Decision details

The Lord Mayor used his discretion to alter the order of business to allow Motion 3 to be taken first.

 

The Lord Mayor advised that the notice of motion proposed by Councillor Bablin Molik and seconded by Councillor Joe Carter had been received for consideration and was included on the Summons for the meeting.  Two amendments had been received to the motion.

 

The Notice of Motion was proposed as follows:

 

The Council notes that:

 

• The ‘Trapped in a Bubble’ report estimates that 18% of people feel lonely ‘always’ or ‘often’.  This would equate to 62,000 people in Cardiff;
• loneliness can be experienced by people of all ages, ethnic backgrounds, abilities and sexual identities;
• whilst individual factors play a key role, community and societal factors can contribute to loneliness;
• research has found that lacking social connections and can be damaging to our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day;
• research commissioned by the Eden Project estimates the cost of social isolation and disconnected communities in Wales as £2.6 billion per annum;
• the third sector has a pivotal role in providing support services which help to address loneliness and isolation;
• investing in services to prevent loneliness will improve health and well-being and in the long term save money in health and social care budgets and society in general.

 

This Council calls on the Cabinet to:

 

Develop a strategy for tackling loneliness in Cardiff, with consideration given to:

 

• Close partnership with third sector organisations;
• a range of interventions currently being used elsewhere such as intergenerational living models, befriending services, social clubs and volunteering opportunities;
• using the council’s corporate landlord role to allow greater use of local authority facilities by groups that combat loneliness;
• encouraging schools, colleges and universities to create a culture of volunteering among their students so as to address the generational gap and encourage engagement and participation.

 

Amendment 1:  Proposed by Councillor Jayne Cowan

 

                         Seconded by Councillor David Walker

 

Addition of an additional opening sentence to read:

 

“The Prime Minister has recently appointed a Minister of Loneliness to tackle the social and health issues caused by social isolation, with a multi million pound fund”

 

Amendment of the Resolution with the addition of “bring a report back to full Council in September 2018 to” after This Council calls on the Cabinet to

 

Addition of two bullet points immediately after the amended resolution as follows:

 

• “reinstating the funding for luncheon clubs, whilst working with local Councillors , community groups and organisations to help set up new groups or resurrect ones which have closed’
• Acknowledging the good work undertaken by Good Neighbour Groups across Cardiff which serves many of our residents well.  Look to explore funding options to continue to grow the services they provide”.

 

The Motion as amended would read as follows:

 

The Prime Minister has recently appointed a Minster of Loneliness to tackle the social and health issues caused by social isolation, with a multi million pound fund.

 

The Council notes that:

 

• The ‘Trapped in a Bubbles’ report estimates that 18% of people feel lonely ‘always’ or ‘often’.  This would equate to 62,000 people in Cardiff;
• loneliness can be experienced by people of all ages, ethnic backgrounds, abilities and sexual identities;
• whilst individual factors play a key role, community and societal factors can contribute to loneliness;
• research has found that lacking social connections can be as damaging to our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day;
• research commissioned by the Eden Project estimates the cost of social isolation and disconnected communities in Wales as £2.6 billion per annum;
• the third sector has a pivotal role in providing support services which help to address loneliness and isolation;
• investing in services to prevent loneliness will improve health and well-being and in the long term save money in health and social care budgets and society in general.

 

The Council calls on the Cabinet to bring back to full Council by September 2018:

 

Develop a strategy for tackling loneliness in Cardiff with consideration given to:

 

• reinstating the funding for luncheon clubs, whilst working with local Councillors, community groups and organisations to help set up new groups or resurrect ones which have closed;
• acknowledge the good work undertaken by Good Neighbour Groups across Cardiff which serves many of our residents well.  Look to explore funding options to continue to grow the services they provide.
• close partnerships with third sector organisations;
• a range of interventions currently being used elsewhere such as inter-general living models, befriending services, social clubs and volunteering opportunities;
• using the Council’s Corporate Landlord role to allow greater use of local authority facilities by groups that combat loneliness;
• encouraging schools, colleges and universities to create a culture of volunteering among their students so as to address the generational gap and encourage engagement and participation.

 

Amendment 2:     Proposed by Councillor Susan Elsmore

 

                            Seconded by Councillor Lynda Thorne

 

Bullet Point 1 – second sentence after the words equate to add “about”

 

Bullet Point 2 – reword as follows:

 

• Loneliness can be experienced by anyone regardless of age, ethnicity, sexuality or ability;

 

Delete Bullet Point 3

 

Bullet Point 4 – first line after research delete has and replace with “shows”

 

Bullet Point 4 at the end of the sentence insert source (Holt-Lunstad 2015);

 

Bullet Point 6 – replace with “All sectors, including the third sector have a pivotal role in promoting and providing services which help to address loneliness and isolation;”

 

Bullet Point 7 – delete all after well-being

 

Delete all after This Council calls on Cabinet to: to bullet point 4 and replace with

 

Continue to develop and co-ordinate those strategies for tackling loneliness in Cardiff, including:

 

(i)            Support to older people and community groups to develop and deliver local solutions that counteract loneliness, for example the Day Opportunities Strategy;

 

(ii)           Work with communities across the generations to foster informal structures that enable people to participate in society on their own terms, for example Preventative Services, in partnership with Cardiff City Foundation, have for the second year running facilitated an intergenerational literacy project in partnership with four local primary schools and older people.

