Agenda item

Purpose: To advise the commission of the process undertaken to manage the transfer of youth clubs from local authority control and the arrangements in place resultantly.

(Councillor Franks declared a personal interest in Agenda item 10 by virtue of the fact that he was the project coordinator for the Greater Greenham Project. As his interest was personal and not prejudicial he was permitted to take part in the debate and vote on the matter).

The Commission considered a report advising the Commission of the process undertaken to manage the transfer of youth clubs from local authority control.

David Lowe explained that the item had been deferred from the meeting of 26 June 2012. 

Councillor Brooks expressed his disappointment that the report did not provide the level of detail he had expected, in particular the medium and long term financial viability of the seven remaining youth clubs. Councillor Brooks believed that unless the youth clubs mentioned in the report had a level of ongoing funding, or an employed person to run them, he expected their future to be uncertain. Margaret Goldie explained that the purpose of the report had been to provide details of the seven youth clubs that remained following budget cuts, but that the Council had disinvested from universal youth services, and would no longer have an ongoing role in respect of these seven facilities. The Council did not fund or run these seven clubs, and it no longer had the resources within the Youth Service in order to do so.

Councillor Brooks asked whether young people had access to the music room at the Moorside Centre, and whether volunteers were being sought to allow the ‘Blue Bus’ to visit Mortimer, Purley, Beenham, Bradfield and Burghfield. Maureen Phillips responded that the recording studio was available to young people if they were able to source a professional to accompany them as had always been the case.  She continued that the resources no longer existed to support the ‘Blue Bus’.

Councillor Rendel questioned how the report showed a comparison between the previous situation and the current one.  Margaret Goldie explained that the tables showed the previous situation, and the bullet points following each table explained the current situation. In future, there would be limited oversight by the Council of these facilities, as they were now run by local communities and not by the Council’s Youth Service..

Councillor Franks commented that a service level agreement had been established with the Berkshire Association of Clubs for Young People (BACYP) regarding the ‘Rural Navigator’ mobile provision, and asked if similar service level agreements had been set up for other services.  Maureen Phillips confirmed that they had been.

The Chairman commented that whilst surveys had indicated that facilities for young people were the top priority amongst residents when they had been surveyed on the matter, the attendance figures shown in the report did not support this. Councillor Irene Neill stated that parents showed a desire to have more facilities for young people, but that young people did not want to be organised formally and would prefer more casual arrangements. Margaret Goldie expressed the view that if parents placed importance on the provision of facilities for young people, it could be expected that they would support local initiatives to retain youth clubs on a voluntary basis.

Councillor Webster asked whether information was available to show whether youth clubs had closed due to a lack of attendance, a lack of volunteers or a lack of funding.  Margaret Goldie responded that in making funding decisions, these considerations had been taken into account. Alongside this, the Directorate had had to prioritise funding for its different activities – for instance, comparing the priority given to youth work with that given to social work. In a situation where resources were much reduced, statutory work had to take precedence. The remaining youth clubs would therefore have to rely on local community effort to survive.

Councillor Brooks was concerned that if there was a need for youth facilities, then the youth clubs should not have been closed. Councillor Vickers expressed the view that the Council should be aware of what facilities were available across the district. Margaret Goldie repeated that the Council had disinvested from this area of work as a consequence of reductions in Government funding; and the Council no longer had the resources to either run similar levels of youth provision as in the past, or keep an overview of what facilities were available now.  The Commission discussed how the Council could discover what facilities were in place across West Berkshire for young people. Margaret Goldie explained that there was such a breadth and variety of activities available that it would not be possible to provide an exhaustive list, nor were there any resources still available to undertake such an activity. The Chairman suggested requesting the information from Parishes. Councillor Holtby did not agree as he felt this would raise an expectation that we could support Parishes in providing facilities.

Councillor Neill advised that a booklet had been produced in 2011 listing activities in the area and suggested it be circulated to members of the Commission.

Councillor Brooks suggested that the Council website be offered for the promotion of local activities along with an updated and re-released booklet. Margaret Goldie responded that the use of the web-site could certainly be promoted, but there were no longer resources available to update and release printed information. Councillor Brooks also expressed concern about the risk that clubs could be formed by anyone, including those with ill-intentions.  Margaret Goldie responded that this would be the case whether the Council funded youth clubs or not.  Uniformed organisations and other clubs affiliated to national or regional bodies required their staff to be CRB checked, but anyone was able to open a club without conforming to these requirements if they chose to do so.

The Chairman recognised that no recommendations would be forthcoming at this meeting and suggested that Members consider the issues and return to the next meeting with their suggested recommendations.

RESOLVED that:

·        The booklet ‘Youth Activities in West Berkshire’ be circulated to members of the Commission alongside information about the six facilities which had been closed;

·        Members of the Commission to consider the issues raised and suggest recommendations at the next meeting.