complaints related to noise from neighbours and gatherings in public places. The high volume of calls indicates public demand for the service.
What more do we need to do?
We aim to create a shared ASB response service to improve co-ordination and to reduce costs across providers in the borough. We will use intelligence to support Registered Providers of Social Housing to understand ASB in their area, including who the victims, callers, perpetrators are. Building on initial meetings with Barnsbury Housing and Hyde Housing, the proposal is to develop a pilot to meet identified needs. The council then intends to learn from the pilot on how best to develop an 'offer' that Registered Providers of Social Housing would pay for, to help with the provision of a seamless ASB service across the borough.
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Recommendation 13: Fall-out from crime
Islington Council, together with its partners in Victim Support and Islington Police’s Safer Neighbourhoods Teams, should enhance the work done with individuals and communities that are victims of crime and antisocial behaviour to resolve local problems. This should include further work to implement restorative justice, acceptable behaviour contracts, community payback and reparation, and the return of the proceeds of crime.
Key Actions Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) constructively Victims of crime – both individuals and businesses – are being involved in the resolution of local problems such as shop lifting and neighbour disputes. Islington council has also encouraged Registered Providers of social housing (RPs) to make use of Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs) and provides support where required. Progress to date includes involving more RPs in the use of ABCs. Restorative justice procedures have also taken place to help support social landlords in resolving neighbour disputes. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has accepted Islington as one of only two pilot areas in
London for Neighbourhood Resolution Panels over a two year period from April 2012. A project group to oversee this initiative includes Victim Support and a representative from Highbury Magistrates Court.
Sanctions used to address ASB include: 29 Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs), 76 Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs), 3 dispersal orders, 11 drug closure orders, 1 premises closure order, 5 Responsible Dog Owner Agreements and a borough-wide Designated Public Place Order (DPPO). Of the 61 ABCs signed to date, 18 involved Registered Providers of housing, which represents an increase on last year’s figures.
Preventing young people from falling into crime and reducing re-offending There was a 69% increase in serious youth violence between April and June in 2011, compared to the same three months in 2010. This led to a range of initiatives designed to prevent young people from engaging in such activity, and working constructively with young offenders and those already in gangs. From April - July 2012 there were 58 serious youth violence offences compared to 116 in
the same period in 2011. This represents a 50% decrease and is a direct result of the interventions that have taken place.
Work to address gang activity has included a three day crackdown on gangs in Islington in February 2012 and Islington’s first gang call-in took place in April 2012, at which 14 gang members were encouraged to move away from crime. A gang call-on also took place involving six offenders from the EC1 area and mainly focussed on snatches, robberies and
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general ASB offences.
11 individuals linked to gang activity have had ASBOs secured against them this year. The orders prevent them from associating with each other and also ban them from estates, other residential areas and in some cases the whole borough.
Hackney, Haringey and Islington are also working together to address gang activity, including visiting schools impacted by gangs and collaborating on Safe and Secure, which is an emergency housing service to support people under threat from gangs. People at risk are placed outside of borough, now with support of police to manage the move. Two referrals have been made for this support already.
A new 18-24 transitions team was launched in Spring 2012 to bridge the gap between existing services for young people on the fringes of serious violence and gang activity or at risk of getting involved.
Support for victims Despite cuts to grant funding, the council has allocated more resources to providing
support to victims and witnesses, so that they can receive more support from the point of reporting a crime or incident through to trial.
What more do we need to do?
The priorities of this recommendation are built into core business for the police, the community safety team and other partners.
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Recommendation 14: Overcrowding
Planning policies and the Council’s new-build programme should prefer family-sized housing.
Tenancy audits should continue to establish the potential for down-sizing.
Islington Council should do even more to enhance its downsizing offer to under-occupiers. This could include three-way swaps; holding local swap meetings; ensuring a move happens within a year; getting people who have downsized to speak to people who are eligible to do so about the benefits; and offering a tailored package of support to help older people downsize from properties they can no longer manage (while making clear to those who may be concerned that evictions and forced transfers on these grounds are out of the question).
