The Strategic Director Place will submit “Document K” which gives an update on work undertaken by the Youth Service within the Shipley Area during 2017-18.

Recommended –

That the work undertaken by the Youth Service in the Shipley Area as detailed in Document “K” be welcomed.

(Children’s Services Overview & Scrutiny Committee)

 (Carys Bose – 01274 437146)

The Strategic Director, Place submitted “Document K” which gave an update on work undertaken by the Youth Service within the Shipley constituency during 2017-18.

The Advanced Practitioner and three young people, who were service users of the Youth Service, were in attendance at the meeting. 

The Advanced Practitioner stated that the report detailed work that had been carried out over 2017-18 and provided a brief update on how the work had developed over the current municipal year.  During her presentation she informed Members that in addition to open access provision, which was well attended, the service was carrying out more targeted provision to work with specific groups; work with Youth in Mind had developed further and the service was taking referrals from schools which would take some pressure off direct referrals to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS); partnership working was taking place with the Police to carry out positive work to address issues that had taken place over the Summer in Shipley and Bingley Town Centres; as part of the Area Opportunity Fund, to increase social mobility, the service had been requested to develop a group of young ambassadors to analyse issues relating to attainment in the district and facilitate a dialogue with Board Members, and young inspectors to undertake inspections in schools and make recommendations to them if needed. 

A project had been undertaken to find out what youth work meant to young people, for national youth work week, and a number of the positive messages that had been fed back to the service were shared with Members.

The three young people in attendance at the meeting spoke of the support and advice they had received from the service and how it had impacted on them personally.

The Chair thanked the young people for attending the meeting and for sharing with Members their personal experiences of engaging with the Youth Service.  He also thanked the young people that had previously assisted the Grants Advisory Group in making funding decisions.

In response to Members’ questions, the Advanced Practitioner stated that:

·         Approximately five or six young people from the Shipley constituency had participated in the Changing Places sessions delivered across the district.  The programme focused on new migrant groups.

·         The number of referrals from CAMHS, as detailed in paragraph 2.4 of the report, ranged widely between constituency areas and was considered to reflect the population of young people within those areas. 

·         Baildon Youth Café had engaged with approximately 200-300 young people in Baildon during a consultation regarding the issues they felt were important to them.  The majority of the engagement work had taken place in Titus Salt School.

Following a request from the Chair, the Advanced Practitioner agreed to circulate a briefing note to Members on the pilot programme providing online support and access to trained counsellors 24 hours a day seven days a week for vulnerable young people.  She also agreed to provide further information on how much funding the district had received for the Changing Places sessions and Area Opportunity Fund.

A Member commented that she was pleased to see interview techniques were being taught to young people and stated that it would be good to know how many of those helped had been successful in gaining employment.  The Advanced Practitioner agreed to keep a record of this information to feed back to Members in future.

A discussion took place about the rise in mental health issues amongst young people and it was reported that this was an area of support work that schools certainly welcomed.

Resolved –

(1)       That the work undertaken by the Youth Service in the Shipley Area as detailed in Document “K” be welcomed.

(2)       That the young people who attended the meeting be thanked for their participation and providing the Committee with their perspective on the Youth Service.

OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE: Children’s Services

ACTION: Strategic Director, Place