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Reading Youth Cabinet 2010

Year Book

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Contents: Elections Page 3 Overview Page 4 Campaigns Page 5 Other achievements Page 9 Statistics Page17

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ElectionsElectionsElectionsElections The elections for the 2010 Youth Cabinet took place over the weeks of 30th November 2009-11th December 2009, with the ballot count taking place on the 14th December 2009. A total of 18 young people stood as candidates in the election, including young people with Learning Difficulties & Disabilities, and Children-in-Care. In total, 3887 young people voted in the elections, split between the following locations: Highdown School 724 Denefield School 528 JMA School 494 BHF School 366 Reading Girls School 333 Little Heath School 299 Bulmershe School 213 Prospect School 174 Kendrick School 170 Elvian School 124 North YES Team & CRED 96 The Avenue School 83 East YES Team 74 West YES Team 47 South YES Team 44 Chiltern Edge School 33 Maiden Erleigh School 33 Pheonix College 26 Young Firefighters 10 Cranberry College 9 Youth Offending Service 5 Children-in-Care Council 2

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OverviewOverviewOverviewOverview

In the event, because of the number of vacancies available on the Youth-Cabinet all those who stood were elected to become members of Reading Youth Cabinet.

The 2010 Youth Cabinet Members were:

Wendy Flanagan Josh Harsant Hannah Batten Lisa Dore-Goffe Saraniya Thayaparan Richard Hine Sam D’Cruz Tom Brailli Richard Ness Josie Thum Christian Ebue James Thomas Geoffery Bennett Rupert Smith James Darvall Anne Ebue Liz King Daniel Mija Nathan Stevens Faye Gobbi Miriam Wright Nicole Young Abdul Ali Shakira Thomas

The Youth-Cabinet voted for its representatives on the UKYP, and for its officer positions. Therefore, those who were elected to these positions are as follows:

Member of Youth Parliament (MYP) - Josh Dept. Member of Youth Parliament - Faye Youth Cabinet Chairman - Saraniya Vice-Chairman - Wendy Secretary - Anne Staff Support Provided By:Staff Support Provided By:Staff Support Provided By:Staff Support Provided By:

Reading Borough Council: Flic Read, Nick Johnson, Anthony Jacobs, Tom Woolmer Connexions Berkshire: Rob Fowler

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CampaignsCampaignsCampaignsCampaigns The cabinet selected the following as its campaigns for 2010:

• Better Transport

• Safer Reading (with a focus on Anti-Bullying)

• The Environment

The following gives full information about each campaign:

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Better TransportBetter TransportBetter TransportBetter Transport

Campaign aim:Campaign aim:Campaign aim:Campaign aim: We want to reduce bus fares for young people in education and ensure that buses are safe and accessible.

Campaign Objectives:Campaign Objectives:Campaign Objectives:Campaign Objectives: 1. Source money to subsidise fares for young people in full time education.

2. Ensure buses are safe for young people by introducing a bus charter, outlining clear rules and regulations.

3. Check that buses are running in appropriate areas and at times that young people need them, such as school time and late evenings

Steps to Success for This YearSteps to Success for This YearSteps to Success for This YearSteps to Success for This Year::::

• Collect research on bus services in different areas of Berkshire

• Question and work with young people on improvements made to current services

• Investigate funding sources, such as social philanthropy: benefits, drawbacks, opportunities...

• Liaise and work in partnership with Reading Buses on the services provided and how we could improve them for young people across the Borough.

Progress ovProgress ovProgress ovProgress over 2010er 2010er 2010er 2010::::

• Met with Chief-Exec of Reading Buses and developed positive relationship

• Established Youth Advisory Group to Reading Buses, to advise on youth-related issues – will meet quarterly

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The EnvironmentThe EnvironmentThe EnvironmentThe Environment

Campaign Aim:Campaign Aim:Campaign Aim:Campaign Aim: To raise awareness of environmental issues amongst young people

Campaign Objectives:Campaign Objectives:Campaign Objectives:Campaign Objectives: 1. Give assemblies in secondary schools around Reading

a. Show a presentation to introduce ourselves and raise awareness about the environment.

b. Use the presentation to propose a sculpture competition to pupils in schools, using recyclable material.

2. Put up environmental posters around Reading to raise awareness.

3. Consider using Earth Hour to promote cause. 4. Pass on environmental training through campaign group members to young people.

5. Try to get Reading’s Christmas lights turned off for a day in December.

Steps to Success for this YearSteps to Success for this YearSteps to Success for this YearSteps to Success for this Year • Finalise and approve presentation and poster.

