Agenda item

Youth Connect

This paper seeks to update the Panel on the progress of this service.

Minutes:

Councillor Richard Samuel addressed the Panel. He informed them that the Riverside Youth Centre was within his ward of Walcot.

 

He said that the report was in response to the Council budget of February 2017 that agreed that it would need to reduce the budget of the Youth Service by 500k as part of the response to continuing Council budgetary pressures.

 

He stated that he was concerned when he read that ‘We are presently exploring options that would allow these buildings to be leased to one or more organisations that can take on delivery of agreed youth services in the future.’

 

He said that he felt that the Panel were being asked to comment on decisions that had already been made or at the very least proposed and that they had received no options appraisal documents.

 

He added that he was worried that services would be externalised and privatised and that he felt that the public would not want this to happen. He said that Ward Councillors had not yet been consulted either.

 

He called for the Panel to request a contextualised report that includes financial information and that wider consultation be carried out with Councillors, Young People and Stakeholders.

 

The Chair thanked him for his statement.

 

Councillor Liz Hardman commented that the views of young people should be harnessed through this piece of work.

 

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care said that the rationale for embarking on this process was that the Council feel that this is an area where we can seek assistance through community groups.

 

The Chair asked if it was indeed a fait accompli.

 

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care replied that consultation was still ongoing and that he would be happy to bring back an options paper in the future.

 

Councillor Richard Samuel stated that for the scrutiny process to be effective the Panel must be involved at the most appropriate stage.

 

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care commented that initially staff were not ready to discuss the matter.

 

Councillor Sally Davis said that she felt that the report before the Panel today was an overview of the process to inform them prior to the options stage.

 

Councillor Liz Hardman commented that we are told that there is a good level of interest across the majority of B&NES for community groups to take on the running of Youth Services. She asked which services are these and which services do you anticipate will no longer be provided once the new model is implemented.

 

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care replied that we can confirm that the Council has received a number of initial expressions from a range of community organisations. He added that they are planning an information evening for any organisation that may be interested for September. He said that it is hoped that the event will outline some of the key areas for which the Council is seeking to enable these groups to assist with the running of the current Youth Connect services.

 

He explained that invitations to the event will go out to a broad range of groups so that all potentially interested groups can receive the same information and at the same time.  He said that as the expressions of interest are still tentative, it would not be appropriate to share details of these organisations at this time.

 

He said that it is hoped that services such as Open Access and Mentoring can be retained. He added that Youth Connect also delivers the Council’s statutory function of tracking and reporting on the number of young people who are not engaged in education, training and employment.

 

The Chair stated that she felt that this particular area should be seen as a priority.

 

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care said that their performance in tracking and reporting was currently higher than the national average, although figures had dropped slightly from previous years.

 

Councillor Jasper Becker asked if any work from other Local Authorities on this issue had been analysed.

 

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care replied he has asked staff to carry out some research as a number of Councils have had similar discussions around 6 or 7 years ago.

 

The Chair acknowledged that other questions had been submitted in writing and asked if the Panel could receive answers to these outside of the meeting.

 

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care replied that he would do so. He said that he would supply as much information as possible to their September meeting.

Supporting documents: