Invitees:

 

Councillor Huw David – Deputy Leader

Deborah McMillan – Corporate Director, Education and Family Support

Nicola Echanis – Head of Education and Early Help

Sarah Keefe – Senior Development Worker

Representative from the Youth Council

 

The Chairperson welcomed the Invitees to the meeting in order to discuss the above Strategy (attached at Appendix 1 to the report), and Members proceeded straight into a question and answering session.

 

A Member referred to page 24 of the report and paragraph 4.3, where it made reference to the Bridgend Youth Council being supported by staff within the Integrated Working and Family Support Team, which will be recognised as the platform through which all children and young people throughout the County Borough will be encouraged to influence positive changes within services and decisions which will affect them. It also stated, that the Youth Council will be the primary platform through which children and young people may engage in the democratic and decision making processes that affect them. He asked Invitees how this intended to be both delivered and sustained, given the budget cuts that the Youth Council had faced in recent years under the Council’s MTFS. He added that page 29 of the Strategy, confirmed that participation was the active involvement of children and young people in making decisions about the services that affect them or which they use, including involvement in decision making processes, and giving feedback on how their contribution has made a difference. He questioned in practical terms if this was tokenistic or realistic. The Member also referred to page 35 of the Strategy where it quoted that encouragement should be given to ensure young people have an involvement and input within the implementation of the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014. He also noted from page 37 of the Strategy, that it made reference to there being good opportunities for young people to have their say in the decisions that affect them. He asked what evidence there was of this, ie possibly through case studies or the like.

 

Finally, he referred to page 32 of the Strategy, and that the level of involvement of children and young people will increase as the Participation Strategy is developed. He referred to the ‘Ladder of Participation’ produced by UNICEF, which measured the involvement of children and young people. He asked Invitees what rung of the ladder young people in the County Borough were currently on.

 

The Head of Education and Early Help, advised that statutory guidance had been issued by Welsh Government to local authorities, to promote and facilitate participation by children and young people in decisions that may affect them.

 

Within the necessary guidance, there was an emphasis on the role of the young person in implementing the 7 wellbeing goals through inclusion in the decision making process. There were also some further recommendations for local authorities to adhere to, and to the National Participation Standards (shown at Appendix 2 to the report), which will ensure effective working practices are followed.

 

She added that Bridgend would deliver its commitment to embedding the participation agenda in all aspects of the delivery and reviewing of services through the implementation of the Strategy, in line with the ‘Shared Purpose: Shared Future’ Core Guidance, which has encompassed the National Participation Standards and the commitment in Wales, to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). A self –assessment within Bridgend would take place, and would be guided by the National Children and Young People’s Participation Standards Self-Assessment Toolkit, attached to the report at Appendix 3.

 

In part response to the Members questions, the Head of Education and Early Help confirmed that a dedicated post had been introduced to drive forward a lot of the work that would be involved in the development and progression of the Participation Strategy.

 

The Head of Education and Early Help confirmed that as the Participation Strategy was still work in progress, no case studies had yet been undertaken that would evidence or otherwise that young people have had their say in decisions that affect them. However, page 33 of Appendix 1, outlined and gave examples of instances whereby participation in the Strategy would provide wide ranging benefits for children, young people and their families, as well as for the organisations working with them and for the communities they live in.

 

There is a standard paragraph in all reports that aree submitted to Committee meetings of the Council detailing whether or not an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) had been or would be carried out in respect of the topic the report related to, it is intended that in the future a  Child Impact Assessments would also be undertaken in addition to the EIA in respect of all proposed policy changes.

 

Officers were also going through an exercise whereby different schemes led by the Council and its key stakeholders ie relating to children and young people were being looked at to see if they could have an active involvement in these schemes in order that they may ‘have their say’. This could mean anything that the Council as a whole are involved in, and not just something that emanated from the Children’s and Families Directorate.

 

In response to the Members point with regard to young people having an input in any work generated from the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014, the Head of Education and Early Help confirmed that there was a considerable amount of work arising from this legislation that would  involve  children and young people. The reason for this, was that work within the Directorates of Adult Social Care and Children’s did overlap to a degree, particularly with regard to engagement in the early intervention and prevention agenda.