• Give presentation, along with speech to the rest of the Cabinet &/ Area Forums for feedback.

• Organise assemblies in schools.

Progress oveProgress oveProgress oveProgress over 2010r 2010r 2010r 2010:::: • Developed relationships with relevant organisations, e.g.

RISC, and Robert Green (Green Party Council Member).

• Attended Global Citizenship course in order to learn more and pass on information about Global Citizenship to others.

• Initiated Schools’ Environmental Sculpture Competition.

• Offered schools opportunity of us delivering assembly around the issue.

• Began work on environmental leaflets aimed to raise awareness.

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Safer CommunitySafer CommunitySafer CommunitySafer Community

Campaign AimCampaign AimCampaign AimCampaign Aim:::: To raise awareness of and contribute to the prevention of bullying

Campaign Objectives:Campaign Objectives:Campaign Objectives:Campaign Objectives: 1. Contribute to and promote the Reading Borough Council Anti-Bullying Strategy, and ensure it is being using efficiently and appropriately

2. Establish an Anti-Bullying/Peer Mentoring scheme in all Reading Schools, including primary, secondary and special educational needs.

3. To work with marketing professionals to develop a marketing strategy, and thus marketing campaign, for this campaign, with the emphasis on anti-bullying.

Steps to Success for this Year:Steps to Success for this Year:Steps to Success for this Year:Steps to Success for this Year: • Make significant contributions to the Anti-Bullying Strategy.

• Become linked with all schools in Reading, with particular emphasis on Anti-Bullying.

• Collect research and consult school professionals about our plans, in order to gain professional feedback and action points.

Progress over 2010Progress over 2010Progress over 2010Progress over 2010:::: • Significant contribution to Anti-Bullying Strategy made, including Foreword & extensive consultation

• Currently in dialogue to make Anti-bullying DVD for Schools/Youth-Services/other organisations

• Plan being drawn-up for young people to evaluate Anti-Bullying Strategies implementation....

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Other Other Other Other Achievements:Achievements:Achievements:Achievements: Voice, Influence & Participation (VIP) Voice, Influence & Participation (VIP) Voice, Influence & Participation (VIP) Voice, Influence & Participation (VIP) GuidanceGuidanceGuidanceGuidance The Youth-Cabinet worked with area-forums to set the principles by which the VIP Guidance is based, and consulted with the participation team throughout its development. The guidance sets out how services across the Directorate of Education & Childrens Services should work in partnership with service-users, so that they have a meaningful voice, and empowered, and able to participate in the planning and delivery of services. Development Started - January 2010 Launched - November 2010 Next-Steps: Services will be implementing the principles.

• April-May 2011 – Phase 1 of assessments (enabling service-users to RAG-rate services on success

• December 2011 – Phase 2 of assessments

• April 2012 – Phase 3 – all services assessed.

Local Safeguarding Children BoardLocal Safeguarding Children BoardLocal Safeguarding Children BoardLocal Safeguarding Children Board On 29th July 2010, Josh & Saraniya presented to the Board, having been requested to do so on issues around safeguarding which were important to young people, and how the board could better communicate & engage with young people. The youth-cabinet undertook a small consultation, which produced the following results:

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� What do you feel are the main safety issues affecting young people in Reading?

◦ 1 Drug & Alcohol Problems

◦ 2 Self-Harm

◦ 3 Bullying & Stress

…..

◦ 10 Sexual Health

� Are there any other important issues that you feel we have missed out?

◦ Homelessness

� What do you feel is the best method to send messages around safety to young people?

◦ 1 Internet, Social Networking (Facebook)

◦ 2 Posters, Flyers

◦ 3 School, Assemblies, PSHE lessons

◦ 4 Word of Mouth

and made the consequent recommendations: That the board consider establishing a shadow-LSCB board, or a communication/liaison group (made up of young-people) that the board could work in conjunction with when topics that need a young person’s involvement or input in come up. Next-Steps: As a result, Tom Woolmer, Participation & Accreditation Co-ordinator, has been requested to attend the board meeting on 13th January 2011, to explore options around this recommendation & involvement of young people. The youth-cabinet received the following letter:

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Reading Local Safeguarding Children Board C/0 Civic Centre, Reading.

