Guildford Youth Council: Progress Report

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1 Executive Report Report of Interim Head of Legal and Democratic Services Authors: Mark Bowler and Sophie Butcher Tel: or or Lead Councillor responsible: Sarah Creedy Tel: Date: 5 January 2012 Guildford Youth Council: Progress Report Recommendation to Executive The Executive is asked to consider the Youth Council s progress and activities during the past year. The Chairperson, Olli Sharp and Vice Chairperson, Georgina Cave will both be in attendance to receive questions from the Executive regarding the Youth Council s activities undertaken in Reason for Recommendation: To ensure that the Executive is kept up to date with the work and projects that Guildford Youth Council are actively engaged in. 1 Introduction 1.1 Since being established in 1996, Guildford Youth Council has continued to provide an important forum for young people in the Borough. The Youth Council is comprised of young people between 13 and 19 years of age who have, where possible, been elected democratically by other young people from within their respective organisations. The Youth Council now meets formally on at least eleven occasions each year, usually at the Council offices, to discuss youth issues and often welcomes guest speakers to its meetings. 1.2 Surrey Youth Development Service coordinates the Youth Council in partnership with, and supported by, Guildford Borough Council. Guildford Borough Council currently provides a grant of 2,295 per annum towards Youth Council projects and a further 2,295 for administration costs and training. Surrey Youth Development Service employs a part-time youth worker (15 hours) to act as Co-ordinator to facilitate Youth Council meetings and to support the youth councillors in respect of Youth Council projects. The Council provides administrative support through Legal and Democratic Services and general support from the Play and Youth Officer. Both organisations provide additional help in kind. 2. Membership 2.1 Councillors may recall that it was reported last year that the Youth Council membership had continued to improve. This improvement has been maintained with 1

2 the current membership at twenty-eight. The Youth Council is fortunate in having Mark Bowler as their co-ordinator who continues to provide excellent support. 2.2 A recruitment drive is ongoing and discussions are continuing with other schools and youth organisations. Many students have been recruited to the Youth Council from George Abbot and the County School to replace those who stepped down in September. New and additional members were being sought from The Royal Grammar School, the Ash Youth Group, the Scouts, The Barn project, Halow project, Bellfields Youth Group, Guildford College, Kings and Christ College and Guildford Short Stay Schools. 2.3 As part of the new recruitment drive, the co-ordinator is striving towards recruiting a truly representative membership to Guildford Youth Council to reflect and represent young people of all walks of life and be inclusive not exclusive. 3. Consultative role of the Youth Council 3.1 The Youth Council continues to develop its role as a consultative body for initiatives being progressed by local organisations. The Youth Council is seeking to enhance this role and its views are sought on a number of relevant committee reports and other important issues affecting young people. Over the past year, the Youth Council has been consulted on a number of projects being developed by the Council including those listed under the following headings:- Arts, Play and Sport Grants Community & Youth Project Grants. 3.2 During the course of the year the Youth Council received a presentation from Jon Pickerill Youth Programmes Manager at Guildford YMCA regarding the concept and creation of a youth hub. The desire was to create a world class venue, located in the centre of Guildford which would be used by different support agencies; sex care clinics, Connexions and V-Involve. The centre would have long opening hours and be designed with young people at its heart. A working group has been formed on which some members of the Youth Council now participate and has already set about raising the funds it requires. 3.3 The Youth Council participated in consultation with Surrey County Council s Transformation team on the restructuring of services for young people in the county. GYC met with the Deputy Director of Youth Services. 3.4 Paul Creaven, Youth Development Officer Equalities & Inclusion, consulted the Youth Council on a way forward with redeveloping Surrey Youth Parliament in October and to discuss youth councils as decision makers. 3.5 In November 2010 the Leader of Guildford Borough Council, Councillor Tony Rooth and the Council s Chief Executive David Hill gave a presentation to the Youth Council on details of the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) and how this will affect local councils. 3.6 The Youth Council also consulted with Kate Parrish, Participation and Co-production development worker, in developing a kite mark system of quality assurance for youth services. 3.7 Members of the Youth Council also helped facilitate the Surrey Schools Council Conference day, where the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove MP was guest speaker. 2

3 3.8 Delegates from other youth councils, including Woking and Epsom and Ewell, also attended meetings throughout the year to observe GYC and take ideas back to develop their own forums. 3.9 In May, the Youth Council received a presentation from Guildford Borough Council s Principal Planning Officer Tanya Mankoo-Flatt on the Guildford Town Centre Masterplan, which was being developed to shape how the town centre will look and function over the next 18 years With the assistance of Guildford Borough Council s PR & Marketing Manager (Carolyn Patterson) the Youth Council developed links with Tony Green (News Editor, Surrey Advertiser) to develop more positive news stories of young people in the local media Ed Pearce from Solum, a joint venture company established in 2008 that was 50% owned by Network Rail and 50% owned by Solum, gave a presentation to the Youth Council on Guildford Railway Station Redevelopment. He asked the Youth Council if they were happy to take part in the consultation process to ensure voices of all ages were heard and aided in the project s overall development Two youth directors of the Surrey Youth Consortium consulted the Youth Council in November on issues they felt were affecting young people in Guildford The Youth Council were invited to visit G Live, Guildford s new entertainment venue, and hosted a meeting there in November. GYC members were given a tour of the new venue and asked how best to get young people to attend events there In addition to attendance at the formal monthly meetings, Youth Council members continued to represent the Youth Council on local and national groups, such as the Guildford Local Strategic Partnership. The Youth Council are also currently working with the British Youth Council for better representation of youth groups within Surrey. It had also appointed representatives to serve on the Council s Olympic Project Group and Environment and Climate Change Strategy Advisory Group. 4. Youth Opportunities Fund/Youth Capital Fund 4.1 As part of the Government s Every Child Matters programme, funds continued to be made available, via Surrey County Council, for young people in Surrey to spend on activities and projects up until the end of the financial year in March The Youth Opportunities Fund gave young people more control and choice over the youth activities and facilities that are available in their area and the Youth Capital Fund gave young people more control and choice in improving community facilities. 4.3 Due to funding cuts made by the government as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) the Youth Opportunities/Capital Fund along with funding for connexions services were withdrawn. 5. Training and Education 5.1 Training for the Youth Council had been organised during the year by Surrey County Council Youth Development Service in connection with the Youth Opportunities Fund. 3

