Agenda item

Remit and Terms of Reference

Meeting of Youth Services Working Party, Monday, 20th January, 2020 5.00 pm (Item 5.)

On 26 June 2019, Council agreed the following recommendations from the Youth Forum – Minute 292 refers:

a) That Witney Town Council works with partners to sustainably fund a team to deliver a model of Detached Youth Work across the Town. This could be via in-house provision or through a commissioned service. Liaise with all relevant groups to create a strong network - for example existing place-based youth work such as Cogges, and;

b) Creates a steering group to include elected and co-opted community members, to develop the model for delivering Youth Work, identify outcomes and look for opportunities to grow provision. This group should include people with relevant experience of qualified Youth Work and also young people themselves, and;

c) Ensures that a bid is made to Oxfordshire County Council once the terms of the Youth Work Fund are announced, to support recommendation a), and;

d) Ensures that a bid is made to the Police and Crime Commissioner in the next round of funding to support recommendation a).

Support

a) Witney Partnership of Schools and Abingdon & Witney College projects to promote adolescent mental health and community engagement;

b) Guideposts project to recruit volunteer mentors to support vulnerable families with school-age children (complementing Homestart’s work with families with pre-school children);

c) Synolos and Aspire projects to support NEETs;

d) The work of Lucy Cullen via the OCC Children and Family Centres, supporting young people and their families impacted by drug and alcohol misuse.

Liaise with WODC

a) Youth Forums

b) Community building strategies

At the Stronger Communities Committee Meeting on 8 July 2019, Minute C329 refers, the following was also agreed that the Youth Services Working party should: -

· Write the specification of posts and how many posts there should be

· Set the hours the Youth Works should work

· Take advice from those who understood the issues

· Decide what the ultimate goals of the service would be

· Decide upon the type of service – direct or partnership organisation

· Write funding bids to OCC, WODC and Thames Valley Police

Members are reminded that during the budget setting cycle which was agreed on 16 December 2019 - the Council has also agreed a budget of £30,000 which is for Children and Youth Services. Members may wish to extend the remit of this Working Party to ‘Children & Youth Services’.

Based on the above recommendations – and in light of Cllrs Ashbourne, Aitman and the Town Clerk’s verbal report Members are requested to give consideration to the remit of the Working Party and agree the terms of reference.

Minutes:

The Committee received and considered the remit and terms of reference for the Working Party.

Cllr Ashbourne set a timeline of 6 months for the Working Party to allocate its funds. All grant applications should be reviewed at once to ensure that everyone had the same opportunity.

Invited Stakeholders should be able to help the Working Party set the criteria for the grants.

Members were keen to develop an infographic detailing services available, hopefully to go onto the Council’s website an app. The committee discussed how a Youth Forum might be one of the outcomes of the Working Party, which might be able to take ownership of an infographic.

RECOMMENDED: that the remit and terms of reference be agreed as follows: -

a) That Witney Town Council works with partners to support and help fund deliver a model of Detached Youth Work across the Town, through a commissioned service. Identify with all relevant groups to create a strong network - for example existing place-based youth work such as Cogges, and understand provision already available and what is needed;

b) That the Youth Working Party if appropriate co-opts community members, to develop the model for delivering Youth Work, identify outcomes and look for opportunities to grow provision. This group should include representatives from Aspire, Got2Be, and Homestart, and also Heather McCulloch from West Oxfordshire District Council, Lucy Cullen and Rod Walker.