Youth Cabinet

9th August 2010 Dear Youth-Cabinet Member I am writing to express my thanks, as well as those of the LSCB, for your presentation and discussion with the LSCB on 29th July. We are very grateful to you for giving up your time and preparing such a useful session for us. We had both a lively and an interesting time and were given plenty of food for thought. We are grateful for the offer to contribute to our discussions. We shall be considering this at our next Executive meeting. The task group on young people and alcohol issues is one obvious area where your contribution might be very helpful and we shall be in touch shortly to take this further. Yours sincerely

Stephen Barber Independent Chair, Reading Local Safeguarding Children Board

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LSP ForumLSP ForumLSP ForumLSP Forum On 16th November 2010, Reading Youth Cabinet contributed heavily to the high-profile LSP Forum, which started the Sustainable Community Strategy Consultation Period. 2 members helped man the consultation point in the Town-Centre during the day, engaging passers-by in the consultation and about what the Youth-Cabinet does. Around 50 consultations were completed by the group. Following this, 5 Youth-Cabinet Member (Josie, Josh, Anne, Faye & Saraniya) performed a dance to Glee at the LSP Forum event at the Town-Hall – the audience consisted of representatives from a wide range of adult forums & groups, the Reading 2020 Board, Councillors and Senior-Council Staff.

Dance-practice at The Avenue Centre

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The performance was very well received, and put the Youth-Cabinet firmly in the spotlight. The Youth Cabinet members then contributed to the workshops held during the rest of the evening.

Cultural Partnership Dance EventCultural Partnership Dance EventCultural Partnership Dance EventCultural Partnership Dance Event On the 1st, 2nd & 3rd December, the same group performed the opening dance at 3 events, for groups of young people from Primary Schools around Reading, who had been putting together Glee Dances. This showcased the youth-cabinet, and Josh & Saraniya hosted each of the three events.

Cabinet QuestionsCabinet QuestionsCabinet QuestionsCabinet Questions On the 29th November, Josh as Member of Youth Parliament, and Saraniya as Youth-Cabinet Chair, presented questions to Cabinet, which had been informed by consultation with the youth-cabinet. The following responses were recorded: Question 1

With cuts being made to the IAG Service provided by Connexions on a local and national

level, and with the figure of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET)

being a priority in our town, how do the council envisage keeping our NEET figure down,

which will in itself reduce crime and anti-social behaviour amongst young people?

REPLY by Councillor Ralph (Lead Councillor for Education and Children’s Services):

The NEET Task Group which meets every six weeks this year is focusing on activities that can

support some of our most vulnerable young people. The first of these meetings took place

on November 15th where the focus was support for Young Offenders. There were a number

of outcomes from this meeting such as developing work experience schemes; developing

more mentoring schemes; delivering college programmes at the Youth Offending Service

Centre; investigating further ways of engaging employers to take on Young Offenders.

Future meetings will follow a similar format focusing on other vulnerable groups such as

Learners with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities.

The NEET Task Group has a very broad membership from both within and outside of the

council including a broad range of providers and voluntary sector organisations It is working

to ensure that there is very good coordination of activities across the various agencies. A

sub group of the NEET Task Group has been set up specifically to look at what more can be

done by voluntary sector organisations to support the NEET agenda. This group has met

once and work is about to start on engaging with individual third sector organisations to take

this forward.

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All local providers of Foundation Learning – education provision for more vulnerable

learners – meet regularly to coordinate their work. There is a high volume of such provision

available within Reading and the issue is around engaging with young people to participate

in this provision. This is an ongoing challenge, but having a network of providers helps to

address this issue.

Apprenticeships are seen as a crucial way forward in supporting young people to gain the

necessary skills to succeed in the workplace. The council continues to support and promote

apprenticeship places. The council is also coordinating efforts to promote apprenticeships

within the private sector. A meeting of all local training providers has been arranged for

December 6th to take forward the promotion of apprenticeships in Reading. And in

February, during National Apprenticeship Week, Reading will be hosting an event for

employers to promote apprenticeships.

As can be seen, therefore, the councils is working on a number of fronts to support young

people to progress into education, employment or training. This is, however, a very

challenging agenda and these are very challenging times. To be successful there needs to

be a partnership of a very wide range of stakeholders supporting, promoting and engaging in

activities to reduce NEET numbers.

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Question 2

In a report produced by the UK Youth Parliament regarding young people's views toward

politics and political education in this country, it reported that 'Young people feel shut out'

out politics. What are the coalition's reactions and views on the report and implementing

its recommendations on a local level in our town?

REPLY by Councillor Cumpsty (Council Leader):

“The P Word”, a report by the UK Youth Parliament into young people’s attitudes to politics,

found that young people felt that politics was a “dirty word” with negative connotations and

young people felt that politics was for adults and didn’t really concern them – they saw it as

party politics, and did not make a connection with the issues they might already campaign

about, or sign petitions for. The report also found that citizenship and political engagement

in schools was still not good enough and that young people were not being given the chance

to speak their views.

