Agenda item

Report of the Corporate Director of Resilience

Councillor David Mellen, Portfolio Holder for Early Intervention and Early Years, Aileen Wilson, Head of Early Help Services and Jean Case, Senior Youth and Play Coordinator, delivered a presentation highlighting the following information:

(a)  Youth and Play service at one time employed more than 100 full time youth and play workers, the current service now employs 54 workers and yet the youth and play activity has not been proportionally reduced and continues to provide effective quality sessions;

(b)  the Youth and Play Service is divided into three localities, north, south and central, with two teams working in each locality and during the past year 4,652 young people aged between 5 and 19 years of age have attended youth and play service activities within the City;

(c)  to ensure that all young people can access the services, sessions are provided at low cost or free in all wards within the city. Resources are not available to provide full time day sessions during the summer holidays;

(d)  the voluntary sector is also funded via area based grants to provide youth and play sessions to support and complement the City Council’s work. The youth and play team meet with independent providers, such as Brownies and faith groups, to ensure that they have what they need to ensure adequate safeguarding;

(e)  in addition to the educational and fun elements aspects of sessions, there is also a mentoring element which can which can result in young people being referred for further support as the environment is more relaxed with youth workers than teachers and young people often feel more able to talk about issues of concern;

(f)  61 universal sessions are held across the city and they can be accessed by people from any area of the city. Venues vary and not all are City Council owned. The service aims to try and broach some issues which young people face in everyday life. To date this has included: bullying, safe internet use/sexting, healthy relationship, drug and alcohol use, gender, and fire safety;

(g)  to enable the delivery of the above sessions, members of the Youth and Play Service have undergone training on safeguarding awareness and how to identify the non-verbal signs of when young people are experiencing or at risk of harm such as domestic abuse (not necessarily directed at the young person), self-harm and mental health;

(h)  the service works closely with Young People’s Panels and where concerns are raised, partners share information and try to identify if there are areas of common concern  within the city, such as child sexual exploitation, which is then targeted with awareness projects at youth and play sessions;

(i)  workers try to ensure that sessions are appropriate for all you people of varying ages and abilities. Groups often identify the topics which they wish to address and where appropriate, workers try to create a safe and engaging environment for young people feel they can be listened to and can share their experiences and Concerns. Jon Rea, Engagement and Participation Officer is often involved with engagement sessions;

(j)  it is important that youth workers can build trusting relationships with the young people so that they can approach the workers for support, guidance or help. Many troubled young people have been grateful for this opportunity;

Following questions and comments from the Committee, the following points were raised:

(k)  Youth and Play is not a statutory service so could be seen as an easy target for budget reductions above other services, but this is an important and valuable area of work. New budget models are to be considered to attract and retain more staff;

(l)  Councillor David Mellen receives a report of attendance for every Youth and Play session and if the attendance drops below 10 young people, careful examination is undertaken of what is being provided, where and how to identify how to attract and engage young people in that area. Identifying the right venues and timings is very important, as is consistency of services;

(m)  systems are in place across all teams which work to one rationale to ensure the timely identification and addressing of safeguarding issues. Initial concerns can be escalated to Senior Youth Workers who may then introduce a Specialist Worker to discuss the concerns with the Youth Worker Team and consider if referrals would be beneficial. Teams maintain written records of sessions, including de-briefing forms, to help monitor if there are any common issues in an area;

(n)  some young people have behaviour plans which if not successful, consideration is given to purchasing external expertise to help support the young person and help address the issues. The voice of young people is listened to regarding where, when and how they want sessions to be presented, but the expectations of young people to what can be provided has to be managed;

(o)  there is an attempt to bring young people from different backgrounds, faiths and ethnicities together and it can work very well. If young people find something they enjoy in an environment in which they feel safe, they are more willing to travel to access it;

(p)  with potentially further cuts to budges and services, it is vital that that the City Council and the voluntary sector work together to be creative and co-ordinate play and youth services which provide the best value for money. Sustainability of services is the only way to increase capacity.

(q)  the City Council has a commitment to offer play/activity to every child in the City for 2 hours every week but it is no longer possible for the Youth and Play Team to specifically provide inclusion workers to engage with young people with special educational needs and disabilities. However, a ‘Disabled Children’s Team’ will be in place within the next few months. Young people are constantly encouraged to learn new skills and consider careers through the ‘Love your Future’ programme which includes visits from ‘Futures’ and the armed forces. It is one of the objectives of the Service to raise the aspirations and the achievements of young people.

RESOLVED to

(1)  thank Councillor David Mellen, Aileen Wilson and Jean Case for their informative presentation;

(2)  note the report and presentation regarding the current offer from the Youth and Play Team.