This meeting has several items on the agenda to be discussed, including how to improve physical activity, SEND provision, public mental health services, and the Youth Justice Service.

Improving Participation in Physical Activity

The Communities Keeping Well scheme is a project run by Tower Hamlets Council's Public Health team in eight areas of the borough where people are at higher risk of developing a long-term condition like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The project aims to help people living in those areas improve their health and wellbeing, reducing their risk of illness by:

Building communities’ strengths, through connecting people.

The project has so far engaged over 850 residents and 100 stakeholders from local organisations who have identified a variety of priorities including tackling loneliness, encouraging physical activity, supporting healthy eating, improving mental wellbeing, providing support and activities for children and young people, and helping people cope with the cost of living.

The Communities Keeping Well scheme has provided funding for 65 resident-led projects in the eight areas which will be starting in April. The meeting will discuss how organisations represented on the board can support those resident-led projects.

Improving SEND Provision

The report pack includes a SEND Self-Evaluation, prepared for an upcoming inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission, that sets out the current state of SEND provision for children and young people in Tower Hamlets. Tower Hamlets Council's vision for SEND provision is:

A child-friendly borough where children and young people from all backgrounds thrive, are listened to, achieve their best, and have opportunities.

The report sets out Tower Hamlets' six priorities for SEND, and how the borough's provision is performing against each of them. The Self-Evaluation reviews the progress made against the recommendations of the last inspection in 2021, and describes the steps the council is taking to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND before the next inspection, which is expected between May and December 2025.

Improving Public Mental Health

There are three items on the agenda about public mental health.

Adult Mental Health Needs Assessment

The report pack includes a report on plans for an Adult Mental Health Needs Assessment that will be used to inform a refresh of Tower Hamlets Council's Adult Mental Health Strategy. The needs assessment will seek to answer four questions:

• What is the level of MH need in our population?

• What does the evidence say should be in place to meet this need?

• What is in place in Tower Hamlets (nb this will not cover a detailed evaluation)

• What are the gaps and recommendations

The report pack describes the process that will be used to gather information for the needs assessment, including the data sources and the qualitative engagement planned. The final report is expected to be published between August and October 2025, and the new Adult Mental Health Strategy will be finalised between November 2025 and January 2026.

Suicide Prevention

The Suicide Prevention Steering Group has revised its Terms of Reference to better reflect the group's aims, ensure that it has an appropriate membership, and to focus its activities. The group is a partnership of organisations including Tower Hamlets Council, local NHS trusts, voluntary sector organisations, the Metropolitan Police, and Queen Mary University London. The steering group will produce an annual report to be considered by the Health and Wellbeing Board that will describe the suicide prevention work taking place in the borough. The steering group has decided to identify three priority areas for its work each year. This year the priority areas will be:

• Communications and information sharing.
• Support and processes in A&E.
• Data collection and analysis.

Mental Health Prevention Concordat

Tower Hamlets Council has committed to becoming a signatory to the Prevention Concordat for Better Mental Health. This is a Department of Health and Social Care scheme that encourages organisations across the country to work together to prevent mental illness and promote good mental health. Tower Hamlets Partnership Executive Group, which oversees the work of the Tower Hamlets Partnership, has produced an Action Plan setting out the steps it will take to promote better mental health across the borough.

Youth Justice

The report pack includes a progress report on the work of the Youth Justice Strategic Plan 2024-25, which sets out the Youth Justice Service's four priorities:

• Priority 1: Child First: Embedding a Child First approach in every aspect of the Youth Justice Partnership.
• Priority 2: Consistently Good Practice: Continuous raising of practice standards which achieves improved outcomes for children.
• Priority 3: YJS Health Offer: Coordinated access and intervention to universal and specialist health provision to meet children’s holistic health and wellbeing needs.
• Priority 4: Post 16 Education Offer: Increasing children’s participation in post 16 education, training and employment which support children’s aspirations, desistance and safety.

The progress report describes the work the Youth Justice Service has been doing during the past year, reviews its performance, and describes its plans for the forthcoming year. The report includes a wealth of information about the characteristics of children known to the Youth Justice Service, the offences those children commit, and the work the service is doing to prevent offending.