Agenda item

Report of the Chair, Councillor Caan and the Deputy Chair, Dr Sarah Raistrick, Coventry and Warwickshire CCGs

The Chair, Councillor Caan, introduced the report of Dr Sarah Raistrick, Coventry and Warwickshire CCGs which provided an update on the work of the Marmot Partnership Group in tackling health inequalities.

The report indicated that Coventry had been a Marmot City since 2013. Since this time, organisations across the city had committed to work together to reduce differences in health outcomes between the most affluent and most deprived areas of the city.

The work to embed tackling health inequalities in the Council had resulted in policies in all areas taking account of inequalities and setting out ways in which they would be addressed. It had influenced a number of areas of work, such as the Thrive at Work programme which helped employers to ensure the health and wellbeing of their workforce, a programme which had now been rolled out across the WMCA. It had also influenced the programme of the City of Culture, encouraging the placement of Creative teams in deprived areas of the city and in organisations which dealt with people at risk of inequalities, such as the Migrant & Refugee Centre. The principles of tackling health inequalities were embedded throughout the voluntary sector and had been included as an underlying value in the Anchor Alliance. The consideration of health inequalities had been embedded in all major decisions and policies across the Council.

The Board noted that Coventry had received nationwide recognition for its achievements as a Marmot City and had been approached by many other local authorities from across the country, and in some cases, from other countries, to learn from the city’s experience. Coventry had maintained effective relationships with the Institute of Health Equity and Sir Michael Marmot, who continued to hold Coventry up as a positive example for its continued work.

At the Board’s meeting on 25^th January 2021 the intention to launch a system-wide Call to Action to encourage all businesses and organisations across Coventry to take action to help address health inequalities was outlined. This was as a result of the expectation of worsening of health inequalities following the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, the Call to Action had been expanded to cover Warwickshire as well as Coventry, with an aligned approach rather than directly integrating the programmes.

An initial event was held in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce, headlined by Sir Michael Marmot and Sir Chris Ham, to promote the Call to Action to private sector businesses and encourage them to take one or two actions. The options for actions were set out in the report. Although the feedback from the event was positive, there had not been resultant actions from businesses. As a consequence, there had been a move to increase awareness raising to help the private sector to understand more about addressing health inequalities and why it should matter to them. Articles were to be disseminated through the business-facing intermediaries, including the Growth Hub and Chamber of Commerce. Work was ongoing with these organisations to help spread the word about the Call to Action. A website has been set up and resources were being developed to help businesses with some of the actions, such as template documents and signposting to good practice.

Discussions were also ongoing with the voluntary sector with a view to creating a network for VCSE organisations to join and work with the Marmot Partnership in specific ways. The aim of the network was to provide intelligence, share information and inform actions that could be delivered in partnership to tackle health inequalities, whilst informing key issues that could be discussed at the Marmot meetings and explored further.

Members of the Board were asked to consider how their organisations could actively contribute to the Call for Action.

The report informed that, in recognition of on-going inequalities in Coventry which were likely to worsen as a result of Covid-19, tackling health inequalities would be embedded as a key priority within the One Coventry Partnership. This would enable strategic oversight of the Marmot work to ensure that it remained focused and added value through the One Coventry Partnership Board. The Marmot Group would continue to report into the Health and Wellbeing Board, acknowledging the importance of addressing health inequalities as set out in the Health and Wellbeing Strategy. It was also the intention to create the role of Marmot champions. Marmot work was also to be embedded in the One Coventry Council Plan. Additional information was provided on other next steps.

A concern was raised about members of the public not being aware of the Marmot work and it was suggested that Sir Michael Marmot be invited back to Coventry to help raise awareness of the City’s status as a Marmot City and all that this entailed.

RESOLVED that:

1) The work of the Marmot Partnership in tackling inequalities across the city be supported.

2) Members actively support the Call to Action through making a commitment to take on one or two of the suggested actions.