Each year the council should estimate the maximum potential number of under-occupation moves, based on the supply of smaller homes, and provide incentives and support to reach this maximum.
Reviews of allocation policies and lettings processes should ensure that priority for overcrowding is maintained and where possible increased
Key Actions Reducing under-occupation A tenancy audit has been undertaken to identify all under-occupied properties with two or more bedrooms and under-occupied households are being provided with information and advice on moving to a smaller property. The Council has also been working with housing associations to improve their tenancy auditing processes and their responses to under-occupancy. We are working on a pilot with the 15 biggest housing associations in the borough to help improve their practice in this area. The housing allocation scheme is currently being reviewed and, subject to the outcome of consultation and Executive approval later this year, it is expected that a revised scheme could be implemented in early 2013. The purpose of the review is wider than tackling overcrowding because it also has to take into account of the implications of the Localism Act and the new statutory guidance. A working group has been established to co-ordinate activity around the reduction in Housing Benefit for those who have one or more spare rooms in their home. Islington became the first council in the country to introduce a rent guarantee scheme for
tenants who downsize, ensuring families are not financially disadvantaged if they move.
3,000 under occupiers have been identified and 677 under occupiers are registered for downsizing.
Between April 2011 and June 2012 over 200 under-occupied properties have been released through down-sizing, and then were re-let to overcrowded households and other
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families who needed a larger home, including 87 three bed properties. This represents a 17% increase in the number of properties made available to families needing a bigger home.
Relieving overcrowding
A further 61 households were assisted to relieve their overcrowding while remaining in
their home, for example by getting adaptations to their home and space-saving furniture, between April 2011 and June 2012.
What more do we need to do? Islington Council continues to assist residents who are living in overcrowded
accommodation.
We are also rolling out a strategy for working with those under-occupied households of working age who could be adversely affected by housing benefit changes from April 2013. This includes options for home swaps and moves that can release some homes for larger families.
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Recommendation 15: Housing supply
Islington Council should strive to bring empty space into residential use by:
Eliminating empty space above shops through writing to all shop owners to discuss the opportunities and benefits and requiring relevant staff, for example Town Centre Managers, Trading Standards officers and Environmental Health officers to enquire about space above shops as part of their routine
Identifying empty space in commercial and office buildings for conversion for residential use, especially properties that have remained empty for some time and those that are in residential rather than commercial areas
The Council and Housing Associations should maximise their efforts to eliminate housing fraud and illegal sub-letting, so that social housing is used fairly, according to need.
The Council should work with Housing Associations to ensure a supply of genuinely affordable social housing and discourage rent levels that are out of reach of people on average or low incomes.
Key Actions Increasing supply of affordable homes
Registered Providers (RPs) and the council are working together to build 1,800 affordable homes by March 2014 and currently remain on target. The council enables partners to deliver affordable homes through various activities including the planning policy framework and making available sites for development.
The disposals framework has been in place since May 2012 and will enable agreed Council-
owned sites to be offered to housing associations with the principal objective of maximising the number of affordable homes, particularly for social rent, alongside improved community provision or other benefits for the wider community. The estimated value of the framework is up to £35,000,000 and will run for a period of four years up to April 2016. From the £3m of New Homes Bonus allocated for affordable housing the council has made provisional allocations of New Homes Bonus to housing association partners to secure delivery of social rented homes on four new affordable housing developments in the borough.
The council has also reviewed existing legal agreements relating to provision of affordable housing to ensure these will support our aim of maximising the availability of homes for social rent when granting planning consent for new developments in the borough. Last year, 817 units of new affordable homes were completed. 518 (63%) of these
properties were for social rent and the remaining 299 (37%) were sold on a shared ownership basis. Of the new social rented homes 99 (19%) were one bedroom, 217 (42%) two bedroom, and 202 (39%) three or more bedroom properties.
Six council new build developments were completed by August 2012, comprising 52 new
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homes that will provide housing for up to 264 people. These developments include those at the Elthorne Estate, Otley House (Gillespie Road), Graham Street, Holbrooke Court, and Seven Sisters Road. Of these 52 new homes, 2 have one bedroom, 26 have two bedrooms, 13 have three bedrooms, and 11 four or more bedrooms.
