Minding the Gap News Brief No1

							Welcome to Minding the Gap News                                                24 February 2012
brief


Dear Councillor ,

In your role as a local Councillor you may have attended seminars or received help within your
authority from the Local Government Regional Capacity Building Programme ‘Minding the
Gap’.

I am writing to inform you that the Programme Manager, Geoff Ainsley, retired from his post in
December 2011 and to introduce, Ian Copley, Project Co-ordinator.

For those of you who are newly elected or/and not aware, Minding the Gap was partly funded
by the Department of Health, partly by the Local Government Association and has also carried
out work that was funded by the Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership (RIEP).

The key aim of the Programme is to help all the Local Authorities in the region strengthen their
capacity and have a better impact on health inequalities. With the Health and Social Bill likely
to place the responsibility for public health back with local authorities, this is a key time for all
elected members to refresh their knowledge and skills in relation to improving and protecting
the health and well being of their ward members.

Minding the Gap would like to facilitate the sharing of good practice and help councillors
maintain a good understanding of the role of both themselves and their Local Authority. One of
the ways we propose to do this is by scanning the plethora of guidance that is produced and
providing a highlighted report to you. This will be in the form of News brief (the first one will
follow this letter). Clear links will be contained within the News brief to the original article should
you wish to gain further information

I trust you will find this a useful addition to your reading material.

For further information about the project, or anything you wish to comment on relating or any of
these items contact the Project Co-ordinator Ian Copley, details below or just reply to this
message.

If you’d like to remove yourself from the newsletter distribution list please reply to this message with
UNSUBSCRIBE as the subject of your message.


Sincerely,
Ian Copley
Project Co-ordinator



Local Government Improvement and Development Agency

Must-knows on health and wellbeing
Councils can have a tremendous impact on health – through sports, open space, housing,
planning, social care and a range of other services. However many members are largely
unfamiliar with the territory of health services. They will increasingly be required to get involved,
particularly through the new health and wellbeing boards. These 20 ‘must knows’ are designed
to provide the key information members need, in bite size chunks.

Guidance



Health and Social Bill

Health and Social Bill Explained
The Department of health has published a series of Factsheets on the Health and Social Care
Bill to explain particular topics contained in the Bill, including its key themes. Please see link for
further information.

Health and Social Care Bill explained



First estimates of funding in new health structure

What this means for Public Health and Local Authorities
The Department of Health has issued an estimate of how funding will be distributed in the new
health system, including to Clinical Commissioning Groups and to local authorities for their new
public health responsibilities.

Click here for further detail



If you have any queries around submitting an article for the Minding the Gap News brief
please contact
Ian Copley
Project Co-ordinator
Minding the Gap
Joint Public Health Unit
82 Batley Road
Wakefield
WF2 0AE
Tel: 01924 305632
E-mail: icopley@wakefield.gov.uk