 

A Member felt that it was important for Members to be reminded of the key provisions of the above Act, and how these impacted upon any of the work to be considered in the future, by the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

 

The Cabinet Member, Children’s Social Services and Equalities, confirmed that the Cabinet Committee Equalities would assist in monitoring the above, including looking further at the subject of Child Impact Assessments as part of Equality Impact Assessments, in respect of issues that directly affected them, including those that are incorporated in the Future Generations Act.

 

She added that a ‘Girls Network’ had been established, which comprised of primarily young women who held workshops where adults were invited to. These workshops included sharing what activities these individuals were involved in, and new ideas for what type of health and wellbeing activities they wished to pursue, including as part of school’s curricula. She further added that sport involving females at school particularly within comprehensive and secondary schools, had increased since teachers had involved asking pupils what activities they wanted to do, as opposed to telling them.

 

A Member advised that in future, he hoped to see evidence through case studies and the like, of the extent that young people become involved in with regard to future work that comprises the Participation Strategy. He added that currently the Youth Council were involved in developing 6 different Strategic Work Plans.

 

The representative from the Youth Council reiterated that the level of involvement of children and young people would increase as the Strategy developed further. That said, there were already a number of youth-led activities in being, where there was little or no input to these from adults.

 

The Senior Development Worker added that the local authority were looking to second extra roles within the Youth Council, to give increased support to the agenda of the Participation Strategy. There was also a proposal she further added, to place young people on Public Service Boards being established to sit under the Future Generations Act.

 

The Family Support Services Manager also added that work would be progressed with Unicef, to further establish the rights children have while being educated in school.

 

A Member noted that much had been made of the Strategy, including explaining how it would develop. There was reference in the report to the support of the Strategy by the Youth Council. He asked however, what work had been carried out if any, to engage with young people through other partner and outside organisations, as only a minority of young people within the County Borough were represented by the Youth Council.

 

The Head of Education and Early Help stated that Officers were aware of the fact that the Youth Council was not the voice for all young people situated within the County Borough. She added that recently an open day for young people had been convened, where individuals who attended had been advised of the avenues they could pursue if they wanted their voice to be heard, through different initiatives such as the Participation Strategy, in order that there was increased involvement in work relating to the development of this, and other newly developed legislation that may affect people’s lives at a young age. She further reported that representation at that event was from a very wide range of children including children from vulnerable groups.

 

The Senior Development Worker added, that there was a Participation Strategy Network that was made up of various different stakeholders, who had a connection with young people over and above the Youth Council. This Network also encouraged the participation within it of disabled young people. Further work was being carried out with a view to developing the rights of young people, through appointing Champions through Youth Clubs and other Associations, once more to increase and encourage the involvement of young people in the development of youth led initiatives. Further to the last point made by the Member, she would arrange for an audit to be undertaken in order to ensure that there were no ‘gaps’, in terms of trying to engage with all young people to this end.

 

The Deputy Leader confirmed that the topic under discussion was a Strategy rather than an Action Plan, but a primary aim of the Strategy was to ensure that better outcomes are delivered for children and young people, and to achieve this they needed to be involved more in what key organisations such as the local authority were doing. He was happy for a report to be produced for the Committee annually on the work of the Strategy as it developed further. He added that schools had been made aware of the Strategy, so therefore, a considerable number of young people would have been made aware of it together with its aims and objectives, as well as through organisations such as the Youth Council.

 

A Member asked if there was any work ongoing in the County Borough with children aged 0 – 10.

 

The Senior Development Worker replied that work was ongoing with Unicef, with a view to setting-up a project in 5 primary and 5 secondary schools, specifically designed for young children over 5 years of age, to look at ways within which very young children’s rights could improve in terms of their participation in things that affect them. If this exercise proved useful, then the intention was to expand it further to other schools. A Service Level Agreement was currently being developed with Unicef, and the work it was anticipated, would commence in September 2016.

 

The Deputy Leader explained that the voice of a student had expanded in Bridgend County Borough in recent times. An example of this, was that in some schools there had cases of pupils being included in the   appointments of teachers and headteachers . All schools as far as he was aware, had also set-up a School Council, where they could become involved in a number of different issues, including examining issues of accountability in the Education Authority. Children at schools were also now as a matter of course, consulted upon when there were plans to amalgamate schools they attended under the Council’s School Modernisation proposals, including any views they had on issues such as this, being taken on board just like any other consultees would. He added that appropriate sections within other Directorates would need to be signed up to commit to the Strategy, more particularly Parks and Playing Fields, Highways (specifically public transport), as opposed to just the Childrens Social Care and Education Department’s.