The report recommended better communication with young people – with clear and easy

language, but not patronising and more time and commitment to teaching politics in school.

There should be less copying from the board and more active learning using discussion

groups and giving opportunities to express views. The report further recommended

breaking the stereotypes of Westminster and party politics – making politics more about the

local level that young people could engage with. Young people should be included in the

decisions that affect them – by consulting them and inspiring a passion for politics.

Examples of good practice locally:

• Reading has a strong Youth Cabinet elected by local young people that the Council

and local MPs regularly engage with. Councillors actively support the Youth Cabinet and the

Member of Youth Parliament for Reading. Young people are invited to shadow councillors.

The Reading Youth website promotes events for young people and ways they can have a

voice in Reading. The LSP for Reading actively engaged the Youth Cabinet in the new

Sustainable Community Strategy, getting their views on the priorities. The LSP are keen on

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getting young people involved at the highest level, by investigating appointing someone to

the LSP Board.

• There are 4 area youth forums for Reading that are easily accessible and offer

young people the opportunity to have a say about their area. The South Reading Area

Forum, for example, was consulted extensively on the South Reading Youth Centre

becoming a one-stop shop for young people.

• While schools decide individually how best to teach Citizenship, all Reading schools

have vibrant and active school councils that encourage young people to take a role in

shaping their school environment. They open their doors to promote the Reading Youth

Parliament, with around 4000 young people taking part in the elections.

• Young people in Reading have been consulted on issues that involve them – a

recent consultation on young people’s health has led to the launch of Juice, with one-stop

“Juice Points” around Reading and a new website.

• Takeover Day took place this month with a group of young people, including young

carers, who “took over” the entire council budget for one day.

• Voice, Influence and Participation (VIP) has just launched – empowering young

people to become VIP leads. They will be trained and then meet annually with

representatives from RBC services to hold them to account and ensure they are achieving

their standards for young people and families.

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Question 3

Could the coalition confirm that no frontline youth services provided by the local authority

will be jeopardised if cuts are imposed, with particular reference to youth work with

young carers, whose funding runs out next year?

REPLY by Councillor Ralph (Lead Councillor for Education and Children’s Services):

We are unable to confirm the level of cuts that will be imposed to youth services at this

stage. We are currently waiting for grant announcements expected on 8 December 2010

which will inform any budget reductions to youth services. Decisions on budget reductions

will be finalised at Cabinet on 17 January 2011.

Given the current level of uncertainty regarding grant announcements, we are unable to

confirm that there will be no cut to frontline youth services provided by the local authority.

We will be seeking to ensure that we prioritise targeted work with the most vulnerable

children and young people and this will include prioritising support to young carers.

This event represented the youth-cabinets commitment to standing up for young-peoples services, and strengthened ties between the cabinet and the political leadership in the town of Reading.

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Visitors & ConsultationsVisitors & ConsultationsVisitors & ConsultationsVisitors & Consultations A wide range of visitors have attended the Youth-Cabinet this year, bringing before the group a plethora of issues and consultations requiring their input. This has included:

• The Childrens Commissioner for England – discussed which issues were important to the young people of Reading, and how they could be solved. Also observed

• Cllr Mark Ralph (Lead-Member, Education & Childrens Services) – introduce self and discussed some of the issues facing Reading Borough Council

• Cllr Jo Lovelock, Labour Group Leader – to make clear what the group is working on and supporting.

• Kate Austin, Active Lifestyles Manager, EnCAS – introduced Cultural Partnership and Glee Performance Project

• Kim Bergamasco – Head of School Improvement & Inclusion, DECS – Updated Youth-Cabinet on changes to how schools will be managed, and the effect this will have on DECS

• Michael Coughlin – Chief Exec, Reading Borough Council – open-discussion, with a focus on the outcomes from the general election and implications for Reading

• Jenny Tuck – Inclusion Advisor, DECS – Consultation around Anti-Bullying strategy, linking in with Campaign

• James Freeman – Chief Exec, Reading Buses – Discussion around transport around Reading, linking in with Campaign

• Tim Clewer & Zoe Hanim – Reading 2020 Board Members – intro to LSP Consultation.

• MYP & Chair have also attended Childrens Trust Board Meetings.

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2010 Statistics2010 Statistics2010 Statistics2010 Statistics

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Other Relevant InformationOther Relevant InformationOther Relevant InformationOther Relevant Information from 2010 from 2010 from 2010 from 2010 Total number of Youth Cabinet Sessions 37 Total hours delivered 109.45 Youth Worker Hours 228.45

Photos from 2010: