Agenda item

To be presented by Stuart Parker, Buckinghamshire Council.

The Community Board received a presentation from Stuart Parker, Buckinghamshire Council’s Community Youth Service Development Manager.  The first half of the presentation covered the work of the Family Support Service Community Youth Team. The following key points were made:

• The Community Youth Team was currently made up of 9 officers.
• Youth service changes in 2012 led to 16 youth centres being leased out with service level agreements in place. The Council had an ongoing commitment to support these centres. 
• In terms of wider Voluntary Community Sector (VCS) representation, the team engaged with stakeholders of VCS organisations and took a lead on community youth forums.
• In response to a question, Stuart explained that he understood that a mapping exercise had been undertaken in the past to identify what provision was already available. [Post Meeting note: as the mapping exercise had been undertaken some time ago, the profile would not be circulated with the notes.  Moving forward, due to the structure changes within the service, the links with Community Boards and relevant sub-groups would help identify any gaps in youth provision.  Furthermore, once the Youth Ambassador Programme was fully launched, the Youth Ambassadors would help the service to identity any issues that need addressing directly from a young person’s perspective.]
• The Community Youth Team took an active role in supporting funding opportunities. They could provide advice on funding applications, including those submitted to Community Boards.  
• The Community Youth Team worked alongside the Community Safety Team to address youth issues.
• Other areas of support included; NEET, Youth Voice Bucks, Youth Voice Executive Committee, Shout Out For SEND, We Do Care and bucksinspired.

The second half of the presentation focused on the proposal to improve youth participation in Community Boards.  The following key points were made:

• Youth Voice was for 11 to 19-year olds (or up to 25 years old for young people with a disability or learning disability) from Buckinghamshire and was a place where young people could have their voices heard to benefit and strengthen the community and take an active role in making Buckinghamshire the best place to live for all young people. The Youth Voice Executive Committee informed senior leaders from the Council about youth issues and undertook programmes of work to improve local services.
• There was an opportunity to link Community Boards and the existing Youth Voice Executive Committee to ensure that youth participation was embedded into Community Boards and provide young people with the opportunity to have a voice in Community Board activity.
• The proposal was that the Youth Participation Team would support Community Boards to recruit young people to be Youth Ambassadors.   
• There would be two Youth Ambassadors per Community Board and they would be a part of the wider Youth Voice Executive Committee.
• The Youth Ambassadors would represent their Community Board at Youth Voice meetings and feedback relevant information and opportunities to their relevant Community Boards for further discussion and action.
• Their role in supporting the Community Boards would include:
  • Being youth advisors to councillors.
  • Conducting their own research with other young people.
  • Making project proposals and applications to take action on the identified change.
  • Host events in their local community to discuss important issues and develop solutions.
• The Youth Ambassadors could also lead, or be a part of, youth action groups within their Community Board area bringing other young people together on topics of interest in task and finish groups to support the Community Board’s action plan and engagement with young people in the area. This could involve linking with local schools, colleges, youth groups and youth partner organisations. 

In the discussion which followed, Members of the Community Board were asked to contact Stuart, or the Community Board Manager, if they knew of any local young people who would be interested in the ambassador role or if they had any links to any local groups for young people. It was noted that the Participation Co-ordinator was also going into schools to let them know about the role.

The Community Board thanked Stuart for his presentation and looked forward to welcoming the Youth Ambassadors to the Board.