4 6. Current Projects 6.1 Battle of the Bands Contest. Following the success of the 2010 event, the Youth Council again organised a Battle of the Bands contest to showcase local music talent. Four heats were held in May, June and July, at the Plantation café, and the final held at the Boileroom on 4 August Local sponsorship for the event was secured and four bands selected to compete in each heat with the winners of each heat competing in the final with previous year s winning band returning to provide extra entertainment. There was a good mix of music and the alternate use of venues had worked well. 6.2 Music Assembly at the Boileroom. In the Youth Council progress report it was noted that Youth Council members continued to work in conjunction with management at the Boileroom to bring these monthly youth friendly gigs to the young people of Guildford. Unfortunately this project was funded completely through Youth Opportunities funding. With this funding stream now unavailable, the Youth Council is searching for alternative ways to fund this project to keep it running. The project is suspended while a new funding stream is sourced. 6.3 Life Skill Lessons. The Youth Council is campaigning for the standardisation of PSHECF (Personal, Social, Health, Education, Citizenship and Finance) lessons. The Youth Council had supported an e-petition posted to Downing Street by the UK Youth Parliament. Currently, there was significant variety in the way in which these lessons are taught across the borough and standardisation of the curriculum was desired along with a suggested shorter title Life Skill Lessons. 6.4 Healthy Living Booklet. The Youth Council is now in the process of finalising production of their Healthy Living Booklet. This is a publication with young people at its heart, addressing their health concerns and providing links to useful points of contact. 6.5 Street Clash event. The Youth Council were also involved in this years Street Clash Event organised by the Council s leisure team. The event, designed to engage young people, included activities on art, music and sport. Youth Council members organised a stand to promote the Youth Council and its work and members also showcased their skills by taking part on the music stage and a display of artwork by another member. 6.6 Local Councillor Shadowing Scheme The Local Councillor Shadowing Programme is an initiative being set up by Sophie Butcher, Legal and Democratic Services, Guildford Borough Council. So far, one youth councillor will be shadowing Councillor Sarah Creedy in the early New Year whilst a number of other youth councillors have also expressed an interest in participating in the scheme. 6.7 Annual General Meeting (AGM). At the Youth Council s AGM in September the youth councillors discussed and voted on which projects to take into GYC now votes for new officers in May whereupon they become officers in waiting and take over at the AGM. This is to provide a hand over and learning period from outgoing to incoming officers. 7. Future Projects and Events 7.1 The Youth Council considers its programme of future projects at its AGM in September These may include:- 4

5 Web site development to continue to develop the Youth Council site in liaison with the Guildford Borough Council web team Local Democracy Week- I m a Councillor Get me out of here event Local Democracy Week Question Time event Local Councillor Shadowing Scheme Visiting other youth councils to exchange information and ideas. Organise joint training day with other youth councils (To include team building and public speaking) Recruitment and publicity Environmental Matters including Climate Change and Energy conservation. Battle of Bands 2010 In conjunction with Guilfest and/ or Street Sports Festival (Street Clash) Vote at 16 Boileroom Youth Café Promotion of regular positive youth news Guildford Youth Council Sub- Committee Youth Hub Project YMCA Healthy Lifestyle Project 8. Youth Council Grants Fund 8.1 As in previous years, the Youth Council has been pleased to offer financial support to organisations and individuals and a grant fund was again established through the use of part of the funds received from Guildford Borough Council. 8.2 The Youth Council has always received very positive feedback from the beneficiaries of these grants and the Youth Council Co-ordinator will again be reminding schools and youth organisations in Guildford Borough of the availability of funds for individual grants. 9. Conclusion 9.1 The Youth Council is continuing to develop its role and the continued influx of new members, the efforts of the Youth Council Coordinator, and the closer working relationship with the Council s Play and Youth officer and others in the Leisure Services team, has given the Youth Council a real sense of purpose. Members have been working hard and have created opportunities to develop themselves as individuals, as well as realising the importance of team working. The Youth Council has had a productive and proactive year. The young people have developed their skills, maturity and confidence as representatives and people. 9.2 In the Youth Council participated in the Surrey County Council Transformation Project. As of 1 January 2012 a new youth service called Services for Young People will be in place. The new structure being implemented meant that it was not known whether the support given currently by Surrey Youth Development Services would be provided in the future, both in terms of funding and youth worker support. If this does prove to be the case, then members of the Guildford Youth Council need to take on the responsibility of being the main form of communication with each other. 9.3 The Youth Council will continue to need financial and administrative support from Guildford Borough Council to continue to develop itself, and the Executive is requested to bear this in mind when they consider the revenue estimates. 5

6 10. Background Papers Agendas and Minutes of meetings of Guildford Youth Council in