I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request information about the steps Wokingham Council is taking to comply with the National Institute of Clinical Excellence's (NICE) Guideline NG6 on Excess winter deaths and illness and the health risks associated with cold homes.

1. What steps is your local authority Health & Wellbeing Board taking to meet Recommendation 1: Develop a strategy
Wokingham Borough Council published their Health and Wellbeing Board Strategy in 2021, the strategy spans five years.
Our Cost-of-Living Crisis response builds on our Tackling Poverty Strategy 2022-2026 with a silver taskforce coproducing the response with our voluntary/community sector and partners including initiatives such as warm spaces, cold homes, fuel poverty, household grants and a universal and targeted response to those at most risk.

2. What steps is your local authority Health & Wellbeing Board taking to meet Recommendation 2: Identify a point of contact (health and housing referral service) for people living in cold homes.
The Silver taskforce is chaired by the Chief Operations Officer who reports directly to the Chief Executives Officer. The taskforce consists of representatives across all directorates (Housing / Public Health Adult Social Care/Children’s services/Voluntary and Community Sector/ Business/Finance.)
One front door service and Citizen’s advice operate a central point of contact for advice information and signposting to all residents. This referral process links to cold homes initiatives/grants and funding.

3. Could you please provide a copy of your local authority Joint Strategic Needs Assessment
Please find here the link to the JSNA for Wokingham Borough here: https://wokingham.berkshireobservatory.co.uk/