Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

YC.1

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS

Minutes:

Harriet welcomed everyone and the Youth Cabinet introduced themselves by introducing their shoe as an icebreaker.

YC.2

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Minutes:

Cllr Jones, Viktoria Oumble and Bethanie Mortenson

YC.3

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Councillor Members are the Cabinet are asked if they have any interests to any item on the agenda and if so, to formally declare that interest.

Minutes:

 No interests were declared at the meeting.

YC.4

MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING pdf icon PDF 74 KB

The Minutes of the last meeting held on 19 September 2018 are attached.

 

Members of the Youth Cabinet are asked to confirm that they are a correct record and if so, to formally agree them.

Minutes:

It was agreed:

 

That the Minutes of the last meeting held on 19 September be approved.

YC.5

MATTERS ARISING

Minutes:

It was reported that the UK Youth Parliament’s Make Your Mark campaign gives a unique opportunity to reach out to young people to give their opinion on what matters to them. Through school and online, young people around the country took part in the annual Make Your Mark ballot. The ballot is of 10 issues that matter to young people and they have to vote in order of preference which is the most important for them from most to least important.

 

It was reported that there were 5996 ballot papers marked in Bury, which was a 31.25% which is the highest every turnout for Bury. There were 1.1 million young people that took part in the ballot and nationally there was a 1 in 5 response to the ballot, but in Bury we had a 1 in 3 response.

 

It was reported that nationally the top 5 issues were: Knife Crime, Mental Health, Equal Pay Equal Work, Homelessness and Curriculum for Life. The top 5 issues in Bury were Knife Crime, Mental Health, Curriculum for Life, Transport and Homelessness.

 

These issues will be debated by the Youth Parliament in the House of Commons and the top 2 issues will become part of a National Campaign for the Youth MPs and the Number 1 issue will be campaigned in Bury.

YC.6

CURRICULUM FOR LIFE MEETINGS

An update will be given at the Meeting.

Minutes:

There will be an update at the next meeting.

YC.7

UKYP

An update will be given at the meeting

Minutes:

Numair explained that he was going to the Houses of Parliament next week to meet other Youth MPs and to debate the Make your Make campaign issues. He asked the members of the Youth Cabinet who would be taking part in the next elections for Youth MP. 5 young people in the room indicated they would be running to be Bury’s next youth MP. The election will take place on 31 January with the counting of votes taking place on the 1 February with the result being declared at 5pm on the 1 February.

 

Heather explained that the deadline for standing as a candidate would be next Thursday 8 November with all consent forms and a manifesto produced. There will be a poster printed with a picture and the candidate’s manifesto that will be provided to all schools taking part. She also explained that being the Youth MP requires a lot of commitment and you will needed at weekends and some evenings. As Youth MP you go to the Houses of Parliament twice.

YC.8

YCA UPDATE

An update will be given at the meeting

Minutes:

Numair explained that the YCA is made up of young people from the 10 different Greater Manchester authorities. There are 2 representatives from each borough. The current campaign for the YCA is for Transport for young people in Greater Manchester and they are working with Andy Burnham to campaign for cheaper tickets for young people.

YC.9

THE BIG DEBATE

To be decided at the meeting

Minutes:

The Youth Cabinet split into teams to debate the following issue:

 

Should there be a second referendum on Brexit?

 

A debate was held with arguments for and against and a vote was held.

 

It was agreed:

 

That there should not be a second referendum on Brexit.

YC.10

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Minutes:

As part of the Make Your Mark vote, the top issue reported by young people in Bury was knife crime. The Youth Cabinet undertook an activity in groups with a councillor to talk about what the issues with knife crime were and if they had an ideas how it could be tackled in Bury.

 

The responses were from the various groups:

 

That supermarkets and other shops should keep knifes locked away in a cabinet that is only unlocked when they are being bought. That the police should be more proactive in searching young people who may be carrying knives. That drugs and alcohol are a bigger problem than knifes.

 

That there needs to be more awareness made of knife crime, they would like to hear from people who have been effected by knife crime in school. E.g. a family who have been affected or a nurse who has had to treat someone with a knife wound.

 

That awareness should be taught from primary school about what to do if someone you know has a knife, who to tell, how to administer first aid if someone has been attacked with a knife. That the police should be more visible in areas where crime is a problem. That parents should be taught how to deal with a child who may be carrying a knife.

 

It was discussed that Numair should take this back to the Youth Parliament as MPs are best placed to enact change in this instance.

 

Councillor Cathcart explained that he thought there was a fund of money from the Home Office which was available for applications for the specific use of work around knife crime. There were different agencies around that could be involved regionally to help. He said he would take the message back to his portfolio meeting and talk to Head Teachers.

 

Councillor O’Brien explained the Be Safe, Be Cool campaign led by Lesley Davidson may be able to help with any work being done. He also explained there is still a Police and Crime Commissioner role in Greater Manchester, under the Deputy Mayor, Beverley Hughes who could help with a strategic direction at a GM level.

 

Councillor Cathcart explained he had heard about an operation called County Lines where criminals have been targeting young, vulnerable people outside of their geographical area to encourage them to deal drugs or hold weapons for them.

 

The Youth Cabinet then undertook the same activity for the 2nd issue from the Make Your Mark ballot; Mental Health.

 

The responses were:

 

That there should be more advertising in schools of what is available for those needing Mental Health support, especially what is available outside of school.

 

That there should be a raising of awareness of the symptoms of mental health issues, so there can be early prevention work done. That there should be more awareness of how people can help themselves with their mental health and how peers can help each other. That there should be lessons on the school curriculum  ...  view the full minutes text for item YC.10