The Health Improvement Partnership Board meeting included discussion of active travel, the cost of living, updates from Healthwatch Oxfordshire, performance reports, and a tobacco control strategy. The board was also scheduled to receive updates on strategic developments for active travel, and on Healthy Place Shaping Grants. In addition, the meeting included discussion of a new three-year Cost of Living programme from 2026/27 onwards.

Tobacco Control Strategy

The Health Improvement Partnership Board was scheduled to discuss the Oxfordshire Tobacco Control Alliance (OTCA) Strategy 2026-2030. The strategy's vision is to reduce smoking prevalence in Oxfordshire to less than 5% by 2030.

The strategy addresses health inequalities and aims to reduce smoking prevalence overall and across priority groups. It links to wider strategic priorities on prevention and health improvement.

The report pack states that the strategy was developed through a whole-system approach, led by the OTCA, and informed by:

• National Policy and Evidence
• Data Analysis
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Public Consultation
• Integration of Learning

The report pack also notes five strategic priorities:

• Preventing Uptake
• Supporting Smokers to Quit
• Creating Smokefree Environments
• Regulation and Enforcement
• Working in Partnership

The report pack states that a five-year action plan is being developed to deliver the priorities set out in the strategy, and that the action plan will be monitored annually and will be coordinated by the OTCA.

According to the report pack, adult smoking prevalence in Oxfordshire has fallen from 12.1% in 2020 to 7.5% in 2024, and that this compares favourably to the Southeast (9.4%) and England (10.4%).

The report pack also notes that disparities in smoking prevalence continue to be seen in key population groups, such as:

• Routine and manual occupations
• People living with a long-term mental health condition
• Smoking in pregnancy
• People who live in social housing

The report pack also states that all upper tier local authorities received funding to enhance and improve access to and awareness of local stop smoking services.

Cost of Living Programme

The Health Improvement Partnership Board was scheduled to discuss the Cost of Living programme, and to comment on outline proposals for the new three-year programme from 2026/27 onwards.

The Cost of Living programme is primarily funded by the government's Household Support Fund (HSF). Oxfordshire's HSF allocation for 2025/26 is £5.92 million, a reduction from £6.7 million in 2024/25. Oxfordshire's allocation from the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) for 2026/27 onwards is still to be confirmed.

The report pack states that key areas of expenditure and development of the programme include:

• Support for families with Free School Meal eligible children in school holidays
• Resident Support Scheme
• City and District Councils
• Supporting community organisations
• Out of Hospital Team
• Food co-operatives
• LIFT Dashboard

The report pack notes that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced that they will continue to provide funding for Cost of Living work for the rest of the Parliament, and next year's funding will be a three-year settlement. They are also reviewing the scope of the fund and have renamed it the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF).

The report pack states that a key change to the programme has been mooted, which would ensure that where crisis support is provided, then this is connected to an offer of what DWP are calling Resilience Support , which will be connected to a set of expected outcomes. DWP are also saying that they do not want to see blanket provision of crisis support, and specifically cite the provision of support to families of Free School Meal children as an example.

Active Travel and Healthy Place Shaping

The Health Improvement Partnership Board was scheduled to receive an update on strategic developments and direction for active travel, and on the Healthy Place Shaping (HPS) Grants delivering active travel initiatives across the City and District Councils.

The report pack states that Local Transport and Connectivity Plans (LTCP) are statutory documents required by central government, and that local authorities must produce these plans to set out a clear vision and strategy for transport planning over a 5-year period.

The LTCP is structured around 54 policies, organised into 12 thematic areas, one of which is 'walking and cycling'. The walking and cycling policy areas sets out 7 policies that aim to make walking and cycling safer, more convenient, and more attractive for residents and visitors.

The most important policy, policy 1, sets out a modal hierarchy (or road user hierarchy): this sets out how different modes of transport should be prioritised in planning and design. Walking, wheeling and cycling are placed at the top, followed by public and shared transport, with private cars at the bottom.

The LTCP policies are translated into a broader, more specific work programmes for each area to set out a plan for officers to achieve the policies. For walking and cycling, this work programme is set out in the Active Travel Strategy, which contains 79 actions organised into 13 areas.

The report pack lists active travel-related headline targets:

1. Increase the number of cycle trips per week in Oxfordshire to 1,000,000 by 2030.
2. Increase the percentage of journeys to work made by active modes.
3. Reduce carbon emissions from transport.

The Active Travel Strategy committed in 2022 to producing an LCWIP¹ for all major settlements in Oxfordshire, with a population above 10,000 by 2025.

The combined approved LCWIPs have identified a total of 1137 walking, cycling and walking and cycling schemes countywide, of which less than 10% have received funding.

The report pack also notes that Healthy Place Shaping (HPS) is both an approach and a programme of work, and that HPS principles need to inform policy and strategy but place based activity is also required to deliver tangible change to improve the building blocks of health.

The Healthy Place Shaping grant is revenue from the Public Health grant, totalling £450,000, split over 3 years and divided equally across the five City and District Council authorities. The grant runs between 2024 and 2027.

Performance Report

The Health Improvement Partnership Board was scheduled to receive a performance report to monitor progress on agreed outcome measures.

The Health Improvement Partnership Board has agreed to have oversight of delivery of two priorities (priorities 3 and 4) within Oxfordshire's Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2024-2030, and ensure appropriate action is taken by partner organisations to deliver the priorities and shared outcomes.

The indicators are grouped into the overarching priorities of:

• Healthy People, Healthy places
  • Healthy Weight
  • Smoke Free
  • Alcohol related harm
• Physical activity and Active Travel
  • Physical Activity
  • Active Travel
  • Mental Wellbeing

Healthwatch Oxfordshire

Robert Majilton, Healthwatch Oxfordshire Ambassador, was scheduled to present updates from Healthwatch Oxfordshire on topics relevant to the Board. No further information was available in the report pack.