 

(iii)          Adult Services through Healthy and Active Partnership (HAP) commissions targeted interventions at preventing unnecessary entry into statutory health, or social care services or to prevent or delay an increase in existing care package intervention.  This is a volunteer based service which addresses the issue of social isolation and loneliness by encouraging and supporting individuals to access community facilities and activities of interest to them.

 

(iv)          Consider innovative ways to support community groups by encouraging the use of Council facilities, for example libraries and hubs for Well-being Wednesday;

 

The Motion as amended would read as follows:

 

This Council notes that:

 

• The Trapped in a Bubble report estimates that 18% of people feel lonely ‘always’ or ‘often’.  This would equate to about 62,000 people in Cardiff;
• Loneliness can be experienced by anyone regardless of age, ethnicity, sexuality or ability;
• Research shows that lacking social connections is as damaging to our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day (Holt-Lunstad, 2015);
• Research commissioned by the Eden Project estimates the cost of social isolation and disconnected communities in Wales as £2.6 billion per annum;
• All sectors, including the third sector, have a pivotal role in promoting and providing services which help to address loneliness and isolation;
• Investing in services to prevent loneliness will improve health and well-being.

 

The Council calls on the Cabinet to:

 

Continue to develop and co-ordinate those strategies for tackling loneliness in Cardiff, including:

 

(i)            Support to older people and community groups to develop and deliver local solutions that counteract loneliness, for example the Day Opportunities Strategy;

 

(ii)           Work with communities across the generations to foster informal structures that enable people to participate in society on their own terms, for example Preventative Services, in partnership with Cardiff City Foundation, have for the second year running facilitated an intergenerational literacy project in partnership with four local primary schools and older people;

 

(iii)           Adult Services through Healthy and Active Partnership (HAP) commissions targeted interventions at preventing unnecessary entry into statutory health, or social care services or to prevent or delay an increase in existing care package intervention.  This is a volunteer based service which addresses the issue of social isolation and loneliness by encouraging and supporting individuals to access community facilities and activities of interest to them;

 

(iv)          Consider innovative ways to support community groups by encouraging the use of Council facilities, for example libraries and hubs for Well-being Wednesdays;

 

(v)           Continue to encourage schools, colleges and universities to create a culture of volunteering among their students so as to address the generational gap and encourage engagement and participation.

 

The Lord Mayor invited debate on the motion.  At the conclusion of the debate the Lord Mayor invited Councillor Molik to sum up.  In summing up Councillor Molik advised that she would not accept either of the amendments.

 

The Lord Mayor moved to the votes as follows:

 

The Vote on Amendment 1 proposed by Councillor Cowan was LOST.

 

The Vote on Amendment 2 proposed by Councillor Elsmore was CARRIED.

 

The Substantive Motion would read as follows:

 

This Council notes that:

 

• The Trapped in a Bubble report estimates that 18% of people feel lonely ‘always’ or ‘often’.  This would equate to about 62,000 people in Cardiff;
• Loneliness can be experienced by anyone regardless of age, ethnicity, sexuality or ability;
• Research shows that lacking social connections is as damaging to our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day (Holt-Lunstad, 2015);
• Research commissioned by the Eden Project estimates the cost of social isolation and disconnected communities in Wales as £2.6 billion per annum;
• All sectors, including the third sector, have a pivotal role in promoting and providing services which help to address loneliness and isolation;
• Investing in services to prevent loneliness will improve health and well-being.

 

The Council calls on the Cabinet to:

 

Continue to develop and co-ordinate those strategies for tackling loneliness in Cardiff, including:

 

(i)            Support to older people and community groups to develop and deliver local solutions that counteract loneliness, for example the Day Opportunities Strategy;

 

(ii)          Work with communities across the generations to foster informal structures that enable people to participate in society on their own terms, for example Preventative Services, in partnership with Cardiff City Foundation, have for the second year running facilitated an intergenerational literacy project in partnership with four local primary schools and older people;

 

(iii)         Adult Services through Healthy and Active Partnership (HAP) commissions targeted interventions at preventing unnecessary entry into statutory health, or social care services or to prevent or delay an increase in existing care package intervention.  This is a volunteer based service which addresses the issue of social isolation and loneliness by encouraging and supporting individuals to access community facilities and activities of interest to them;

 

(iv)          Consider innovative ways to support community groups by encouraging the use of Council facilities, for example libraries and hubs for Well-being Wednesdays;

 

(v)           Continue to encourage schools, colleges and universities to create a culture of volunteering among their students so as to address the generational gap and encourage engagement and participation.

 

 

A vote was taken on the Substantive Motion.  The Substantive Motion was CARRIED.