Members are reminded that this Committee received a report on the work of the Youth Service in June 2016. Members asked that more information on young people’s needs and current provision be brought to a future meeting for consideration.

In accordance with the above the Strategic Director, Environment and Sport

will submit Document "O" which gives more information about youth

provision from voluntary and community providers and discusses needs and

gaps in services and how these are being addressed.

Recommended-

(1)     That the provision, needs and work to address gaps in services for young people detailed in the Appendices to Document “O” be welcomed.

(2)     That the Youth Service offers continued support for vulnerable young people (one-to-one where appropriate and possible), focussing on information, advice and guidance for:-

-       those at risk of CSE (Child Sexual Exploitation).

-       those struggling to continue in education; working in partnership with local schools and supporting initiatives such as homework clubs.

-       those at risk of becoming teenage parents, those needing access to sexual health and contraception advice, and work on healthy relationships.

-       those with or at risk of substance misuse either illegal drugs or alcohol.

-       those at risk of anti-social or criminal behaviour.

(3)     That the Youth Service continues community cohesion work; supporting young people to mix with people of different cultural, social, ethnic and faith backgrounds to themselves.

(4)     That the Youth Service continues to offer free training to both young people and adults to volunteer and support a varied range of activities and sessions for young people across Bradford East.

(5)     That the Youth Service continues to offer support to voluntary and community organisations to provide appropriate sessions and activities for young people as needed.  This could be by:-

-       supporting sessions with Youth Service staff.

-       helping organisations with organisational issues, enabling them to run sessions effectively and safely.

-       providing volunteer and committee training.

-       helping organisations draw in volunteers and offering training to them.

(6)     That the Youth Service continues to offer support towards independence with life skills such as budgeting, planning, IT skills and team working. 

(7)     That the Youth Service explores different models of delivering open-access provision to the 13 to 19 years age range where it is proving difficult on an on going basis to deliver this. 

(8)     That the Youth Service withdraws from running sessions that are poorly attended.

(9)     That the Youth Service links in with SNOOP (a Bradford-wide organisation that has been supporting children and young people with disabilities) to support their work with young people with special needs, where appropriate and possible.

                                                            (Louise Williams – 01274 431066)

(Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee)

Members were reminded that this Committee received a report on the work of the Youth Service in June 2016. Members asked that more information on young people’s needs and current provision be brought to a future meeting for consideration.

In accordance with the above the Strategic Director, Environment and Sport submitted Document “O” which gave more information about youth provision from voluntary and community providers and discussed needs and gaps in services and how these were being addressed.

A number of young people attended the meeting and spoke about their various positive experiences they had while engaging with the Youth Service and reported on the valuable voluntary work and fund raising events they had undertaken.

Members of the Committee asked questions and made comments as set out below:

·        Visited Laisterdyke Centre a number of times which was well attended by different communities; commend the work undertaken by the Youth Workers and Young People.

·        Was Culture Fusion still operating?

·        Assumed that Culture Fusion was based in the City Centre as it was accessible for people from Bradford East.

·        Mental and physical health support was not in the top 5 issues identified by young people in the report.

·        Parkside Youth Centre in Little Horton seemed under utilised; needed to look at other community uses for it.

·        What was the role of the Youth Service in relation to 1-1 work with vulnerable girls and boys at risk of CSE?

·        What was the Youth Workers role in providing one to one support to low level CSE referrals in Ravenscliffe and Bradford Moor? Was there sufficient Youth Service support available in Bradford East?

·        What support was being provided to Young People to improve their educational attainment in Bradford East?

·        Were statistics available for the number of people that achieved accreditation from the courses they undertook?

·        Concerned for the future of the Youth Service as a result of the Community Building Review; a lot more needed to be undertaken such as looking at groups of children not on a school roll, children in public care etc; needed to increase the service and not decrease it as young peoples issues were getting worse.

In response to Members questions it was reported that:

·        There was a Youth Information Shop based in Culture Fusion and the Star Club which was a Bradford West Youth Club.

·        Mental and physical health was linked to all the priorities listed by young people.

·        The biggest constraints for youth provision was finance and the importance of developing good partnerships with organisations; young people made it happen by fund raising and by getting local people involved.

·        Partnership work in Little Horton was taking place with Trident.

·        The advanced practitioners were working with the CSE Hub to see how the work relating to CSE would work; Youth Workers were supporting young people by providing them one to one support to find out what issues they had, provided information, guidance and advice ; the young people supported were at a low level risk of CSE and were flagged up by the CSE Hub and referred to the Youth Service.

·        There was a restructure taking place at the moment which would involve more joint working in Bradford East and West; there would be sufficient capacity in providing young people in Bradford East one to one support relating to CSE.

·        In helping to improve young peoples educational attainment the Youth Service provided access to various awards such as the Lord Mayor’s Awards; if young people volunteered continuously, they could attend a course to qualify as part-time youth workers; the Youth Service provided informal education in a creative manner.

·        Information on how many young people achieved accreditation and at what level could be provided to Members.

Resolved-

(1)     That the provision, needs and work to address gaps in services for young people detailed in the Appendices to Document “O” be welcomed.

(2)     That the Youth Service offers continued support for vulnerable young people (one-to-one where appropriate and possible), focussing on information, advice and guidance for:-

-       those at risk of CSE (Child Sexual Exploitation).

-       those struggling to continue in education; working in partnership with local schools and supporting initiatives such as homework clubs.

-       those at risk of becoming teenage parents and those needing access to sexual health and contraception advice, and work on healthy relationships.

-       those with or at risk of substance misuse either illegal drugs or alcohol.

-       those at risk of anti-social or criminal behaviour.

-       those at risk of low attainment.

-       those at risk of poverty.

(3)     That the Youth Service continues community cohesion work; supporting young people to mix with people of different cultural, social, ethnic and faith backgrounds to themselves.

(4)     That the Youth Service continues to offer free training to both young people and adults to volunteer and support a varied range of activities and sessions for young people across Bradford East.

(5)     That the Youth Service continues to offer support to voluntary and community organisations to provide appropriate sessions and activities for young people as needed.  This could be by:-

-       supporting sessions with Youth Service staff.

-       helping organisations with organisational issues, enabling them to run sessions effectively and safely.

-       providing volunteer and committee training.

-       helping organisations draw in volunteers and offering training to them.

(6)     That the Youth Service continues to offer support towards independence with life skills such as budgeting, planning, IT skills and team working. 

(7)     That the Youth Service explores different models of delivering open-access provision to the 13 to 19 years age range where it is proving difficult on an on going basis to deliver this. 

(8)     That the Youth Service links in with SNOOP (a Bradford-wide organisation that has been supporting children and young people with disabilities) to support their work with young people with special needs, where appropriate and possible.

(9)     That the Committee thanks Youth Workers and Youth Volunteers for the impact they make on the lives of young people in the District.

(10)   That the Committee notes the potential risk to the delivery of work with vulnerable young people given the removal of discretionary support available to community and voluntary sector organisations.

Action:          Strategic Director, Environment and Sport