Agenda item

Annual Portfolio Report – Inspiring Young People

This is the Annual Report from the Cabinet Member for Inspiring Young People. The report contains issues that set the context for delivery of the Portfolio. It highlights achievements over the past year and, outlines the areas of focus for the coming year.

Annual Portfolio Report – Inspiring Young People

The Annual Report from the Cabinet Member for Inspiring Young People contained information that set the context for delivery of the Portfolio, highlighting achievements and outlined the areas for focus for the coming year. 

Councillor G Renner-Thompson provided an introduction to the report.  He acknowledged that the achievements would not be possible without the hard work of the staff of Children’s Services, school staff and partners along with the cooperation of parents, carers and indeed the pupils and cared for children.   Council was advised that currently 95% of schools within the County were good or outstanding and it was hoped that the work undertaken by the School Improvement Team would be trailed in other local authorities.  It had been said by the industry, that the new welding and fabrication centre in Blyth was the best example within the Country with investment also being made in other vocational centres across the County. Dame Andrea Leadson, Government Minister for Early Years along with others had visited the family hubs in Blyth and Berwick and had been quoted as saying they demonstrated best practice in the Country.  Support had also continued to be provided to families in the school summer holiday with arranged activities and health food provided for those attending.

Councillor Kennedy offered congratulations on the excellent figures in the report.  He advised that at the end of the end of the last school year he had raised an issue that the staff of the Thursday Club for special needs children, which his son attended had advised him that they, along with a number of other staff, were being made redundant.  He had been reassured that the service would be reinstated and would be started again before the beginning of the new school term in September.  It was now November and the service had still not been reinstated and he had now been advised by a member of staff that it would not happen this year.  He had accepted the original answer that it would start again in September in good faith, however he now wished to know when the service would be reinstated.

Councillor Renner-Thompson advised that he did not have that specific information, but he would obtain the information from A. Kingham, Executive Director for Children and Young People.

Councillor Ball stated that the report entitled inspiring young people did not mention youth work and she highlighted that there had been a cut of almost £1b decline in youth work spend since the Conservative Party took power as quoted in the YMCA and UK Youth Reports.  The Cabinet Member had stated when Family Hubs were being discussed at FACS OSC that there would be no loss of youth workers.  She questioned where youth workers were now in the County, as additional strain could not be placed on the voluntary and community sector as people were destitute, poverty was through the roof and young people were very important.  She had stated in this meeting on numerous occasions that for every £1 invested in youth work it saved the tax payers between £3.20 and £6.40 and there was not one youth worker in Northumberland.  She continued by stating that we either inspire young people or we do not and expressed her disappointed in the report. 

Councillor Renner-Thompson responded by advising that there had been no cut to youth provision.  There had previously been 12 posts, and the equivalent of 3.2 full time workers had been made redundant following a big consultation taking place on this.  One of the redundant posts was only looking after a club with three children and resources needed to be managed.  The 3.2 full time workers had been replaced with 4 youth support workers, an increase of one post in addition to the five support posts created within schools themselves and it was the intention for another two support workers to be appointed.  Work was also being undertaken with Thriving Together, the Learning Link and the North East Youth Alliance on a cross regional youth offer, and currently 387 providers had been mapped out across the County which would be supported through the Family Hubs, allowing young people who were in need to be traced through the system.  Youth clubs where young people went to play pool etc. were outdated and surveys were currently being undertaken to find out what the young people wanted and provision would be matched to this going forward. 

For clarity, the Chair advised at this point that he worked for Youth Focus North East which was on his declaration.  North East Youth Alliance was not on his declaration but Youth Focus North East was part of the North East Youth Alliance.

Councillor Foster questioned where the survey for young people was being carried out as she had a secondary age child and she had not seen this and would therefore like some information on that.  She highlighted that there had been an issue with a contractor involved in the building of schools going into administration including the new Gilbert Ward Academy and schools in the Coquet Partnership.  She had written to the Executive Director for Children and Young People with her concerns surrounding this and would like to thank her for the prompt response.  On behalf of the Labour Group she would also like to acknowledge the work going on in the background by the Executive Director and her team to address the situation and put children and young people at the heart of what they were doing and thanked them very much.

Councillor Renner-Thompson advised that there had been a contractor who had gone into administration, however contingency plans were in place.  The school building programme was incredibly important and they were trying hard to ensure that there were no delays to the programme.

Councillor Scott advised that Engage in Blyth had recently closed. Those children were the responsibility of the Council and she questioned if the Risk Protocol was sufficiently robust to support the families and schools who had one week to find an alternative place for their child.

Councillor Renner-Thompson advised that discussions were ongoing regarding the finishing of Engage and could not be discussed in this forum, however he would meet with Councillor Scott outside of the meeting to discuss this.

Councillor Morphet stated the Green Party welcomed the report.  However they had concerns regarding the vagueness of paragraph 5.10 related to aerated concrete in school buildings and asked when would full structural surveys be undertaken in order to provide the assurance that was sought.

Councillor Renner-Thompson advised that structural surveys were carried out by both the Council and the DfE on a rolling basis and when RAC had first been identified as a problem it had been confirmed by all schools within Northumberland that they did not have any RAC. 

Councillor Hill sought assurance that the Administration would support Jackie at Engage in Berwick who was doing everything that she could to ensure that there was a continuation of the excellent provision in Berwick. 

Councillor Renner-Thompson stated that once a decision had been made on the future of Engage, then a Member Briefing would be held to advise Members in the areas involved.

Councillor Cartie advised for openness, that she ran youth projects in Blyth and was also a member of North East Youth Alliance, however she was absolutely baffled by Councillor Renner-Thompson’s statement that old fashioned youth clubs were outdated.  She assured Members that these were not, she had 15-20 young people attending four sessions per week, and they went along to play pool and meet with friends in a safe place.  They were not necessarily children who had social issues but they all lived in poverty.  The funding for youth services was reducing dramatically with no funding from the Council and Children in Need also cutting funding.  She invited Councillor Renner-Thompson to visit her youth club.

Councillor Renner-Thompson apologised if that was how his comments had come across and advised that this type of provision was not something that the Council would fund in the future, however organisations would be supported to allow them to run this type of facility.