So now you’re a councilloryouth Your guide to being a youth councillor District Council Congratulations! You are now part of Council s Youth Council’

2 What s involved in being a youth’ councillor?

The Bolsover District Youth Council – Young Voice first met in 2006 and meets formally four times a year. All secondary schools in the district (Tibshelf, , Bolsover, Frederick Gent, Heritage and Stubbin Wood) elect or nominate six young people as Youth Councillors each – 36 in total. Young Voice was started as a pilot project and an independent review recommended that it continue. The Executive at Bolsover District Council awards the Youth Council a budget to spend on projects it identifies each year.

The aims of the Youth Council are to: ■■ Consult with young people to improve to service delivery ■■ Engage young people in local democratic processes ■■ Help schools with the teaching of citizenship ■■ Develop a positive image of young people across the district Additionally the Youth Council: ■■ Administer a Positive Activity Reward Scheme to promote positive activities to reward improved behaviour or exceptional deeds ■■ Work together to agree priorities, and deliver projects that support good causes and raise awareness of young people’s issues ■■ Represent their school and young people in their wider community 3 Roles of a youth councillor ■■ School representative ■■ Community leadership ■■ Decision making ■■ Working in partnership ■■ Mediation ■■ Raising funds for community projects ■■ Promoting the positive image of young people School representative The role of a youth councillor is to represent their school and young people in their communities. To be able to do this, youth councillors should advertise their availability in their schools. Other activities should include representing their school and community and attracting funding for projects for young poeple, such as Youth Capital Funding. Community leadership Youth Councillors are responsible for leading their peers, to recognise issues that affect young people and to look at ways to resolve them, for instance, providing a youth shelter in an area where young people gather to socialisem but where there are no other facilities. Youth Councillors are expected to work actively to influence developments and improve services for young people in their area. Decision making The Youth Council meets formally approximately four times a year. During these meetings, youth councillors will be consulted on a range of issues involving the local area and about issues affecting young people. Youth Councillors will be involved in democratic processes including chairing meetings and voting on motions put to the Youth Council. Youth Councillors may also be asked to approve any funding provided by The Council to support community projects. 4 Working in partnership Although Young Voice is made up of representatives from each secondary school within the district, youth councillors are more widely representative of all young people within the catchment area of the school. Mediation Youth councillors may sometimes have to provide information to other young people regarding what the Youth Council is able, or not, to do for them. Similarly, in Youth Council meetings, different parties may have conflicting requirements. Youth councillors will need to look at all the information and make a judgement on what will benefit the most people (not always an easy thing to do!) Support for community projects Bolsover District Council can provide support to help deliver community projects effectively. The Council employs officers in a range of specialist areas who can assist with communication and publicity including the use of social media.

5 Bolsover District Councils Corporate Aims Bolsover District Council’s vision for the District is: To enhance and improve the wealth profile, well-being and quality of life for the communities of Bolsover District. To support this vision the council has four ‘Values’, which are: • show respect, honesty and openness in everything we do • challenge ourselves and change for the better • proud and passionate about what we do • work with partners to provide quality services

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Supporting Our Transforming Our Communities to be Healthier, Organisation Safer, Cleaner and Greener Promoting the positive image of young people This is really important. We all know of people who give young people a bad name for what they used to call ‘playing out’ or ‘hanging around’. Unfortunately, most people only hear the bad 6 news about ‘hoodies’ and ‘gang culture’ from the media. Your role is to demonstrate how pro-active you are in improving life for others and how aware you are of problems people face and thinking of solutions to those problems! (I wonder how many of them did that at your age?) 10 General Principles! Bolsover District Councillors have to follow a Code of Conduct and you should do the same. This means, in meetings, you should declare if you have a personal (it will benefit you, your family or close associates) or prejudicial (it will benefit you, your family or close associates financially or affect your judgement) interest where issues are discussed. There are also 10 general principles that show how a councillor should behave. These are: ■■ Selflessness - you should serve public interest ■■ Honesty and integrity - you should not behave improperly or even give the impression of behaving improperly ■■ Objectivity – you should make decisions on merit ■■ Accountability – you are accountable for your actions ■■ Openness – you should be open about your actions ■■ Personal judgement – you should come to your own decision ■■ Respect – you should respect others regardless of their sex, age, gender, religion, race or disability ■■ Uphold the law – you must act in accordance with the law ■■ Stewardship – you should spend budgets and funding wisely ■■ Leadership – you should promote these principles by example 7 The Youth Council also drafted a set of ground rules to run their meetings by, these are: Be positive Help & support each other Listen to everyone Respect your fellow councillors & staff Contribute Don’t talk when others are talking Socialise & communicate with Voice your opinions in a polite other schools & respectful manner Everyone’s opinion is valid Don’t argue or talk back Be happy to challenge other Feel confident when sharing people your views * Ground rules agreed in September 2016 meeting Support for councillors Youth councillors will be provided with any relevant training and support necessary to help them develop in order to make decisions. New councillors may choose to shadow an existing youth councillor who will act as a ‘buddy’, or if they may choose to ask for more specific support from their school support. Additionally, there is support available from Bolsover District Council.

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