Building has started at Vulcan Way, the pilot scheme which uses market and shared ownership to help fund new homes for social rent. In addition, de-conversions and extensions are being supported through funding allocated for the New Build programme in order to make best use of existing social housing to meet priority housing needs, particularly by increasing the supply of family sized units.
30 properties have been sold on a shared ownership basis, resulting in an income of £836,250 to the council.
Bringing properties back into use The council has conducted an audit of empty properties in the borough to identify
properties that could be brought into residential use. There is now a database of empty properties and work is being undertaken to help bring these back into use. Champions have been appointed to act as a single point of contact within the council for all matters relating to empty properties.
The council’s tenancy audit is also being used to identify potential incidences of illegal
occupation. A sub regional telephone hotline for empty properties was stopped in 2011 due to issues of cost effectiveness. However, Islington has a specific e-mail address for residents to contact the Council identifying possible empty properties and calls from residents come through Contact Islington.
Islington Council, as the lead local authority for a North London partnership bid has been successful in securing funding from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) 2012-15 Empty Homes funding programme. Just over £1.3m was allocated to the sub-region of which £260,000 will enable 20 homes to be brought back into use and let at affordable rents in Islington.
In 2011/12 129 empty properties were brought back into use.
In 2011/12 143 illegally sublet properties were repossessed, of which 21 are properties owned by other social landlords
What more do we need to do? We will continue to use council owned assets to deliver new homes for social rent, to help
meet our new homes targets up to March 2014 and beyond. In September 2012 the Executive agreed recommendations in respect of the development options for housing at the site of the old Ashmount School, land around the Morelands School and the site of the former Richard Cloudesley School which, subject to the necessary consents, will mean new affordable homes are developed by the council and/or through housing association partners.
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Recommendation 16: Health inequalities
The new Health and Wellbeing Board should draw up a clear plan of action to address well-documented health inequalities in the borough. This plan should include targeted responses to populations in need, including preventive programmes tailored to the needs of deprived or excluded groups, such as people with learning difficulties or serious mental health problems, homeless people and older people.
Key Actions Agreeing priorities The Health and Wellbeing Board has been in existence in shadow form from October 2011, and has drawn on a wealth of expertise and evidence to inform its priorities and approach. The board has agreed a framework of health and wellbeing priorities that have been
signed off by Islington Council and the Islington Clinical Commissioning Group. The four overarching health and well-being priorities of this framework are:
Ensuring every child has the best start in life (First 21 Months initiative – see recommendation 7)
Preventing and managing long term conditions to extend both the length and quality of life and reduce health inequalities
Improving mental health and wellbeing.
Delivering high quality, efficient services within available resources.
Islington’s Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy is currently being developed. This will set out Islington’s approach to achieving its vision, through a focus on key outcomes, underpinned by priorities and actions. The strategy predominantly focuses on the health and social care related factors that influence people’s health and wellbeing. However it also recognises the importance of addressing the wider determinants of health and wellbeing, such as poverty and education, in securing better health and well-being for Islington residents.
Tackling health inequalities The Islington Health Inequalities Strategy is already in existence and much work is undertaken to embed the tackling of health inequalities into core work programmes. Health inequalities are tackled through short, medium and long term actions that operate at sufficient scale to make a change. Shorter term actions, such as those below need to be coupled with longer term sustained work around areas such as education and employment. Examples of work in Islington that currently take place to tackle health inequalities include: The NHS Health Checks programme: People who are at increased risk of cardiovascular
disease (CVD), including those from Black and minority ethnic communities, and people
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who live in the more deprived parts of the borough are being prioritised for an NHS Health Check, and benefit from the advice, support and interventions available to help them manage and reduce their risk of developing CVD. As the programme is rolled out fully in Islington, people with mental health problems and people with learning disabilities are two key groups that will also be prioritised for a NHS Health Check and support.
