Agenda and minutes

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

There were no declarations of interest made at this meeting.

The Minutes of the last meeting held on 8 February 2021 are attached.

The minutes of the last meeting be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Owen and Bella will give an update at the meeting

Bella and Owen reported that they are creating a mental health questionnaire for all schools and colleges across the Bury area. They have met with Healthy Young Minds for advice and discussed appropriate questions with them. They have drafted different questions for different age groups to make sure that they are appropriate, and no one feels uncomfortable to answer them.

It was reported that the lockdown has been a factor on mental health therefore many questions will be lockdown related.

Councillor Hayes explained that mental health has been made a standing item on the Health Scrutiny Committee agenda and it will be discussed at every meeting. 

Councillor Mortenson suggested that the results from the questionnaire could be fed back to the Health Scrutiny Committee.

It was agreed:

1.     Councillor Mortenson to approach the Chair of the Health Scrutiny Committee regarding having the Youth Cabinet Members update the Committee on the outcome of the mental health questionnaire. 

An update will be given at the meeting

Emma updated the meeting on the Circles of Influence Event. It was explained that Circles of Influence is a networking event which provides young people an opportunity to mix with decision makers and get their views across.  Mini focus groups would be set up to look at specific issues. All schools, Councillors and decision makers will be invited to the event.

The themes for this year’s Circle of Influence Event was discussed.

It was agreed that the themes for the event will be:

1.      PHSE

2.      Serious Violent Crime

3.      Mental Health

4.      Youth Poverty and Homelessness 

The event this year will take place virtually and will be no more than 2 hours.

This will be planned and discussed further at the Youth Cabinet meetings that are held every Tuesday.

It was agreed:

1.   That the best date to hold a Circles of Influence Event would be towards the end of June.

Harrison and Phoebe will update at the meeting.

It was explained that there is a ‘Stop Plastic Pollution’ campaign being run through the UK Youth Parliament. The event was discussed, and it was agreed that the Youth Cabinet would take part.

It was agreed:

1.      The Youth Cabinet will take part in the Stop Plastic Pollution campaign.

2.      Phoebe will send a letter to the Bury M.P’s in relation to plastic pollution by the end of June 2021. 

It was explained that the Youth Cabinet are also looking at plastic pollution in their Youth Cabinet Climate Group.

The Youth Members of the Youth Cabinet will be asked to decide a topic for the Big Debate.

The Debate will be held and voted on.

Is 21st June a good time to ease lockdown?

Those present took part in the discussion.

The reasons why the lockdown shouldn’t be lifted on 21st June included that not everyone has been given the vaccine, people haven’t been following the restrictions properly, you can still pass on the virus if you have had the vaccine.

The reason why the lockdown should be lifted on 21st June included that Covid-19 is something that everyone will have to adapt and live with, the vaccine has reached heard immunity, it will be beneficial for mental and physical health and for there to be some normality over the summer. 

A vote was held, and it was agreed by a majority vote that the lockdown should be lifted on 21st June 2021.