 

The Cabinet Member Equalities and Children’s Social Services advised that a training programme would be rolled out in the Authority over the next few months, with a view to increasing the quality of Environmental Impact Assessments.

 

A Member who was on the Board of Governors at Brynteg Comprehensive School, commented upon the fact of how little he was in contact with students.

 

The Chairperson replied by stating that things would improve to that end through initiatives such as the Participation Strategy, which as well of encouraging more participation from the younger element of society, would hopefully also lead to increased engagement with them. He added that it was positive news in hearing that the representative of the Youth Council at today’s meeting (who was also the Youth Mayor of BCBC), was providing an active role in School Service Boards. He suggested that he also attends at least one School Governing Board meeting serving each of the Schools in the County Borough, together with a meeting of the Bridgend Governors Association to advise of and reinforce the Participation Strategy.

 

The Youth Council representative confirmed that he would be happy to go along with these suggestions.

 

The Deputy Leader concurred, and added that ideas such as those mentioned above, would be an important voice for the changes in curriculum.

 

A Member referred to Appendix 1 of the report at page 61, where reference was made to the Participation Consortium which was a multi-agency strategic body working at a national level, to develop capacity and practice in terms of the Participation of children and young people in decision making in Wales. She asked how many young people under 25 years of age were involved with this.

 

The Senior Development Worker confirmed that the majority of young people involved in the Consortium were under 25, as it was specifically designed for 0 – 25 year olds, and usually connected with various Youth Council’s. She added however, that the National Participation Network was much more productive than this all Wales initiative.

 

She added in response to a follow-up question, that she was not totally au fait with all the groups that comprised the membership of the Consortium, though she was familiar with one or two, for example Funky Dragon, who were a very effective youth support group.

 

A Member closed the debate on this item by asking how far advanced the Participation Strategy currently was.

 

The Head of Education and Early Help, advised that the Strategy was presently in its infancy stage and that the Action Plan was an important component, in that the aims and objectives of this would assist in terms of populating and developing the Strategy further.       

 

Participation Strategy

 

1.    The Committee recognised the work that was being undertaken in relation to the participation of Children and Young People but commented on the lack of detail of this within the Strategy and the need for the Strategy to be sold more widely .

 

2.    The Committee expressed concerns over the lack of detail for engagement of children and young people outside of the youth council such as those hard to reach or considered vulnerable as well as primary aged pupils.  Officers reported that work with Unicef for example was being undertaken, working with primary aged pupils.

 

3.    Members were also concerned over the lack of monitoring or evaluation of participation work and commented that if this information is not consistently gathered it would prove difficult to provide it when needed; for the purposes of the self-assessment.

 

4.    The Committee commented that the strategy is not written in a user friendly manner for children and young people and that this, along with the lack of detail in terms of ‘how’ children and young people can get involved, makes it difficult for them to access and understand how they can participate.

 

5.    The Committee noted the comment from Officers on the need for other Directorates to take on the Strategy but suggested that in order for this to happen the Strategy needs significant expansion and detail to enable other Directorates to sign up to it.

 

6.    Following their conclusions, Members recommended the following changes to the Strategy for incorporation in the final text:

 

a)    That more information on other organisation involvement be incorporated into the strategy;

b)    That more examples of the ‘How’ aspect be incorporated into the strategy;

c)    That the strategy be more accessible and user friendly for children and young people;

d)    That the strategy recognise and evidence more the importance of engagement with other children and young people outside of the Youth Council and detail how this this is going to take place;

e)    That the action plan be incorporated within the strategy to evidence how the work is being targeted, monitored and evaluated;

f)     That the action plan be expanded for the whole Authority to incorporate other Directorates.

 

Further Comments

 

7.     The Committee were delighted that the Youth Council was to be represented on the Public Service Board.

 

8.     The Committee asked that the Bridgend Governors Association be contacted and asked to raise with all Chairs of Governors the requirement for pupil representation on Governing Bodies.

 

9.     The Committee commented on the need for Scrutiny to engage with more youth organisations; getting more young people to attend Scrutiny Committees or provide written evidence.  Members stressed that this needed to be taken forward across all Scrutiny Committees.