Report of the Strategic Director of Neighbourhoods

This report follows the Young Manchester review, which was commissioned by the City Council in December 2020, with a subsequent report presented to Executive in March 2021.That report considered the response to the review and actions proposed to build stronger and more effective arrangements going forward. An alternative delivery model was proposed to be designed and developed in 2021. This report provides a summary of the evidence and research collated during consultation with the wider youth and play sector during the spring and summer and sets out a revised model of delivery for the commissioning of the youth and play sector, which is currently a role undertaken by Young Manchester.  The report considers the response to the questions asked of the youth and play sector, as well as information collated from discussions with other Local Authorities in terms of their commissioning and youth partnership arrangements.

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director of Neighbourhoods which followed the Young Manchester review, which was commissioned by the City Council in December 2020, with a subsequent report presented to Executive in March 2021. That report considered the response to the review and actions proposed to build stronger and more effective arrangements going forward.  An alternative delivery model was proposed to be designed and developed in 2021. This report provided a summary of the evidence and research collated during consultation with the wider youth and play sector during the spring and summer and set out a revised model of delivery for the commissioning of the youth and play sector, which was currently a role undertaken by Young Manchester.  The report considered the response to the questions asked of the youth and play sector, as well as information collated from discussions with other Local Authorities in terms of their commissioning and youth partnership arrangements.  The Committee was invited to comment on the report prior to its submission to the Executive on 20 October 2021.

The main points and themes within the report included:

• Developing the new model;
• Sector engagement findings;
• Research findings;
• Future commissioning; and
• Next steps.

The Executive Member for Children’s Services reported that Members had previously informed him that they were not aware of what funded youth and play work was taking place in their ward and that this proposal would improve the situation, formalising their involvement in the process and strengthening links between them, the providers and other agencies.

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

• To welcome the report and the involvement of Members in the proposed process and that this should improve the way play and youth provision was allocated across different wards;
• To welcome the division of central Manchester into Central West and Central East and to ask where the boundaries would be; and
• Noting that the youth and play advisory panels for each area would have a Member on the panel, how would they be selected, commenting that it was important that they impartially represented the interests of all the wards in the area, not just their own ward.

The Ward Councillor for Fallowfield highlighted the recent case in her ward of a 16-year-old boy who had been murdered, prior to which there had been warning signs indicating his vulnerability and the involvement of a number of agencies.  She reported that issues could start to arise when children were aged around 12 or 13, starting with low level anti-social behaviour, issues at school and child criminal exploitation, subsequently escalating to very serious risk of harm.  She expressed concern at the public sector cuts over the years which had impacted on youth provision and the lack of youth provision in her ward and reported that, with the right intervention at an earlier age, many of these young people could be put on a better path in life.  She advised that it was important for each ward to have its own youth provision which met the area’s needs and that many young people would not travel to neighbouring wards to access provision.  She welcomed the proposals in the report, in particular giving Members more of a voice in the allocation of provision and redirecting funds from administration and management processes to the direct provision of youth and play services. 

A Member highlighted the role of schools in identifying young people who were at risk of exploitation and violence and in educating young people on child sexual exploitation and child criminal exploitation through the Sex and Relationship Education curriculum.  The Strategic Director of Children and Education Services outlined how the Council engaged with schools over this and offered to bring a report to a future meeting, to which the Chair agreed. 

In response to the visit of the Prime Minister and Home Secretary to the Hide Out Youth Zone in her ward, the Chair expressed disappointment that the government had not contributed to the funding of this facility and that the centre had been built with private funding from the businessman Fred Done, with the Council committing to providing funding for ongoing costs. 

The Chair outlined questions and issues raised by a Ward Councillor for Hulme which focused on training and development for the youth and play sector, ensuring a fair allocation of provision across different wards, the need for targeted work with young people at risk and how the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector would be supported to secure additional funding.

The Head of Parks, Leisure, Events and Youth advised that the decision to split the central area into east and west had been taken following discussions with the youth sector and that the boundary was still to be determined, in consultation with the youth sector and Ward Councillors.  He advised that a role profile would be produced outlining the role of and level of commitment required for Members appointed to the youth and play advisory panels.  He reported that this would be shared with Ward Councillors and that, if there were multiple nominations in a particular partnership area, there would be a process for identifying the most appropriate candidate.  He highlighted that there was still only limited funding available for youth and play provision, which was probably not sufficient to do everything that Members wanted so there was a need to both lobby national Government for more funding and work with the VCSE sector to leverage in more funding.  He advised that work had been taking place to address inequalities in the distribution of youth provision funding in particular wards.  He recognised the importance of training and development in ensuring high quality provision and reported that the Council would lead on gaining an understanding of the training needs of the sector, in collaboration with the voluntary sector, and that expertise within the sector would be used to provide this training, as well as bringing in external training where necessary.  In response to comments about work with vulnerable young people, he advised that there was a crossover between youth work and the point where other agencies needed to become involved to support young people who had become involved in extremism or gangs.  He reported that the deployment of youth work resources would take into consideration how other agencies, such as Greater Manchester Police (GMP), were deploying their resources to work with these young people and that it was proposed that GMP have a role in the advisory and decision-making processes for youth work allocation. 

The Executive Member for Children’s Services highlighted the role of GMP and the Community Safety Partnership in addressing serious issues such as those raised by the Ward Councillor for Fallowfield, including the development of the Serious Violence Strategy, which Members would also be involved in.

In response to a question from the Ward Councillor for Fallowfield, the Head of Parks, Leisure, Events and Youth reported that over the previous two years Young Manchester had secured approximately £200,000 to £250,000 a year in addition to the funds that the Council had provided them with and that it was anticipated that it would still be possible to access these types of funds under the proposed new arrangements and, where the Council could not apply for particular funds directly, VCSE sector organisations could host those funds. 

In response to a point from the Chair about some VCSE organisations being more knowledgeable about how to successfully apply for funding than others, the Head of Parks, Leisure, Events and Youth advised that the new commissioning arrangements would be as streamlined as possible, while ensuring high quality youth work and appropriate safeguarding measures, and that organisations would be supported in getting to the position where they could apply.  The Chair suggested holding events in different areas to encourage VCSE organisations to apply for funding for youth and play work. 

Decisions

1.            To receive a report on Sex and Relationship Education in schools, including how child sexual exploitation and child criminal exploitation are addressed through this.

2.            To receive a further report on Youth and Play commissioning arrangements at an appropriate time.

3.            To endorse the recommendations to the Executive that:

The Executive is recommended to:

1.               To note the findings from the sector consultation and Local Authority research which have informed the future commissioning arrangements.

2.               To agree the option presented for the future commissioning of the youth and play sector, which will enable the Council to a) fulfil its Statutory Youth Duty; b) fulfil the priorities identified in the Our Manchester Youth Strategy; c) align with the priorities and focus of the Children & Young People’s Plan.

3.               Delegate responsibility to agree the grant payments for 2022/23 totalling £1.44M to the Deputy Chief Executive & City Treasurer and Strategic Director of Neighbourhoods, in consultation with the Executive Member for Children & Young People and the Deputy Leader.