Cabinet Member – Councillor Dilwyn Morgan
To consider a
report on the above (attached)
An informal
session will be held for members at the close of the meeting.
Minutes:
Submitted - the report of the Cabinet Member
for Children and Young People providing the committee with an update on
progress during the first year of remodelling.
The Cabinet Member set out the context, noting
that the pre-report gave the narrative - the story of the journey – while the
appendix, which in his opinion was the most important part, detailed what had
happened during the first year of remodelling, i.e. what had gone well and what
had not gone so well. He explained that the main conclusion was that the work
programme had been completed, but that the service remained on a long and
constantly changing journey. That journey, in addition to being steered by
legislation, was also steered by the young people of Gwynedd, and this was at
the core of the entire journey. He further noted that one of the greatest
problems was the challenge faced in terms of staff recruitment, especially
workers for the community clubs. In terms of the impact assessment of the
change, the report highlighted that no negative impacts had been identified.
There was a great deal of work ongoing with groups such as the Urdd and a number of other third sector organisations, e.g.
Frân Wen, and the partnership with those organisations
was developing on a daily basis. He also
noted that the incorporation of the Youth Service within the Children and
Families Department had opened a number of doors to the service, which now
collaborated far more with other departments within the Council, in addition to
other agencies involved with young people's well-being.
During the discussion the following matters
were raised:-
·
Referring to paragraph 3.9 of the report, a member
drew attention to the fact that a club had now been established at Bryncrug.
·
In response to the local member's request for the
service's help in finding a suitable location for the Penygroes
Youth Club, it was noted that the service was aware of the challenges and was
very willing to provide support. There had already been discussions held with
the Education department, etc., and the intention was to attempt to hold
further discussions, e.g., with the Byw'n Iach Centre.
·
In response to a question, it was explained that the
problem around recruiting staff for the community clubs derived from the fact
that the clubs could not offer sufficient hours to make the positions full time
posts, or even close to it. It also
appeared that the nature of the work did not attract a high number of applicants
for the posts.
·
In terms of numbers, it was explained that each club
required two members of staff, but that the aim was to have three at each
location, to avoid having to close the club for a night due to illness. In such cases, there would always be an
attempt to fill the gap with someone from Gwynedd Youth Club. However, they
were not always available due to having arranged other activities.
·
In terms of the provision in Pwllheli it was explained
that the new model, as in other areas, would be visiting the town to run
activities for a period of time. It was the young people themselves who chose
the activities. Some of the community clubs had seen what was being offered in
their communities by Gwynedd Youth Club and had decided that it was sufficient.
It also appeared that young people were very prepared to travel to the clubs,
and the service had purchased two vehicles to transport young people who had
difficulty travelling; although it was acknowledged that this was far from
sufficient. The new service also visited communities where there had been no
previous activity.
·
It was suggested that the service should contact the
local members to let them know of what was happening in their wards so that
they could promote the events and attend some of the evenings to socialise with
the young people, should they wish to do so. In response, it was agreed that
the idea of contact with the local member was a good one, and it was suggested
that the service should undertake a piece of work on this.
·
It was expressed that the report conveyed a very
Utopian world, but that there was no reference to the Wales Audit Office’s observations
in its report published in September the previous year, which raised questions
as to the method of implementing the service in its new form. The report noted that the service did not
comply with the Well-being Act, or even with the principles of Ffordd Gwynedd. Although the report brought before the
Audit and Governance Committee noted that there were further discussions being
held with the Inspectorate, there was no reference to this or to the result of
the discussions included in the report to this committee. In response, it was
noted that the service did not claim to have achieved perfection. It had been a
very challenging time for the service's staff, and the service acknowledged
that it was continuing on a journey in which the pathway was constantly
changing. In terms of the report, it was noted that no official response had
been received from the Care Inspectorate with regard to the challenge
submitted. It was emphasised that the Inspectorate had not looked at the
service from the perspective of what had been achieved for young people, but
rather from the perspective of what consideration had been given to the
Well-being Act in remodelling the service. It was explained that there were
significant steps being taken to rectify this, and as the Youth Service was now
part of the Children's Service, the Well-being Act was very high on its list of
priorities.
·
The partnership with other agencies was welcomed and
enquiries were made as to whether there were any more creative ways of
collaborating with those agencies in order to attract staff. In response, it was noted that the service
was aware of the challenges and that it was looking at all possible ways of
attracting people. Obviously, health and safety and data protection
requirements, and so forth, added to the challenge.
·
A member noted that he/she would like to know more
about the situation in Bangor e.g. was there any collaboration with the schools
and if so, which schools in particular? In response, it was noted that a
general programme of the activities could be sent to the members to make them
aware of what was happening in their areas.
·
It was suggested that a task and finish group should
be established to support the service in realising some of the objectives. It was noted that this was a matter to be
raised in the informal meeting at the conclusion of this committee.
·
In response to a question, it was explained that it
was youth workers who arranged and paid for locations for activities bought by
the Gwynedd service, and it was emphasised that the local member's support was
very important in this respect.
·
In response to an observation, it was agreed that
engaging with those young people who did not use the service was a challenge,
but that it was the role of the professional community worker to ask and find
out what the wishes of the young people were. The schools were also very
supportive in terms of engagement with the young people and this linked well
with the work of tracking NEETS young people (namely those not in work,
education or training). It was also noted that youth workers were prepared to
arrange anything should a cohort of young people approach them.
·
In response to a question, the Cabinet Member noted that
he was satisfied that the service was consistent across the county and that the
same opportunities were available to young people everywhere. As this was a mobile service, it went to all
kinds of small places and reached young people in those rural communities which
had been impossible to cover previously.
·
Disappointment was expressed regarding the failure to
establish a club in Porthmadog. In response, it was
noted that the service and Porthmadog Town Council
had made a considerable effort to establish a club in the town, but had been
unsuccessful in recruiting staff to run it.
·
It was suggested that the service should release a
Monthly Events Calendar, rather than the weekly version currently produced, as
this would make it easier for the young people to plan ahead.
·
It was noted that the service was working in an
environment of cuts, and an enquiry was made as to whether best practice in
other councils / organisations had been looked at, and whether this had been
successful. In response, it was noted
that there was a constant process of looking at arrangements elsewhere, but as
a result of having to remodel the Gwynedd service in 2018, it was believed that
youth services across Wales now looked at this Council's arrangements. It was
trusted that the service in Gwynedd would continue to change and continue to
respond to the challenges facing it.
·
An enquiry was made as to whether there were plans to
extend the Language Charter to youth clubs. In response, it was noted that all
the youth workers led the activities through the medium of Welsh, but that the
point regarding the adoption of the Language Charter was something the service
should look at.
·
It was noted that it was important to bear in mind
when providing the service that the Assembly had voted to lower the voting age
in Wales to 16. In response, it was
agreed that this was timely, and it was noted that the Democratic Services
Committee was looking at this. It was also noted that a pilot scheme had been
established in Y Bala, in which officers went to the
secondary school to initiate the discussion with young people; not only those
who would be voting, but also the youngest pupils.
The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member and the
Youth Service Manager for the report, summarising the main conclusions of the
report as follows:-
·
The recruitment of workers had been, and continued to
be, an evident problem.
·
There was a need to ensure better contact with local
members in order for them to be a means of promoting the service.
·
The Events Calendar should be published monthly rather
than weekly.
·
The service should look at adopting the Language
Charter.
RESOLVED to accept the report.
The Cabinet Member thanked the committee for
its support and the discussion, and extended an invitation for members to get
in touch with any further observations or ideas.
Supporting documents: