Agenda item

Report of Corporate Director for People

Councillor Woodings, Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care and Health, introduced the report.

Matt Corder, Public Health Principal, presented the report and stated the following:

a)  the report requests approval to accept and spend funding of up to £2,726,075 over the 5 years 2024/25 to 2028/29 (up to £545,215 per annum) awarded to Nottingham City Council by the Department of Health and Social Care to support our stop smoking service and help more City residents stop smoking;

b)  the additional time-limited grant funding has been issued to all Local Authorities and the funding uplift for each area is based on the number of smokers in each local authority, thereby targeting local authorities with the most smokers;

c)  the government has already confirmed additional funding of £70 million a year for 5 years, from 2024/25 to 2028/29, and allocations will continue to be based on the average smoking prevalence over a 3-year period to ensure the allocations are based on the most robust and recent data;

d)  approval of the recommendations within the report will allow for the improvement, expansion and additional targeting of the support offered to smokers to quit over the next 5 years (2024-29).

Resolved to

(1)  approve receipt of additional Public Health Grant funding from the Department of Health and Social Care up to a total of £2,726,025 over a period of 5 years from 2024/25 to 2028/29 (up to £545,215 per annum);

(2)  delegate authority to the Director of Public Health to:

(a)  enter into Grant Agreements, under S31 of the Local Government Act 2003, with the Department of Health and Social Care for receipt of the grant funding as detailed in resolution (1) above:

(b)  spend the total grant on the ‘Integrated Wellbeing Service – smoking services and support contracts’, subject to compliance with grant conditions imposed under S31(4) of the Local Government Act 2003, and modification procedures under ‘Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023’;

(c)  enter into relevant contract modifications / variations for the ‘Integrated Wellbeing Service - smoking services and support contract’, in consultation with the Director for Legal and Governance / Head of Legal and Governance where sealing of a deed is necessary to give effect to the delegation.

Reasons for recommendations

a)  stop smoking services are funded through the ring-fenced Public Health Grant (PHG). The PHG funding is awarded under a s31 Local Government Act 2003 Grant Agreement and subject to grant conditions (s31(4)). The government’s command paper lays out the vision to create a smokefree generation unaffected by the extraordinary harms of addiction-driven smoking, and tackle youth vaping. This includes a programme of funding to support current smokers to quit smoking, with £70 million additional funding per year nationally for local stop smoking services and support;

b)  Smoking rates in Nottingham are the second highest in England with higher prevalence of smoking in pregnancy (13.4%), routine and manual workers (27.8%) and adults with mental health conditions (32.8%) when compared to the England average. Helping these individuals successfully quit is essential, the additional funding will therefore help target these groups and support these smokers through their quit journey;

c)  the new funding is in addition to the existingring-fenced Public Health Grant and will be provided through a new section 31 grant on top of the current public health grant allocations, in 2024/25 and annually thereafter until 2028/29;

d)  Department of Health and Social Care will provide the grant. The aim of this additional funding is to ensure there is a nationwide comprehensive offer to help people stop smoking across England and to increase the number of smokers engaging with effective interventions to quit smoking;

e)  this will be achieved by stimulating more quit attempts by providing more smokers with advice and swift support; linking smokers to the most effective interventions to quit; boosting existing behavioural support schemes designed to encourage smokers to quit (for example the ‘swap to stop’ scheme); building capacity in local areas to respond to increased demand; and strengthening partnerships in local healthcare systems;

f)  payments will be given to local authorities every 6 months. In the first 6 months, local authorities will receive 70% of their allocated financial year’s funding. They will then be expected to provide grant reporting to the DHSC grants team to receive the second payment;

g)  local authorities will receive the grant agreement in February 2024. This will provide authorities with the full grant conditions. Once received, authorities will be asked to read and return a signed copy. The grant agreement will start from 6 April 2024

h)  the key success indicators for the funding are:

·  number of recorded quit dates set per 100,000 smokers;

·  percentage of people engaging with services who successfully quit smoking (recorded quit rate);

·  number of recorded quits per 100,000 smokers.

i)  local authorities will need to report data throughout the life cycle of the grant. This will take place through 2 methods:

·  the Stop Smoking Services Collection is an existing data collection and reporting system used to monitor the delivery of local stop smoking interventions. NHS England collects the data from local authorities and there is a requirement to submit activity for each quarter;

·  NHS England publishes submission dates and local authorities can return activity and outcome data associated with quit support provided. The collection requires local authorities to submit cumulative counts of activity using a template, which can be requested from the Strategic Data Collection Service;

j)  starting from the second payment, local authorities will need to complete a statement of grant usage to the DHSC grants team, before they receive the next payment. The statement of grant usage will ask local authorities to provide the funding amount they received, their actual eligible spending, and a reason for any differences;

k)  over a 5-year period, grant conditions may be subject to change as are the activities required to meet local need. The recommendations outline a governance approach embedded in public health expertise to assure decision making and best value.

Other options considered

a)  to not accept the funding awarded - this is rejected as there is a significant health need in line with the aims of the grant. Not accepting the funding would mean the Council are unable to realise the benefits of expanding the local service offer and would disadvantage Nottingham residents in comparison to other areas in England.