The Department of Place provides support and activities for Looked After Children and young people across a wide range of services.  The report of the Strategic Director of Place (Document “E”) provides information on this work and seeks feedback from Panel members on areas for further development.

The views of Panel Members are sought on the range of activities and actions outlined in Paragraph 2 of Document “E” and on areas for further development.

(Steve Hartley – 01274 431131)

The Department of Place provides support and activities for Looked After Children and young people across a wide range of services.  The report of the Strategic Director of Place (Document “E”) provided information on this work and sought feedback from Panel Members on areas for further development.

The Strategic Director Place together with the Assistant Director Sports and Leisure gave an overview of the activities they undertook as a service to support children, with particular reference to Looked After Children.

In the area of Economic Development and Housing, joint working arrangements were in place with Children’s Services to ensure young people pathways were clear.

The Youth Service provided targeted and universal open access provision to support young people, and LAC had been actively involved in a number of projects.

In the area of Sport and Culture free gym membership was available to Looked After Children.

Within Planning, Transport and Highways there was a concerted effort to encourage care leavers and young people to take up apprenticeships.

Following the overview, the Strategic Director invited feedback from the young people and Members and suggestions on how the service can improve provision for LAC.

The Community Resource Worker stated that he had had discussions with the young people prior to this meeting about the issues set out in the report.  The Young People asked the following questions and made a number of suggestions around improving sport and leisure provision and access for LAC:

A number of young people commented on the cost of gym membership and that concessions should be more generous for care leavers as they already struggled with day to day expenses.  A similar issue was raised in relation to the affordability of Bingley Live, given the cost of tickets.

The cost of using public transport was also raised and it was stressed that even after applying the concessionary rate, for a lot of care leavers the fares were excessive, and this further inhibited young people from accessing a whole host of leisure activities.

In response to the issues raised, the Strategic Director Place stated that as a Council there was a subsidy provided to assist with concessionary fares.  On the whole public transport was run by private operators, however, representations could be made on this issue via the West Yorkshire Combined Authority. 

The Chair stated that Social Workers could probably do more to alert young people to the concessions that were available across the district as well as in the area of public transport.  The Community Resource Worker acknowledged more information could be made available through the Leaving Care Service.

He also added that a number of young people in care were unable to swim and this was an area that needed addressing, as learning to swim was an essential life skill. The Assistant Director Sport and Leisure added that subsidised swimming lessons were available to young people.

In relation to the cost of public transport, Members suggested that an approach could be made to our Council representatives on the WYCA with a view to providing additional financial help to LAC.

A Member acknowledged that gym membership for young people had been rolled out, however we need to look into extending this for families and foster carers.

In terms of the accessibility of the information available around sports and leisure provision and concessionary rates, it was suggested that a dedicated page on the Council’s website would be a useful addition.

In response to a question around apprenticeship opportunities for LAC, the Strategic Director acknowledged that he would look into what priority could be given to LAC within his service area.

There followed a discussion on extending the benefits of the Max Card for LAC and to Foster Carers.  In response  the Assistant Director Performance, Commissioning  and Partnerships stated that the Foster Carers Marketing officer could be tasked with looking into the feasibility of such an approach.  The Assistant Director added that in many instances just a request to an event organiser, venue or a theatres company, resulted in either concessionary or free entry, and this could be exploited further for the benefit of LAC.

Resolved –

(1)       That Social Workers and outreach workers are made aware of   what assistance and subsidies are available to Children in Care    and Forster Carers in relation to leisure and sporting activities,      particularly in the cost of public transport.

(2)       That the Chair of this Panel approach the Council’s representative       on the West Yorkshire Combined Authority on the feasibility of         extending travel subsidies to Children in Care and Foster Carers.

(3)       That the Assistant Director Performance, Commissioning and    Partnerships be asked to liaise with the Foster Carers Marketing            Officer, with a view to extending the benefits of the Max Card for            Children in Care and Foster Carers.

ACTION:       Assistant Director Performance, Commissioning and                                Partnerships (Recommendations 1 and 3 above)

                        Chair (Recommendation 2)