Report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods)

This report provides a summary of Our Manchester Youth Offer Strategy which replaces the ‘Valuing Young People Strategy’ 2016-2019. It is the city’s multi-sector strategic framework jointly owned by Manchester City Council, its partners and stakeholders, all of  whom are responsible for making sure that young people have access to a high quality-driven youth offer that addresses both universal and targeted needs, which directly contributes to, and enables our young people to grow into responsible, independent and successful adults.

The Committee is invited to comment on the report prior to its submission to the Executive on 13 November 2019.

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) which provided a summary of the Our Manchester Youth Offer Strategy which replaced the Valuing Young People Strategy 2016 - 2019. It was the city’s multi-sector strategic framework jointly owned by Manchester City Council, its partners and stakeholders, all of whom were responsible for making sure that young people had access to a high quality-driven youth offer that addressed both universal and targeted needs and which directly contributed to and enabled young people to grow into responsible, independent and successful adults.  The Committee was invited to comment on the report prior to its submission to the Executive on 13 November 2019.

The main points and themes within the report included:

·         Our Manchester Youth Offer Strategy 2019 – 2025;

·         Workshops and engagement events;

·         Outcomes and success;

·         Strategy document production;

·         Delivery of the strategy; and

·         Next steps.

The Committee watched a video produced by Members of Manchester Youth Council (MYC).  The video included Youth Council Members talking about the MYC, its new election model and how MYC had helped to shape the Youth Strategy.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

·         To thank the young people for their contribution;

·         To welcome the report;

·         That Stockton Council had adopted a similar approach which had been very effective, that they had developed an action plan from this work and that it would be useful to look at some of things they had done;

·         The importance of play provision;

·         To request demographic information on the young people accessing youth services, particularly the youth hubs, including by ward; and

·         The importance of universal youth services and of reaching out to young people who were not currently accessing youth services or communicating their views through MYC.

The Executive Member for Skills, Culture and Leisure informed Members how MYC was being developed as a membership organisation which all young people could join and get involved in to different levels.  He advised that it was important for all young people to have a mechanism to raise any issues that concerned them and that the Council was creating a website through which any young person could raise an issue.

The Strategic Lead (Parks, Leisure, Events and Youth) agreed that play provision was important, informing Members that there were over 100 play areas in Manchester parks.  He reported that over the previous 12 months approximately £1.3 million had been invested in commissioning play activities across the city and it was hoped that this could be increased, with Young Manchester playing a key role in bringing in additional funding. 

The Head of Youth Strategy reported that Manchester had a higher level of youth engagement than other areas of the country, citing that 50.3% of Manchester young people had taken part in the Make Your Mark ballot, compared to 18.6% nationally, but that the Council wanted to improve this further.  She advised Members that her service was working to reach young people who did not currently access youth services or visit other facilities such as libraries by using detached youth workers to talk to young people where they were.  She agreed that Stockton Council had a good reputation for their Youth Strategy work and informed Members that her service was working to put together an action plan for the Youth Strategy, which would be wide-ranging and involve work with other services.

Decisions

1.            To request demographic information on the young people accessing youth services, particularly the youth hubs, including by ward.

2.            To endorse the recommendations to the Executive that:

            The Executive is recommended to:

1.         To agree, subject to budget, the continuation of investment into Young Manchester for the next 3 years, on the basis that Young Manchester uses this as leverage to grow external investment to support the sector.

2.         To consider and approve the adoption of the proposed vision, strategic themes and ‘We Wills’ to deliver the Strategy over the next 3 years.

3.         Delegate authority to the Strategic Lead (Parks, Leisure, Events and Youth) in consultation with the Executive Member for Skills, Culture and Leisure to complete the production of the strategy document for communication with young people, partners and the Youth Sector.

4.         Delegate authority to the Deputy Chief  Executive & City Treasurer in consultation with the City Solicitor and Strategic Director of Neighbourhoods and the Executive Member for Skills, Culture and Leisure to finalise the contract value following conclusion of the VAT assessment to ensure that the contract fee is delivered within the available budget.

5.         Delegate authority to the City Solicitor to enter into, complete and execute any documents or agreements necessary to give effect to the recommendations in this report.

[Councillor Stone declared a personal interest as a trustee of HOME.]

[Councillor Alijah declared a personal interest as chair of the Hideaway Youth Project.]