What are the implications for urban health when Parliament resumes?
By Dr David Williams, Senior Project Manager TRUUD Project
On 17th July the King’s Speech, set out the Labour government priority areas for the coming sessions and some initial actions. Based on our research, three of the proposed bills for this Parliament could have a substantial impact on urban health. Here I outline the bills we will be watching with close interest to assess what they might mean for our research goals.
Image credit: House of Commons
The English Devolution Bill provides the opportunity to tackle the siloed departmentalism that exists in Whitehall that was explored through the ‘Shared Outcomes Fund’, a pilot for cross-governmental working as discussed in Dr Jack Newman’s Blog. The Bill will devolve powers to regional and local government, reducing the bureaucratic burden and enabling health and social issues to be tackled at the local level. Dr Newman’s blog identifies the challenges around funding mechanisms, institutional capacity, policy powers, accountability, and geographical footprint, and it is hoped that these issues will be addressed through this bill.
The Mental Health Bill with amend the Mental Health Act 1983, by increasing the thresholds for detaining people in hospital, and shortening the period that patients can be kept in detention for treatment, enabling people to remain in their homes and communities. This increases the importance of ensuring neighbourhoods are safe, supportive spaces, particularly for residents who are acutely mentally unwell, an area our doctoral candidate Cat Papastavrou Brooks, is researching through her thesis: “Understanding the Impact of Neighbourhood Violence as a Mental Health Determinant”. Cat’s research highlights that marginalized groups such as women, LGBTQIA* people, people of colour, and those with disabilities including mental health issues are disproportionally exposed to violence, harassment and abuse in their neighbourhoods. This abuse can have a significant impact on their mental health and ability to use public spaces (such as green space, which can improve mental wellbeing) through making already marginalized people scared to leave their homes.
It is hoped that the mental health act reform will come with increased community mental health provision to enable those with mental health issues to be supported in engaging with their neighbourhoods and communities and accessing the benefits to recovery that these can provide.
The Renters’ Rights Bill will provide renters with more security, by removing no fault evictions and extending building safety rules for social tenants. The new bill should help people trapped in unsuitable, or poorly maintained properties. Our videos show what it is like living in unhealthy places. This Bill may provides tenants with more opportunity to raise concerns, reducing their fear of eviction and the threat of being made homeless.
The TRUUD project team will continue to work with our partners help shape the delivery of schemes to promote better and fairer health outcomes through these and the other bills proposed in the King’s Speech and progressed through this parliamentary session.
