Agenda item

Report of Committee and Scrutiny Officer.  Presenting to Cabinet the final report and recommendations of the Tackling Loneliness Task Group for consideration.

A report of the Committee and Scrutiny Officer was presented to Cabinet.  The Chair of the Tackling Loneliness Task Group, Councillor Bilqees Mauthoor, was in attendance for this item.

The Mayor welcomed the report and thanked Councillor Mauthoor.  She agreed with the recommendations that the website should be used more for signposting and that the council should also be telling residents about Herts Help.  The Mayor commended the best practice guidance recommendation as councillors were likely to meet residents who were vulnerable.  She also commented that the Safer Streets initiative recognised vulnerable people as part of their work.

Following a suggestion from Councillor Mauthoor that loneliness training was covered within safeguarding, Councillor Collett commented that the Member Development Group would be discussing safeguarding training including an e-learning module.  Councillor Collett also commended the work of the task group and stated that with regards to small grants the Watford and Three Rivers Trust (W3RT) had been asked to bring forward any applications which involved vulnerable groups and particularly groups which were less well known.  Following the work of the task group, councillors were more aware of the importance of working with local residents associations.  Councillor Collett gave an example of recent work by Safer Streets where ward councillors had been out with the police, WCH and the fire service during the snow and had identified some vulnerable people who would now be visited.  Their neighbours had also been made aware of them.

Councillor Taylor commented that recently there had been an e-mail from ward councillors during the snow to which a number of elderly residents had responded.  He supported the task group’s recommendations and felt there was more to be done to bring the work of charitable groups together.

Cabinet thanked Councillor Mauthoor and the Tackling Loneliness Task Group.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet agrees the Tackling Loneliness Task Group recommendations:

1.     To provide signposting to appropriate organisations for those experiencing loneliness, through the use of:

a.     A dedicated page on the council’s website

b.    Leaflets and publications from relevant organisations in the customer service centre at the Town Hall and in other council owned facilities e.g., community centres, Watford Museum and the leisure centres

c.     Information from external organisations displayed on community noticeboards.

2.     To provide training for councillors to help them to recognise and assist people vulnerable to loneliness in the course of their work in the local community.

3.     To provide best practice guidance for councillors – to be included as a downloadable document on the council’s intranet.

4.     That the Mayor writes to:

a.     HCC underlining the importance of tackling loneliness amongst Watford residents and encouraging them to ensure the issue remains a priority and is reflected in the allocation of resources

b.    The MP for Watford underlining the importance of tackling loneliness and encouraging him to take an active part in cross-party efforts to address the issue and to speak out on behalf of residents who may be affected.

5.     That the Mayor encourages councillors to be mindful of local organisations and events which attempt to tackle loneliness in their ward when allocating money from their Neighbourhood Locality Funds.

6.     That Cabinet notes the Task Group Chair is to write and encourage the Portfolio Holder for Community to be mindful of local organisations and events which attempt to tackle loneliness in Watford in their consideration of the council’s Small Grants Fund applications.