Out and about with Louise: strengthening our approach to policy (part 2)

Recognising the importance to our members, 2024 has started with a focus on strengthening our approach to policy alongside a busy schedule of meetings and events.

Safety, Health & Wellbeing Live, Manchester

I met CIEH members at Safety, Health & Wellbeing (SHW) Live in Manchester including Advisory Panel members Andrew Foster and Graeme Snell. I was on stage twice talking to a varied audience about how EH joins the dots across all aspects of health both in work and out, how we bring value in respect of what we do and the broader concepts of social sustainability to create a more integrated approach to nature, environment, people and finance. I was also on a panel talking about inclusion. It was a great opportunity to meet with colleagues and members from IOSH too who were all keen to know more about EH and CIEH.

London Strategic Regulatory Network and EH Wales

We had a great networking event in the City of London where I met leaders from EH, Trading Standards and Licensing. There were some great quick-fire sessions from leaders, and I presented a CIEH update outlining our strategic objectives for 2024 and beyond. It really does make a difference to meet people in person.

I gave a similar update to Environmental Health Wales with Jon Buttolph.

Sustainable Reporting Summit

At the end of January I participated in an event primarily attended by delegates working in sustainable financial reporting. Why is this important to EH I hear you ask? Business is highly focused on corporate risks associated with climate change. They are also looking at social equity and reputational risks. EH is the only field of work which effectively joins the dots across all aspects of health. If we can understand more about financial drivers, it will enhance our ability to influence change and seek funding for what we do. Some great work is being undertaken in different areas of EH in this regard and we are keen to understand this more so we can enhance our influence with policy makers to make a stronger case for investment in EH.

Port Health Event – City of London

I was honoured to accept an invitation to the City of London Port Health dinner hosted by the Chair of the Port Health and Environmental Services Committee. This was a great opportunity to meet EHPs and councillors working in the City of London. As we bring online the new Port Health Advisory Panel we will be looking at how we can create greater visibility for the work of our members in respect of this area

ISO45006 – Control of Infectious Disease

At the start of February I recorded a webinar with BSI introducing this new standard which is designed to support organisations to manage infectious disease. We all learnt a lot from Covid-19 and this develops many of the lessons learnt. We'll share the link for the recording when it's available. 

Housing

At the start of February we were delighted that hard work from the CIEH policy team working with members of our Housing Advisory Panel came to a head when the Government made a dramatic U-turn to exempt HMOs occupied by asylum seekers from licensing and therefore decent standards. We worked with AP members and our press release was picked up by national media and trade publications. On the same day I attended MLPAG with Chair Zena Lynch who contributed to these efforts, so it was a great lead in to talk about the phenomenal work of the policy team. Zena has also recently written a blog reflecting on her experience, a recommended read. 

Smarter Regulation

In the run up to Christmas we had barely enough time to bring members from across the APs together to enable us to present a consultation response in respect of smarter regulation. We had a rich conversation with members from across sector which we hope will be featured in EHN.

Business as usual

BAU for me also means coffee catch ups with members, board meetings, trustee meetings and actioning priorities with the rest of the executive management team. Our events and conferencing team are working hard and we are about to release exciting news regarding face to face events. I have been working on updating policy and governance documents with colleagues which has included refreshing our Health & Safety Policy too. I work very closely with EHN publishers, and we continue to work hard to improve content which features the work of our members. Everything we do really is a team effort and all of this could not be achieved without the phenomenal focus of our teams here at the CIEH who continue to inspire me.

We are growing in Policy so look out for new team members, continue to follow our social feeds and member connect to keep up to date with the work we are undertaking. We have some exciting news about to be released in respect of work with CTSI so look out for this too!