In Islington between April 2011 and March 2012, 10,747 Health Checks were offered to the eligible population. This was equivalent to 22% of the local eligible population and exceeded the national target of 18%. 69% of people took up the offer, and more deprived communities were more likely to take up the offer. This is likely to have been influenced by Islington NHS Health Checks community outreach programme, which aims to deliver health checks in outreach community locations, such as supermarkets, faith venues etc., and targeting locations with the highest levels of deprivation.
Bowel and lung cancer awareness: GP surgeries and social marketing campaigns are promoting increased awareness of the signs and symptoms of bowel and lung cancer, encouraging earlier presentation and increasing awareness and uptake of cancer screening programmes. Local analysis suggests that survival rates are no different among more deprived communities, however rates of lung and bowel cancer are higher in Islington’s more deprived communities. Consequently, these campaigns are targeted towards reaching people in the more deprived groups in the borough.
In March 2012, a new community engagement project began in Islington, focusing on lung cancer. Through this project, a wide range of community organisations have been supported to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of lung cancer amongst their respective communities, and to encourage people to seek advice from a health professional.
What more do we need to do?
The framework forms the starting point for the development of the full Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy and engagement on the priorities and underpinning strategies and programmes of work is underway. It is the intention that the consultation period, starting in September 2012, will allow the public, voluntary and community sector and statutory partners to provide feedback on the proposed actions and measures in the strategy.
A web based Evidence Hub is being developed for the borough that will house evidence, data, strategies, intelligence and policies to help share information across and within organisations, drive up quality and inform the development of commissioning plans and priorities.
The Health and Wellbeing Board will also continue to work through the priorities, using a series of planned away days to focus their attention on the key areas of commissioning and delivery that they as a Board can influence and ‘pull strings’ to bring about change.
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Recommendation 17: Children’s health
NHS Islington and Islington Council should:
support all schools in Islington to achieve ‘enhanced healthy schools’ status and all children’s centres to achieve ‘healthy children's centre’ status;
ensure every child has free vitamin drops up to the age of 5 years;
undertake an inequalities analysis of immunisation uptake, to ensure that effort to support this programme is adequately targeted; and
seek to reduce the number (or at least check the further proliferation) of fast food outlets near schools.
Key Actions Healthy schools and children’s centres The Healthy Schools and Healthy Children’s Centres programmes have continued to work with local organisations and support them in achieving this recognition, thereby improving their support for children and young people’s health and wellbeing. Specific work includes providing training to staff in each childrens’ centre on Islington’s health priorities and supporting schools’ personal, social and health education programmes on topics such as healthy eating and sex and relationships. More schools designated as Healthy Schools
40 out of Islington’s 61 schools (primary, secondary and special) and pupil referral units are recognised as Maintaining Healthy Schools, which indicates they have the foundation to support pupils’ health and wellbeing. A further 12 are working towards this recognition, having taken part in a review of their practice and developing work to address the gaps. Five schools have reached the second level as Enhancing Healthy Schools. The target is for at least nine more to achieve this level by the end of March 2013. The programme team has supported schools outside the Islington contract to improve their school food and meet the nutrient and school food standards. 11 schools are outside the Islington School Meals contract. Working in Environmental Health, the programme team have helped three schools outside the contract to meet full compliance in national standards, with a further seven expected to meet them by March 2013. All school and PRUs have been provided with new sex and relationship education (SRE) resources and we have provided intensive support to 17 primary schools, 1 pupil referral unit and 2 special school on their SRE programmes (including work with parents in 9 primary schools). Family Kitchen (in which parents and children learning to cook healthy meals together) continues successfully and a new resource book has been provided to all primary schools and children’s centres.
More Healthy Children’s Centres
Three centres have been recognised as a Healthy Children’s Centre and there is a target to recognise five more by March 2013. 15 of the 16 children’s centres have completed a
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self assessment of the Healthy Children’s Centre standards and are working on developed action plans to meet the needs of the local population. The Be Healthy Children’s Centre training has been developed to provide all staff with an understanding of the health issues affecting young children and their families. The training will help to ensure consistent advice is given to families and provide staff with knowledge of specialist agencies and how to enable families to access these services. Since this training was made available in January 2012, staff from ten children’s centres have been trained.
