Agenda item

Gurjeet Rajania (Public Health Intelligence Analyst, Leicester City Council) and Rob Howard (Consultant in Public Health, Leicester City Council) will present a summary of the key findings from the recent Children and Young People’s Health and Wellbeing Survey.

Gurjeet Rajania (Public Health Intelligence Analyst, Leicester City Council), gave a presentation on the key findings of the recent Children and Young People’s Health and Wellbeing Survey, it was noted that:

·         The survey was completed in the academic year 2021/22, this followed up from a previous survey in 2016/17. The survey was completed by a national organisation (School Health Education Unit) specialising in surveys of children and young people.

·         This was a sample survey of children Leicester City as schools aged 10-15. A fair spread of primary, secondary, and special schools across the city were represented in the survey and a quarter of the eligible target group participated in the survey. Each participating school got its own bespoke report.

·         Around 2 in 5 children reported skipping at least 1 meal the day before, with the most common skipped meal being breakfast. 1 in 5 reported having 5 fruit and veg portions a day.

·         Around 1 in 5 reported worrying about having enough food to eat.

·         Around a third of participants reported having read a book for pleasure.

·         1 in 5 reported having some kind of caring responsibility after school, a significant increase from pre-pandemic.

·         39% reported going to bed later than recommended, it was found that this group were significantly less likely to have breakfast.

·         73% reported being happy in their local area, 95% reported feeling safe in their local area.

·         17% reported having tried alcohol at some point, and 9% reported having tried drugs at some point. Those who had parents or carers who smoked were much more likely to have tried smoking themselves.

·         The most common worry participants reported having was around school work. Those with caring responsibilities were found to have higher rates of worrying about most issues listed.

·         Those with no adult confidant reported being significantly worse at dealing emotionally with things going wrong.

·         Those with SEN were found to be in a good mood significantly less of the time.

·         1 in 10 participants were found to have poor mental health based on the Stirling Children’s Wellbeing Scale. This group was far more likely to not have all 3 meals in a day, not have a trusted adult, and have worse sleep habits.

·         The aim of the survey was to use the findings to inform as wide range of services as possible across various relevant bodies.

Members of the Board commented that:

·         While there was concerning information in the findings related to issues like mental health and trusted adults, there was cause to be optimistic as the findings would help to target intervention.

·         With regard to allowing children and young people to build relationships with trusted adults. It was suggested that there should be more stability in terms of the adults that were around in those settings and that this should be considered when staff rotas were planned.

·         A more easily publicly accessible version of the findings should be available. The Chair asked Officers to consider this.

·         The drop in the level of sports take up from 14 onwards was concerning.

·         The concerns about challenges in the west of the city were felt across services.

·         There was concern that despite good intentions, young people could be overexposed to mental health issues through awareness work which could make it worse. It was suggested that more nuance was required in conversations around mental health with young people.

·         It was important when considering implementing changes based on these findings that a top-down approach was avoided, and that work should be undertaken to produce organic change.

In response to questions from Members of the Board it was noted that:

·         The caring responsibility question in this survey covered broader caring responsibilities such as babysitting. School census data showed a much smaller number had formal caring responsibilities. Members of the Board stated that it was positive that those wider responsibilities were captured in this survey.

·         An example of actions that arose from the previous survey in 2016/17 was the Holiday Hunger Programme which arose from concerns about food sufficiency from the survey findings. It was hoped that this set of data would be circulated much wider across various organisations to lead to system-wide change. 

RESOLVED:

1.    That the Board thanks Officers for the presentation and asks them to take Members comments into account.

2.    That the Board requests that Officers consider ways to make the data from the survey more available to the public.

3.    That the Board requests that Officers from all services and partners consider the findings of the survey and how to adjust services accordingly.