Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence are noted above.

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.

Councillor Rydeheard declared an interest in ‘The Big Debate’ due to being a file handler in a defendant law firm.

The Minutes of the last meeting held on 10^th June are attached for approval.

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 June 2021 were approved as a correct record.

Heather Walton, Youth Participation Worker updated members with the findings of the Circles of Influence event. Heather explained that the event was positive and praised the young people involved for their hard work.

Heather shared a report on the findings of the event with members of the meeting. The report details every discussion that took place at the event. Heather pulled out the key findings from the event.

Heather explained the key findings to members and asked the Youth Cabinet members involved in the event for their feedback. 

PHSE, violent crimes, homelessness and mental health were the chosen topics to discuss at the event.  Mental health was voted as the most important discussion topic at the event, by the young people involved. 

Environmental issues were included within the report as the young people feel strongly about the subject, although this was not a topic at the Circles of Influence event, it was felt necessary to include within the report. 

Once the report has been agreed by Youth Cabinet members it will be added to the agenda for the Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership Board and then filtered to services who support children and young people in Bury. All decision makers who attended the event will receive a copy of the report. If any decision makers take any actions from the report, they would need to inform Heather so progress can be logged.

It was agreed:

1. That the key findings within the Circles of Influence report are accurate.
2. That the report be brought back to the next meeting to share the progress that has been made.
3. That the young people be thanked for their involvement and hard work with the event.

Owen updated members on the mental health ‘Be Well Project’. Owen explained that at the last meeting the Youth Cabinet members were developing a mental health survey to send out to schools in Bury.

Since the last meeting, the Youth Cabinet members have been informed about a Manchester wide wellbeing survey. The Youth Cabinet members have agreed to use the data from the Manchester wide survey once it is made available.

Owen explained the importance of mental health due to this being the main issue from the Circles of Influence event.

Heather Walton updated members with information about the ‘Help Yourself’ course. The course had been designed for adults that want to make improvements to their life. The Bury team would like to roll out this programme to young people and it has been agreed that a pilot programme will be delivered to the Youth Cabinet members. The programme will be delivered virtually over 4 weeks; on the 5th week the young people will give feedback to the team of how they can improve the course so this can be delivered successfully to other young people.

Heather Walton explained what is meant by the ‘Takeover Day’. It is organised by the Children’s Commissioner every year and gives young people across the UK chance to take over organisations in a meaningful way. Bury Council is committed to the Takeover Day and want it to be a meaningful event that has a long-term impact.

Heather explained that a different event will be arranged for care experienced young people which will specifically focus on improving experiences in care and also run a wider event, that is more generic, that affects all young people.

Heather suggested that young people could be given an opportunity to take over the PHSE curriculum in Bury, as PHSE was discussed at the Circles of Influence event.  Heather asked the Youth Cabinet members for their feedback and if anyone had any alternative suggestions.

The Youth Cabinet members would prefer the Takeover Day to be in-person with the option of people joining virtually if they couldn’t attend in person.

It was agreed:

1. That the Takeover Day be around taking over the PHSE curriculum.
2. That the Takeover Day should be held in November.
3. That MPs should be invited to join in with the Takeover Day.

The committee discussed how they would prefer to hold the Youth Cabinet meetings in the future. It was agreed that future meetings should be held in person with the caveat that the meeting may have to revert to virtual meetings due to Covid-19.

A Youth Mayor will be elected by Youth Cabinet members at the next meeting, their role will be to chair the Youth Cabinet Committee. Members will vote at the next meeting who they wish to be elected Youth Mayor.

Emma Greenwood gave an update about the plastic pollution campaign that the British Youth Council had been supporting. Emma has signed an open letter in support of this campaign.

Emma explained that Youth Focus North West had done work on the plastic pollution campaign and when discussing this with the young people there was unanimous support for the campaign.

It was agreed:

1. That the next Youth Cabinet Committee should be held in person with the meeting starting at 5.00pm.

Youth Cabinet members took part in the debate.

Discussions took place as to whether the age of accountability should be raised. There were reasons for and against raising the age of accountability.

• It was felt that the age should be raised from 10 as being labelled a criminal would be damaging at a young age.
• It was felt that the age should not be raised as it could be open to abuse from criminal gangs.
• It was suggested that the age of accountability should look at different sanctions for different issues.

A vote was held, and it was agreed by a majority vote that the age of accountability should be raised, with the majority of members agreeing that the age of accountability should be 12.

It was agreed:

1. That the next debate should be if you are for or against the death penalty.