Child Immunisation
Immunisation uptake improving
Priority actions have continued to focus on increasing the rates of immunisation particularly pre-school MMR boosters. 89% of children had been immunised for MMR by March 2012, which is a 4% increase on the previous year.
Fast Food Outlets
Policies to restrict the opening of additional fast food outlets near schools are being taken forward through the statutory process. The proposed policies have been submitted for Independent Examination and, providing they are approved by the Planning Inspector, could be in place later this year or in early 2013.
What more do we need to do? The Healthy Schools and Healthy Children’s Centres programmes will continue to work with local organisations and support them in improving their practice and achieving this recognition. The Healthy Schools London programme is being launched in the autumn and Islington schools are in an excellent position to gain immediate recognition and become (at least) bronze level London Healthy Schools.
Future work on healthy schools and children’s centres includes: increasing high quality cooking skills lessons in primary schools; support and guidance on working with families and children and young people where there are concerns about weight; and training secondary aged pupils to deliver anti-smoking lessons in primary schools.
Childhood immunisations continue to be a priority as demonstrated by the financial commitment in the Islington Clinical Commissioning Group Investment Plan for 2012/13, which will help to take the action plan forward.
Promotional material that highlights the importance of childhood immunisations will be distributed to schools in the autumn and training is also provided through the Healthy Children’s Centre and Schools programmes to increase awareness of this agenda.
An action plan on childhood immunisations has been developed which includes plans to:
provide additional up to date training to a wide range of staff. improve access to services by holding additional immunisation clinics on weekends
and in selected children’s centres and health centres. improve data quality and accuracy, so that unimmunised children can be followed up
and offered any vaccines they have missed.
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If new planning policies are approved regarding fast food outlets, this will inform planning and licensing activity. In the meantime work is underway with the existing fast food outlets to ensure that they also provide healthier choices.
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Recommendation 18: Mental health
NHS Islington needs to increase the number of people accessing support for depression and anxiety, particularly with levels of unemployment rising and increasing financial hardship which will increase mental ill-health in the borough.
Key Actions Improving access to support
The main service for people suffering from depression, anxiety and other common mental health problems is iCope, which is Islington’s IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) service for adults. Access to iCope is increasing
There has been a continued annual increase in the number of people accessing the service, with 3,523 patients accessing the service in 2011/12, compared to 2,992 in 2010/11. The target for 2012/13 is for 3,610 new patients to access the service. In the first three months of this year, 827 new patients accessed the services.
Focus on hard to reach groups
The programme of Health Equity Audits, which assess whether the needs of under-represented groups are being met by the iCope service, is helping to ensure that initiatives improve uptake through effective targeting. The audits indicate that over the past 3 years the needs of under-represented groups in accessing talking therapies, such as men, people living in deprived communities and people from Black Caribbean groups, are being met. There is continuing need to improve the proportion of people from BME communities accessing the service. Older people are under-represented, too - this is an established pattern nationally, and it is believed that at least in part this relates to patient preference.
Specific work that has been undertaken to target hard to reach groups includes:
Feeling Good groups, which support people to manage their mood and build self-
confidence, with Older People and the Turkish community. Making the most of relationships with the Foundation Trust and its Changing Outcomes
Group, which focuses on engaging with BME communities, particularly men, to increase their contact with mental health services.
Pharmacy campaign that promoted the service to pharmacists, who then distribute leaflets to accompany prescriptions.
Recruitment of Mental Health Champions is increasing
Mental Health Champions help to promote, maintain and improve the mental health and well being of Islington’s population. By March 2012 there were 80 trained Mental Health Champions in the borough. Between April and June 2012 a further 10 Champions were trained, which met the target. They are working with groups and communities identified as with greatest need, including
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groups under-represented in local iCope services. The champions come from a wide range of organisations and networks including the Metropolitan Police, local Universities, Housing Associations and faith communities. In addition, from April 2011 to March 2012, 1012 people have attended a workshop or event designed to raise awareness around mental health interventions.
