Agenda item

To include the following items:

 

a)    Kevin Sweeney, Senior Manager for Operations and Staffing, will update the meeting on progress made regarding the current youth staffing provision across the community area.

 

b)    Battle of the Bands

 

c)    Councillor Jackie Lay will update the meeting on the youth activities mapping and gapping exercise carried out by the Youth Task and Finish Group.

 

d)    To receive an update from the Community Area Young People’s Issues Group.

 

e)    Kevin Emsley, Wiltshire Youth Parliament, will give a verbal update on the Parliament’s latest activities.

 

f)     Cabinet Representative - Councillor Lionel Grundywill talk about his responsibilities for Children’s Services, and respond to any questions.

 

g)    An interactive discussion to consider how to best allocate the recent additional funding for transport in the youth sector.

The Chairman handed the meeting to Councillor Colmer to introduce the FOCUS on Youth item.

 

a.     Kevin Sweeney, Senior Manager for Staffing and Operations, who updated the meeting on the progress regarding youth staffing allocation across the area.

 

Points made included:

 

·           10 times more young people were involved in the Duke of Edinburgh Award than were referred to the Youth Offending Team.

·           Youth club provision

·           Youth work is not a statutorily funded; a formula had been devised to ensure that funding was equably spread through Wiltshire based on population, rurality and deprivation.

·           Lyneham had a large, unsupported youth population; an outreach worker was being considered.

·           While youth facilities were important, quality staffing was key to excellent service delivery.

·           There had been some changes in staffing arrangements between the areas.

·           Wiltshire Council was committed to youth work and recognised the value of engaging young people.

 

Mr Sweeney thanked the Area Board for its commitment to youth.

 

b.     Cabinet representative Councillor Lionel Grundy introduced himself and described his responsibilities for Children’s Services.

 

Points made included:

 

·           The service was split into four areas: Schools & Learning, Targeted Services, Social Care and Commissioning and Performance.

·           The service was strongly influenced by the requirements of Central Government with much of the funding ring-fenced.

·           Wiltshire Council’s Rate Support Grant was the lowest in the country.

 

c.      Youth Task and Finish Group – Councillor Jacqui Lay gave an overview of the mapping and gapping of youth activities.

 

Points made included:

 

·           Two meetings had taken place with a third scheduled for July.

·           Town and parish councils had been invited to contribute in order to gain as wide a picture of activities as possible across the area.

·           Young people were also encouraged to let the group know what they wanted in their areas.

 

d.     Battle of the Bands – Sergeant Martin Alvis introduced the recently held event on 30 April at the Memorial Hall.  He said that very few young people were problematic and this event rewarded their work and talent.  Five bands took part and over 200 attended the event.  The winners were ‘Beyond the Break’.  Sergeant Alvis thanked the Wootton Bassett Town Council, Westlea Housing Association and the Co-op for their support.  A short film of the event was shown.

 

e.     Community Area Young People’s Issues Group (CAYPIG) – Youth Development Worker, Gareth Brown updated the meeting on the group’s recent activities that included:

 

·           Stay Awaki for Haiti - £150 was raised for the charity

·           Battle of the Bands

·           Youth transport and the CAYPIG grants scheme were the current priorities

·           A summer activities programme had been produced and was being publicized.

 

f.       UK Youth Parliament – Kevin Emsley introduced the issues around youth transport.  A local CAYPIG workshop identified the following:

 

·           Route changes

·           Bus fares

·           Idea for speedometer in buses

·           Paths and cycling

 

These local issues were taken to the ‘Move It!’ conference that took place during the February half-term.  Nearly 100 people had had the opportunity to speak with local bus providers.  A declaration signed by the bus companies stated an agreement to put into action solutions to the issues brought up at the conference.  This included making fares fairer for young people and standardizing fares across the county.

 

The Area Board were asked to support Wiltshire Assembly for Youth’s work to achieve these pledges.

 

Decision

The Area Board voted unanimously to support the work of Wiltshire Assembly for Youth to achieve its transport pledges for young people.

 

An additional recommendation to include services to Swindon was made.

 

A round table discussion took place to consider the possible uses for the recent additional allocation of £5000 for transport related projects in the youth sector.  The following suggestions were made:

 

·           To fund transport between the youth centres in Cricklade and Purton to link the centres and maximise their usage so that youth in both communities could use both youth centres.

·           Fund fuel for the existing mini-buses to run in the evenings to move young people around the community area.

·           Utilize the existing mini-buses to operate ‘get home safely’ schemes for young people in the evenings – possibly look for sponsorship from local businesses, for example, Dominoes.

·           Help fund the level three bike ability scheme that is currently not funded by schools.

·           Fund mini-buses to towns for special events.

·           Fund the community bus to run between Purton and Cricklade or subsidize late night taxi fares.

·           Use transport that is available already to run out of Cricklade, Wootton Basset and Purton to use facilities elsewhere.

·           Fund mini-buses to move young people from villages to towns in the evenings.

·           Buy bicycles, lights and helmets to encourage independent travel.

 

Councillor Lionel Grundy added that projects in Devizes and Salisbury were already running to transport young people from the villages into the town and it would be worth tapping into those schemes to evaluate their success.

 

The above points were passed to CAYPIG to consult upon and bring back their responses to a future area board meeting.

 

The five speakers from this item were then invited to form a Question Time panel and respond to the following questions from the floor:

 

How do you see the Youth Service changing?

The service would be made more flexible and responsive to meet a greater range of needs across the area.  It would develop public services to share resources with other community groups.

The refurbished youth centre in Devizes had been based around design ideas from the young people and the importance of listening to their needs was stressed.

 

Will the results of the recent Special Education Needs (SEN) Review be affected by the aims of the new coalition government for academy schools?

This presented no threat because academy schools were secondary level establishments and the review largely focussed the debate around primary level provision.  SEN was required by statute to periodically review and improve its service and that it may involve the closure of some Special Learning centres to better meet the needs of children.  The consultation responses were now being reviewed and decisions would be taken by the Cabinet later in the year.

 

Northern Community Area Partnership (NCAP) were helping the Youth Task And Finish Group with their mapping and gapping exercise – what else could be done to help?

The request to town and parish councils to respond to NCAP with their local activities was reiterated, as was the responses from young people.  CAYPIG were also invited to feed their responses in now.  It was suggested that the data on activity should be made available on the ASK and SPLASH web-sites.

 

What had motivated Kevin Sweeney to give up his time to the UK Youth Parliament?

As a student in a large secondary school there were plenty of opinions to be voiced.  He was enjoying his new role enormously.