The Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Policy, Performance and Public Health providing information regarding the current schedule of Contracts and Service Level Agreements currently managed by the Department of Public Health of the Wirral Primary Care Trust; sought agreement on the proposed transfer of this schedule of Contracts and Service Level Agreements to the Council on 1st April 2013; sought agreement for the contracts and service level agreements to run until 31st March 2014 in the first instance; and described the implications for the Council of the level of the ring-fenced Public Health Grant announced on 10th January 2013.

Councillor C.Jones, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health introduced the report which indicated that under the Health and Social Care Act, local authorities had been given new statutory duties across three ‘domains’ of public health, described in the Public Health Outcomes Framework. In brief, these duties cover the following elements:

• Health improvement – including reducing lifestyle related ill-health and

inequalities in health, and addressing the underlying determinants of health

• Health protection – including ensuring that comprehensive plans are in place

across the local authority, NHS and other agencies to respond to infectious

disease outbreaks and other public health emergencies

• Health service improvement – by providing NHS Commissioners, including

Clinical Commissioning Groups, with expert advice and support to improve and evaluate the quality and efficiency of health services.

The appendix attached to the report described the current schedule of contracts, formal NHS service level agreements and contract letters (58 separate forms in total) which were managed by the Department of Public Health. The Appendix indicated the nature of the contract, the name of the supplier/provider and it described in very broad terms the key element of the service, as described by the Public Health Outcomes Framework.

The schedule of contracts as described in Appendix 1 to the report formed the basis of the Transfer Order which would be signed by the Secretary of State for Health in March 2013. This transfer order would transfer these Contracts and Agreements along with the responsibility for the delivery of the Public Health Outcomes Framework from the Primary Care Trust to the Council. Wirral Borough Council was the contracting party on some of the contracts listed (numbers 11, 12, and 15 in the Appendix) and these would effectively cease when the transfer occurred though the funding for the service for the relevant period would remain in place.

The report sought agreement for the existing contracts and service level agreements to transfer from the Primary Care Trust to the Council, in their current form, for 12 months to the 31st of March 2014 in the first instance. During 2013-14, as the normal process of contract review is undertaken, the Council will be in a position to set future commissioning and procurement policy and approve future expenditure options in order to achieve the outcomes and duties described in the Public Health Outcomes Framework.

Councillor P.Davies welcomed the move of public health into local authorities and congratulated the Cabinet Member and the Director of Policy, Performance and Public Health on the work undertaken.

RESOLVED: That

(1)  the report be noted;

(2)   the transfer of the schedule of contracts and investments described in paragraphs 2.9 to 2.14 and detailed in Appendix One from the Primary Care Trust to the Council on the 1st of April be approved, in accordance with the Transfer Order of the Secretary of State for Health, and the current schedule of investments and contracted services for 2013-14 be mainatained in the first instance;

(3)   the proposal that the management of public health contracts from the 1st of April 2013 will be in accordance with the procedures and standing orders of the Council, under the direction of the Director of Policy, Performance and Public Health be approved.