Crawley Borough Council B Report to the Overview and Scrutiny Commission B 10 th November 2014 2013 Youth Scrutiny Panel Recommendations- Implementation Update Report of the Director of Community and Partnership Services and Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement: DC&PS/006 1. Purpose 1.1 The purpose of the report is to provide members of the Commission with an update on progress against the recommendations made by the Youth Scrutiny Panel in March 2013, supported by both the Overview and Scrutiny Commission, and Cabinet at that time. 2. Recommendation 2.1 To the Overview and Scrutiny Commission: That the Commission notes the report. 3. Reasons for the Recommendations 3.1 Members requested that an update report be provided to the Overview and Scrutiny Commission. 4. Background 4.1 The Youth Scrutiny Panel submitted its final report to the Commission on the 18 th March 2013. All recommendations were supported by the Commission, and endorsed by the Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement. The Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement, then Cabinet Member Nigel Boxall expressed his support for all recommendations and committed to action those recommendations that fell within his portfolio. It was recognised that recommendations made applied to both the Portfolio for Community Engagement, and the Portfolio for Leisure and Culture, assigned at the time to Cabinet Member, Duncan Crow. 4.2 The information provided in the report outlines progress made in the implementation of the recommendations since March 2013, and includes recent developments following the change in Administration. B1 5. Update on the implementation of the recommendations of the Youth Scrutiny Panel 5.1 Development of Council Policy on its support of Youth Services Recommendations: That a policy document or strategy be prepared defining the Council’s role in supporting sustainable youth provision. That the Council as part of the proposed young people strategy/policy advocates the Council own facilities such as the skate park and the BMX track. That the Council conducts an audit of owned and managed facilities to see how it would be possible to maximise their usage, especially in relation to youth provision. Following the change in Administration, a review of the Council’s policy in relation to supporting young people is required and will respond to specific commitments made in the Administration’s manifesto. Since the review in 2012/13 CBC run children and young people’s services have been reviewed through Purpose and Measures and the service now provides open access play, holiday play care, children’s parties, outreach play in community settings, and hiring by third parties of play sites. The Play Investment Programme has also been adopted and is being implemented. With regard to maximising use of Council owned and managed facilities, suitability surveys carried out in 2010/11 have been used, and continue to be used to consider any suitable opportunities for allocation of Council properties for the provision of services for children and young people. The Council’s Community Grants Funding Policy and Criteria has been reviewed to support voluntary youth activity (see section 5.2). 5.2 Support to Youth Voluntary and Community Organisations Recommendations: That the Council continues to use its grant funding process in its current form to offer funding to the Voluntary and Community Sector and that youth providers and projects be encouraged to apply. That the Council provides links to other organisations that offer potential funding streams for youth groups on its website. That the Council promotes the focus on supporting LOCAL providers within the town through supporting the development of Young Crawley and encourage the Voluntary and Community Organisations to consider joining the Young Crawley Consortium. Immediately following the Youth Scrutiny Review, it was agreed that voluntary and community sector youth organisations could apply for funding support for capacity building and volunteering support. Since the change in Administration, the Council’s Community Funding Policy and Criteria for 2015-16 has been updated with the B2 additional criteria: ‘support for voluntary youth action’. Demand will be monitored, and an assessment of the likely impact of including youth activity will be reported to the Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement and inform policy redevelopment. The Council has confirmed its partnership with Crawley Community Voluntary Service (CCVS) as the main provider of voluntary and community sector capacity building support in the town through its Joint Funding Agreement with WSCC. CCVS has absorbed much of the demand left with the closure of West Sussex Community Voluntary Youth Service in 2013. The Council has continued to support the development and growth of Young Crawley (YC) as a consortium for voluntary and community sector groups and organisations providing services for children, young people and families in Crawley. The Council attends YC Steering Group meetings with a particular focus on enabling partnership working with the voluntary sector. Most recently YC has secured funding for a pilot project supporting children and young people, through the WSCC Think Family programme, and engaging local voluntary organisations in the delivery of this programme. 5.3 Local Businesses Support Young People Recommendation: That the Council actively encourages local businesses to support young people, and services and activities for young people. Through its partnership work in the town, the Council continues to encourage local business to support youth and community activity. Schemes and activities include: - Full cost recovery sponsorship of the Crawley Youth Awards - The Take Off Portal, developed in partnership and engaging local students and businesses (formal launch planned on the 26 th November) - The council is a supporter of apprenticeships and also encourage local businesses to take on apprentices e.g. The FSB apprenticeship event on 18 th July encouraging small to medium sized businesses to take on apprentices - The Council also hosted the apprenticeships fair in September 2014: providing advice and guidance to young people, and promoting existing vacancies in the town - The Council is working with CCVS and YC, to arrange a conference in Spring 2015 for local businesses that focuses on Corporate and Social Responsibility. - Through the Crawley Developer and Partner Charter we encourage developers and contractors to act upon a set of principles to maximise local benefits for Crawley, including the relevant principle: Contribute to raising aspirations, educational attainment and skills levels • Agree to participate in schemes to provide work experience to locally based students and young people and raise the awareness of different career paths (including the expectation of them as a future employee in that sector) • Agree to provide apprentice (or equivalent) opportunities and places for local young people • Agree to work with local education providers to promote the value of skills and training to young people • Agree to support employment progression pathways by providing opportunities to gain higher level skills and training to talented local people. For more information about the schemes detailed in section 5.3 please contact Lise Sorensen, Economic Development Officer. B3 5.4 Using New Media to Support Young People’s Services Recommendation: That the Council considers how to use its website and other social media forums to help promote the youth facilities and providers within the Borough, which may include producing an online directory with links to Voluntary and Community Organisations. The Council uses the following methods to promote facilities and activities for young people: - Website Community Directory (which is open to any local group to promote their services) - Govdelivery email alerts system, via the Play, Neighbourhood and Sports and Activity topics - Facebook pages: Go Crawley, which is targeted solely at young people, Play Crawley and Crawley Change4life, which is for families and young people. - Web pages targeted at young people include Play Service, Young People & Housing, Youth Clubs, YPC, Youth Awards, Find It Out Centre, Active Children and Young People, Vision In Youth Collective - Work is also in progress to further develop Neighbourhood webpages to ensure that the pages reflect all local community activity including links to information about children and young people’s services. These are ‘live’ methods of providing information, enabling us to ensure that information remains up to date. The Council actively uses social media including Facebook and Twitter to promote its own, and partners services. In addition, the Council actively promotes services and activities through local media sources, and through its own publication, Crawley Live. A list of publications featuring in local media since 2012 can be found in Appendix A. 5.5 Member Support of Crawley Young Person’s Council Recommendation: That the Cabinet Member for Community Engagement should attend Crawley Young Persons Council meetings as an observer, and that CYPC meetings should be included on the Council’s formal meetings calendar, public notices and websites. Since the recommendation was made, it has been a recognised role of the Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement to attend Crawley Young Person’s Council meetings when they can. Crawley Young Person’s Council activity is promoted on their website, and through Council mechanisms as detailed