Issue - items at meetings - Draft Youth Services Review

Report of the Strategic Director for People.

32.1         Item no. 32 Draft Youth Services review was heard after Item 30.

32.2         Kerry Clarke Strategic Commissioner CYPT presented the report and answered questions.

32.3        In answer to question on why Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transsexual (LGBT), Black Minority Ethnic (BME) groups and Traveller young people struggled to attend existing youth services, members were told that reasons for low attendance by particular sections of the community are varied and complex. What is important is to recognise which groups are underrepresented in ‘traditional’ services and to design services that engage these groups – for example, some groups are relatively unlikely to use building-based services such as youth clubs, but may respond more positively to ‘outreach’ services.

32.4        Ms Clarke confirmed that faith groups were included in the consultation and mapping process.

32.5        Councillor Melanie Davis informed the Committee that she was the Chair of the Cultural Provision for Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel and that some of the recommendations in the Scrutiny report dove-tailed the findings of the review.

Councillor Davis therefore proposed that the report recommendations should be amended to include the following wording: “That in re-designing the commissioning strategy for youth services, children’s services should consider the recommendations made within the Cultural Provision for Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel report”.

32.6        Members were told that aspects of central Government funding for children’s services in 2011-2012 were currently unclear and would not be finalised until January 2011. The council recognised that this posed major problems for the voluntary sector providers unsure whether their contracts would be renewed, and everything possible would be done to share information with the organisations concerned.

32.7        Azdean Boulaich (Youth Council representative) asked whether there was a reason why young women accessed fewer youth services than young men. Members were told that this was a complex issue, although it was likely that more provision via outreach as opposed to building-based services (youth clubs) would improve uptake.

32.8        Members discussed provision of careers advice for young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs) in light of the reduction in funding to the local Connexions service. Officers advised that this was still an area under review.

32.9        Rohan Lowe (Youth Council representative) asked where the centres mentioned in the report would be located. A final decision on this has not yet been taken.

32.10    RESOLVED-  that the committee:

(1)                 Noted the report on the revision of Youth Services Commissioning Strategy;

(2)                 Recommended that the Cultural Provision for Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel report (and particularly its recommendations for service changes) should be considered by officers when they revise the Youth Services Commissioning Strategy