On Tuesday night the first Healthy Communities Scrutiny Committee meeting since the election took place.

Since the days of the Health, Adult Social Care, Communities and Citizenship Committee, we have made a couple of changes.

The first being the name of the Committee.

Healthy Communities succinctly sums up what we are about – ensuring the health of the residents of Southwark is at the highest levels.

The Committee has responsibility for health, public health, adult social care, communities and leisure – although as you will see as you read further down, we encompass an even wider range of topics!

The second is the membership of the Committee.

Councillor David Noakes continues as Vice Chair of the Committee, and I am looking forward to another year of working closely together to deliver some great scrutiny reports.

We also welcome to the Committee, Councillor Jasmine Ali, Councillor Bill Williams, Councillor Kath Whittam, Councillor Paul Fleming and Councillor Maria Linforth-Hall.

All are a great asset to the committee and I am very excited about our programme of activity for the coming year.

In terms of the inquiries for the year, we are going to be considering three areas:

• Public Health Commission – a one day scrutiny into the Public Health function of the Council
• Personalisation & Safeguarding – looking into how personal budgets are working for our residents, and how we can make these even more effective
• Healthy Communities – aptly named after our committee, and looking into what affects the health of our communities, from our leisure facilities, transport services, community safety concerns, the financial health of the borough, and things affecting our physical health.

As the role of scrutiny grows ever more important, we also wanted to make sure that participation from Southwark residents and those with an interest in Southwark is recognised and encouraged.

We are going to be going out into our communities to speak to people about their experiences – look out for us at Community Councils and on your local high streets.

I am now working with the Committee to refine our Terms of Reference, and over the next couple of weeks we will be issuing calls for evidence to our inquiries. We look forward to receiving back responses from all over Southwark.

The next meeting of the Healthy Communities Scrutiny Committee will be on Wednesday 8 October.

— Posted by Councillor Rebecca Lury