Agenda item

Report of the Acting Director of Public Health

The Board considered a report of Liz Gaulton, Acting Director of Public Health which provided an update on the progress made to tackle Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Coventry. The report also provided an update on the prevalence of FGM in the city and detailed progress against the recommendations endorsed by the City Council’s Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee at their meeting on 9^th September, 2015.

The report provided an explanation of FGM, detailed the reasons given for practising FGM and set out the background to the work being undertaken in Coventry to eradicate the practice.

Information was provided on the current position. The Board noted that data for FGM was limited both locally and nationally but the issue was being tackled nationally with the introduction of mandatory requirements for Healthcare Professionals to record FGM. It was estimated that 137,000 women and girls were living with FGM in the UK and that 60,000 girls aged 13 and under were at risk of FGM. A recent report by City University London and Equity now concerning FGM in England and Wales estimated Coventry had a rate of more than seven per 1,000. Between April 2015 and March 2016 there had been 65 women accessing UHCW midwifery services who had been affected by FGM.

The report provided police data showing FGM referrals for West Midlands which showed a high percentage of referrals for Coventry during 2014-16 which was probably due to the well-established referral processes and reporting procedures in the city.

The Board noted that in June 2015 the City Council’s Public Health team commissioned Coventry Haven (in partnership with CRASAC and Birmingham and Solihull Women’s Aid (BSWA)) to provide a specialist FGM service to tackle FGM in Coventry. This service was the main vehicle through which the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee’s recommendations were being delivered. The report provided a progress report on the actions undertaken in respect of these recommendations:

·  Preventing FGM from taking place by raising awareness and engaging with communities

·  Supporting professionals to identify and support girls and women at risk of or affected by FGM

·  Supporting victims of FGM throughout their lives

·  Building knowledge and intelligence.

The report indicated that a significant amount of the work to tackle FGM had been provided by Coventry Haven in partnership. The contract for this work was due to end on 31^st May, 2017 and there was no resource available to extend the contract beyond this date. However the service was designed to be self-sustaining through the recruitment of community champions.

Coventry’s work to tackle FGM had been highlighted regionally and nationally as an example of good practice and the evidence from the work was being incorporated into national policy.

The report detailed the measures to be implemented over the coming months to ensure the service’s work to engage with communities, train professionals and support women who have undergone FGM could be sustained beyond May 2017.

Members asked if there had been any convictions for FGM and expressed support for the new webapp ‘Petals’ developed by researchers at Coventry University to help protect young girls and women from FGM and their subsequent webapp ‘Petals for Professionals’.

RESOLVED that the progress update set out in section 5 of the report be noted.