Promotion of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA)
MHFA trains participants to recognise the signs and symptoms of common mental health issues, provide help on a first aid basis and effectively signpost towards support services. In 2011/12 655 people were trained in MHFA and Youth MHFA, which exceeded the target of 625. The training has engaged with target groups including community leaders, faith leaders, youth justice workers and social workers. Links have been made with Pentonville Prison and tailored courses were delivered to the prison staff in September 2012.
What more do we need to do? These programmes will continue to support people at risk from poor mental health,
targeting those that have been identified through the equity audit.
Further work that contributes to this recommendation will be driven through the Health and Wellbeing Board under the overarching priority ‘Improving Mental Health and Wellbeing’.
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Recommendation 19: Exercise
Islington Council should:
negotiate with the Mayor of London and Transport for London to make it easier to cycle in Islington by getting the Barclays Bikes scheme extended further north into the borough, by encouraging people from all backgrounds to use it, and by getting the Freedom Pass and/or other concessions to work on it;
explore with schools, Aqua Terra and other relevant partners how to make it easier for local residents to use the excellent school sporting facilities, including swimming pools, we now have in the borough.
Islington GPs should use to the full their ability to prescribe exercise.
Key Actions Encouraging residents to exercise Exercise referral scheme
Exercise referrals from GPs are intended to encourage Islington residents to make lifestyle changes and improve their health. A new provider for this service - One Deep Breath / Arsenal Community - is in place and has been taking referrals since March 2012. From April – June 2012 1363 referrals have been made to Exercise on Referral services.
Pilot exercise programme for people surviving cancer
This programme has been commissioned from Aquaterra and receives referrals from secondary care and general practice. The pilot began in March and will run for approximately one year. Its aim is to provide supervised exercise for 100-150 patients.
Aquaterra leisure continue to deliver services in and out of leisure centres
There were more than 2.4 million visits to its services last year and over 50% of its memberships were from concessionary categories
Cycling projects have been introduced and continue to progress
1,751 Children and 741 adults have been trained in the Council’s cycling project. Two further estate-based projects have recently been commissioned and cycling will be included in the exercise on referral programme from this autumn
Lift, a healthy living youth hub, was launched in May 2012
This hub is operated by the Isledon partnership. It offers exercise and gym facilities, a range of classes for young people, and training opportunities to become fitness instructors.
Health camps introduced
Islington’s first non-residential summer camp, “School’s Out, Tummies in”, was delivered this summer for overweight children and young people. Two camps were run in summer
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2012 and two will be run this autumn, with a minimum target of 50 young people.
Improving the quality of and community access to sports facilities Improving St Marks Primary School’s sports facilities
The school has secured external funding and a commitment of £86,000 from Islington Council for its sports pitch. Planning permission has been granted and works are due to start on site in this coming academic year.
Refurbishment of Highbury Fields sports pitches
Highbury Fields pitches were refurbished in April/ May 2012, and this has already generated improved participation rates in informal play organised bookings and netball.
New Community Sports Officer
Cambridge Education and LBI leisure team have co-funded a Community Sports Officer post, starting in September 2012, to develop community use of school facilities and initiate sports programmes for local people.
Extending Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme The Council has on several occasions clearly expressed to Transport for London (TfL) and the Mayor of London its aspiration for the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme to be extended to cover the rest of the borough. Unfortunately, TfL have indicated no willingness to bring forward this desired expansion within their existing London-wide expansion plans for the scheme.
What more do we need to do? The current contract for the Exercise on Referral programme expires in November 2013.
Work is underway to begin the procurement process from March 2013.
The new Islington Physical Activity strategy 2012-2017 will be out for consultation during this period. The strategy aligns itself closely to the corporate and health priorities for Islington, demonstrating the role of physical activity in addressing obesity and improving health and well-being.
In December 2012 Islington Council will find out if a bid to Sport England for £20,000 to enable greater access to school sports facilities has been successful.