Decision

1. 1

The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director of Public Health and Integrated Commissioning summarising the key points from this year’s Director of Public Health Report: “When Communities Lead” and the recommendations it made for Sheffield City Council and other economic anchor organisations to support, enable and open doors for collective action in the city.

The report included a summary of how the Public Health grant was spent in 2025/26 and the service’s response to an external, Peer Review undertaken in 2025 and provided the Strategy and Resources Committee high-level oversight of some of the service’s key activities over the previous year. The report outlined the main, closing message from the Director of Public Health Annual Report about the need to invest time and resource into culture change and organisational development based on the principles of community development.

The following members of the Voluntary, Community, Faith, and Social Enterprise sector attended the meeting to present and contribute to the discussion: Matt Dean (Zest); Olivier Tsemo (SADACCA); Imran Ali (Saalik Youth Project); Alexis Krachai (Chair of Gleadless Regeneration Board); Geraldine Houlton (Friends of Ellesmere Park); and Helen Steers (VAS).

1. 2

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Strategy and Resources Policy Committee:-

(a) endorses the 2025-2026 Annual Report of Greg Fell, Director of Public Health, “When Communities Lead”, set out in Appendix 3 of the report now submitted, and its recommendations for economic anchor organisations in the city, with a focus on supporting a culture change and organisation development initiative at Sheffield City Council, based on the principles of community development;

(b) reiterates the Council’s commitment to delivering the Communities Strategy, “helping to create welcoming, safe and healthy communities, in which everyone is able to contribute to city life and can influence and take action on the things that matter to them.”; and

(c) indicates the Committee’s support to the report launch event in November 2026, which will be the starting point for designing the culture change initiative.

1. 3

Reasons for Decision

1. 3.1

Thes DPH report celebrates the value of collective action for the health and wellbeing of Sheffielders and calls for Sheffield City Council and other system leaders to consider their role in creating opportunities, opening doors and removing barriers for communities to lead more in the city so that we can reach our City Goal of thriving communities.

1. 3.2

The report also builds on the Council’s Communities Strategy which highlights six behaviours the Council aspires to and emphasises the need to prioritise culture change and organisation development through a structured work programme.

1. 4

Alternatives Considered and Rejected

1. 4.1

The alternative was for the Council not to endorse the DPH report and to refuse to acknowledge the Council’s role in creating the conditions for communities to come together to take action on the things that mattered to them. This option was rejected because it was known that the Council could not and should not be all things to all people, and community-led action could have a huge impact on the health and happiness of the people of Sheffield.