Agenda item - Chair's Communications

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Agenda item

Chair's Communications

Minutes:

15.1 The Chair gave the following communication:

 

Welcome to this meeting of the Children Young People & Skills Committee. Please note that this meeting is being webcast and is capable of repeat viewing.

 

I wanted to begin by giving a few updates about this committee. Unfortunately, our parent governor rep positions are both vacant currently and work to recruit these positions is ongoing. But I’m delighted that following a decision at full council in July, we are welcoming Diana Boyd to this meeting as a representative of the Parent Carers Council.  At this juncture I wanted to congratulate you on your new role as Chair and also publicly thank your predecessor Fiona England for her work. I look forward to continued strong relationships of challenge and support between PACC and the council.

 

UASCs

At July’s full council, I put forward a motion regarding unaccompanied asylum-seeking children – thanking those who support UASCs in our city but also pushing for the introduction of a mandatory rota.

We have a fantastic social work team who do an incredible amount to support UASCs, alongside brilliant foster carers and our community and voluntary sector. Over the summer I was invited to attend the Hummingbird Projects Young Leaders graduation ceremony and it was incredible to see not only the brilliant work being done to support refugees – but also the real achievements of the young people who take part.

They are now recruiting for their next group of young leaders so if you are aged 16-25, from a refugee background, ideally living in East/West Sussex and able to speak English to good level the deadline to apply/refer is 29th September.

The Government then delivered us with a visual sign of the need for a mandatory rota. If I was boasting I would say thank you to them for proving my point. A week later with less than 24 hours’ notice they had to commission a hotel in Hove as an extension of a transition centre operating from Kent – to temporarily house UASCs awaiting placement by other local authorities through the National Transition Scheme.

I remain clear – other local authorities throughout the country are not doing their bit to support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. According to figures I’ve seen, less than 20 local authorities are meeting their 0.07% quota. This is not good enough.

 

The HO need secure placements for these young people without first moving them around the country to transition centres in areas where they will not remain, based in facilities which were not designed for this purpose. I want to urge the Home Office to cease the use of the site in Hove.  They have committed to do so and we await a date for this happening.

 

Youth Investment Fund

This month is the two year anniversary of the government’s announcement of the Youth Investment Fund. Yet this £500m, desperately needed investment – has not been forthcoming. Earlier this year, councillors on this committee agreed to plans to fund a redevelopment of Brighton Youth Centre – linked to government promises for the YIF. Yet we have not yet been able to apply.  As a result, I sent a letter to Diana Barran, minister for civil society at the beginning of September asking for details on the fund, when it will become available and whether she would like to visit Brighton Youth Centre. I await a response.

 

School Covid

As schools returned for the summer break, they returned with a step change in Government guidance for how the pandemic will be contained. No longer do bubbles apply. No longer are masks required. While no one wants to see young people missing school, myself and green colleagues on this committee remain concerned about how young people are going to be protected from the pandemic, should all – even the most minimal – of mitigations be taken away.

We had a last minute announcement from Government that c02 monitors will be provided. These will tell us where there are areas of poor ventilation. But they won’t help do anything about it. So school based unions have been assisting with excellent risk assessments to schools, we are working tirelessly to address issues of poor ventilation, and to provide robust advice.   But we’d urge the government to consider measures similar to that of New York State who have provided HEPA filters to their schools too and I have written to the education secretary to encourage such.

 

Youth Engagement

I wanted to thank Epping Forest Youth Council for joining members of Brighton & Hove Youth Council in August on a beach clean. I was really excited to attend – not least because one of the workers attending was my old youth worker, who supported me when I was a member of my youth council – but because I am always excited to see young people engaged in social action. This was held to celebrate international day of youth, which is celebrated on 12th August. I spent the afternoon visiting youth projects across the city and meeting with young people. I want to thank Hangleton & Knoll Project, Extratime and Trust for Developing Communities for allowing me to join!

 

TDC’s project was funded by the Governments HAF funding, which we heard details at an earlier meeting of this committee. Young people across the city had a chance to participate in such a huge variety of food-based activities this summer and I’d urge the government to consider this funding in the long term, to help prevent young people from going hungry.

 

The relaxation of some covid restrictions has enabled activities like these to start up again in person which for many young people has been a welcome return. And as a chair who started my role during the pandemic, I’ve really enjoyed the chance to go out and about and meet some of the people who work tirelessly to support young people in our city – not just through a teams call. Of course – all of these visits must be done safely and if not outside, with masks, in order to protect everyone there.

 

In closing, I wanted to report that at the last Youthwise meeting in July, young people raised a number of points with councillors which I wanted to address here:

 

How could the council ensure that litter in the city is managed better?

There are a number of steps we could take including - Increase the Environmental Enforcement Team, improving coverage throughout the city.  We can also improve awareness of the effects of litter on the environment, signage, social media platforms and finally review litter bins throughout the city, ensuring we have the correct bin and capacity in those locations. We can also do deep cleans of the city and work with volunteers and organisations like Leave no Trace and Surfers Against Sewage to do tidy ups. All of these are things being worked on I’m pleased to say and are regularly reported to the ETS committee.

 

Is there a possibility of opening up night clubs for young people in the city ( for under 18s)?

Whereas the cities nightclubs are private entities they do have to adhere to really strict licensing regulations. I’d encourage young people to perhaps consider contacting the establishments directly with this information to hand to see if they would consider an underage event

 

Can young people have spaces to paint murals in Brighton and Hove.  Both on hoardings surrounding building sites but also more permanent spaces?

The council are only be able to give permission for murals on buildings or structures that are publicly owned.  We are not able to give permission to paint on private property and where this is being sought approval would always be required from the property owner.  The majority of hoardings surrounding building sites in the city are not council property.  The Prevention workstream of the councils Graffiti Reduction Strategy does aim to provide opportunities and spaces for urban art projects and safe spaces for graffiti.  We work with artists and residents in the creation of community murals and also consider and investigate other potential opportunities for legal artwork. Right now community murals are happening at a tagging hotspot on Upper Lewes Road and there’s a mural at The Level in conjunction with Octopus Energy, local artists and young people with a focus on environmental issues which will be showcased at COP26.

 

What help is there for setting up more low cost dance spaces in local areas?

This is tricky without knowing what size space is needed, but we’d be happy to work with young people to identify requirements and see whats possible.

As ever, my inbox is always open for questions and queries regarding how we can improve the city for children and young people and I look forward to attending the next meeting of Youthwise on 13th October.

 

 

 

 


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