Agenda and minutes

Councillor Members of the Youth Cabinet are asked whether they have an interest in any item on the agenda and if so to formally declare that interest.

There were no interests declared by those Members present at the meeting.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 9 July 2015 are attached.

It was agreed:

That the Minutes of the last meeting held on 9 July 2015 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Update on any issues discussed at the last meeting of the Youth Cabinet.

To include:

Feedback from the letter sent to Poundland/Poundworld.

It was reported that Bilal and Emily had attended the most recent Youthforia event where the results had been announced in relation to the Youth Parliament’s House of Commons Debate would be debated by the Youth Parliament on 13 November 2015.

The campaign had seen a 10% increase on votes with 967,000 young people making their mark.

Living Wage had topped the poll followed by Curriculum for Life, Mental Health, Public Transport and Tackling Racism and Religious Discrimination.

The topic to be debated would be:

Living Wage – everyone should be able to live comfortably. Everyone aged 16 or over should be paid at least the living wage of £7.85 per hour.

It was also explained that the devolution across Greater Manchester could have an influence on how Council’s worked with young people. Discussions could be had with regards to a GM Youth Forum with reps from each of the Greater Manchester local authorities.

Kate Allam referred to the Counselling questionnaire that had been sent to all schools and explained that the 10 responses received had shown inconsistency across the schools.

The questionnaire had been sent out again to all schools in the hope of a better response rate.

Adele Crowshaw will report at the meeting.

It was reported that the secondary/tertiary age Circles of Influence had taken place on Monday 22 June and the Primary age Circles of Influence had been during the week commencing 8 June.

The events had brought together young people from across the borough and given them the opportunity to discuss issues relating to them and their peers. They also allowed for questioning of decision makers and officers from all different organisations across the borough.

The High School Circles of Influence worked around 5 different themes:-

·         Education

·         Health

·         Places to Go

·         Culture

·         Additional Barriers

The following issues had been highlighted under each topic:-

Education - life skills, practical housekeeping, budgeting, skills for independence, preparation for work.

Health – Mental health – reducing the stigma, drugs and awareness of current trends such as novel psychoactive substances (more commonly called legal highs), e-cigarettes and their use amongst young people.

Culture – online safety, all young people should have to undertake an e-safety course, mentoring, confidentiality.

Additional barriers – cohesion, bridging the gaps, volunteering opportunities for under 18s

The report was presented to the Youth Cabinet and it was explained that it would be sent out to all schools.

The Bury Safeguarding Children Board has asked that the Youth Cabinet ‘Youth Proof’ their Annual Report.

The Bury Safeguarding Children Board Annual Report is attached.

The appendix is attached.

A link to the BSCB web page is attached:-

http://www.safeguardingburychildren.org/index.aspx?articleid=8906

Adele Crowshaw explained that the Bury Safeguarding Children Board produced an annual report on the effectiveness of safeguarding children in Bury.

The report contained a lot of information but was not thought to be youth friendly.

The Safeguarding Children Board had asked if any members of the Youth Cabinet would be interested in helping to ‘youthproof’  the document.

Molly, Daniel, Emily, Anna, Nicole and Jenny all volunteered to help with this task.

The Youth Cabinet is asked to consider how the Youth Cabinet Meetings can be improved,  promoted and how attendance can be increased.

Those present are asked to split into groups to discuss the issues.

Adele presented those present with the Terms of Reference for youth members that had been prepared in 2013.

Adele asked the Cabinet to split into groups and review the terms of reference. The groups were asked to discuss what worked well and what didn’t work so well and how the meetings could be improved.

Following the discussions feedback was given:

·         The Youth Cabinet should be advertised more. Posters could be sent to schools and e-mails asking for information to be provided on school websites.

·         The Members of Youth Parliament and Youth Cabinet could attend school assemblies or relevant lessons to talk about Youth Cabinet and answer questions.

·         Bury’s Youth Cabinet could arrange to meet with other Youth Council’s to hold debates etc.

The pro’s and con’s were discussed and the following points were raised:

Pro’s

·         The provision of food was good as most people are coming straight from school or college.

·         The debates are enjoyable

·         Good that Councillors attend and assist with activities

Con’s

·         Not enough communication/promotion within schools

·         Need consistent attendance – possible elected by school councils

·         No links with other Youth Councils

·         Always at the Town hall – should other venues be looked at?

The name Youth Cabinet was discussed and whether this should be changed to Youth Council.

There was also a question of how the Youth Cabinet could have a more active role in the Council Meetings and it was suggested that they could submit questions to be asked during the Public Question Time item on the agenda.

It was also suggested that the Youth Cabinet produce an annual report to send to Council and other relevant bodies/organisations.

Young people also asked whether they could have more input on the agenda items for the meetings.

It was agreed:

That development/review of the Youth Cabinet should be carried out.

The next meeting of the Youth Cabinet will held on Thursday 10 December at 5pm in the Council Chamber (Food from 4.30pm in the Balcony Bar).

The next meeting of the Youth Cabinet will be held on Thursday 10 December at 5pm in the Council Chamber (food available from 4.30pm in the Balcony Bar).