South Lakeland District Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee Tuesday 14 January 2014 Young People’s Action Plan PORTFOLIO: Councillor Graham Vincent – Health and Well-Being Portfolio Holder REPORT FROM: Debbie Storr – Director Policy and Resources (Monitoring Officer) REPORT AUTHOR: Ellie Taylor – Graduate Policy and Partnerships Officer WARDS: All KEY DECISION NO: not applicable 1.0 EXPECTED OUTCOME 1.1 The expected outcome of the plan is that the Young People of South Lakeland will gain a greater understanding of the democratic process, have more opportunity to voice their opinions to South Lakeland District Council and Elected Members will be encouraged to take those views into consideration. 2.0 RECOMMENDATION 2.1 It is recommended that Overview and Scrutiny:- (1) Consider the draft Young People’s Action Plan and provide any feedback on further development. 3.0 BACKGROUND AND PROPOSALS 3.1 The Young People’s Action Plan aims to deliver the council priority to ‘work with the Children and Young People’s of South Lakeland to ensure they have a greater voice in the democratic process.’ The plan envisages a two year programme of events aiming to educate and engage Young People in the democratic process. The plan also aims to educate and enable Councillors and Officers to engage more with Young People and take their views into consideration during their decision making. 3.2 The Young People’s Action Plan is all about Partnership working. We have met with Inspira, Age UK, Cumbria County Council and the South Lakes Federation to identify ways of working together in order to reduce cost and avoid duplication.
Transcript
South Lakeland District Council
Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Tuesday 14 January 2014
Young People’s Action Plan
PORTFOLIO: Councillor Graham Vincent – Health and Well-Being Portfolio Holder
REPORT FROM: Debbie Storr – Director Policy and Resources (Monitoring Officer)
REPORT AUTHOR: Ellie Taylor – Graduate Policy and Partnerships Officer
WARDS: All
KEY DECISION NO: not applicable
1.0 EXPECTED OUTCOME
1.1 The expected outcome of the plan is that the Young People of South Lakeland will gain a greater understanding of the democratic process, have more opportunity to voice their opinions to South Lakeland District Council and Elected Members will be encouraged to take those views into consideration.
2.0 RECOMMENDATION
2.1 It is recommended that Overview and Scrutiny:-
(1) Consider the draft Young People’s Action Plan and provide any feedback on further development.
3.0 BACKGROUND AND PROPOSALS
3.1 The Young People’s Action Plan aims to deliver the council priority to ‘work with the Children and Young People’s of South Lakeland to ensure they have a greater voice in the democratic process.’ The plan envisages a two year programme of events aiming to educate and engage Young People in the democratic process. The plan also aims to educate and enable Councillors and Officers to engage more with Young People and take their views into consideration during their decision making.
3.2 The Young People’s Action Plan is all about Partnership working. We have met with Inspira, Age UK, Cumbria County Council and the South Lakes Federation to identify ways of working together in order to reduce cost and avoid duplication.
3.3 Currently in development is the internal SLDC Youth Proofing Forum. The Youth Proofing Forum would act as an initial sounding board for South Lakeland District Council officers and members who want a young person’s perspective, recommendations or suggestions for improvements on any issues and emerging policies. The forum will not deter from any further consultation with Youth groups in the area but is an inexpensive and quick way of giving a first opinion.
4.0 CONSULTATION
4.1 The consultation of this document is still in progress. At present youth groups such as Young Cumbria, Young Farmers, Leonard Cheshire Disability Youth Group, Cumbria Youth Alliance and the Lakeland Youth Council have been approached. Approaches have also been made to the South Lakes Federation about consulting with the schools, in particular the school councils. The Young People’s Action Plan has also been taken to the South Lakeland Children and Young People’s Working Group; this resulted in a meeting with an officer from Cumbria County Council’s Children’s Services. The meeting established areas of the plan where the two councils could work together, thus avoiding duplication and stimulate the sharing of resource.
We have also worked with Inspira to use the National Citizens Service programme for consultation, we have completed three consultation sessions with them so far. A consultation with the Lakeland Youth Council is planned for the New Year. Young Cumbria has agreed to run the consultations with their youth groups on our behalf, they will begin the process in January 2014.
5.0 ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS
5.1 The alternative option is not to develop and implement the Young People’s Action Plan but this would reduce the likelihood of the council’s ambitions being delivered.
6.0 LINKS TO COUNCIL PRIORITIES
6.1 The Young People’s Action Plan aims to deliver the council priority to ‘work with the Children and Young People of South Lakeland to ensure they have a greater voice in the democratic process.’
7.0 IMPLICATIONS
7.1 Financial and Resources
7.1.1 The resource for this project is from the existing Community Development revenue budget totalling £20,000.
7.2 Human Resources
7.2.1 On occasion staff time will be required to facilitate events but this will be accommodated from existing resources.
7.3 Legal
7.3.1 There are no legal implications.
7.4 Social, Economic and Environmental
7.4.1 Assessments will be carried out of the social, economic and environmental impact of individual projects outlined in the Plan.
7.5 Equality and Diversity
7.5.1 An equality impact assessment will be carried out on the Young People’s Action Plan once consultation with various groups has been completed.
7.6 Risk
Risk Consequence Controls required
There are insufficient resources to enable the delivery of the Young People’s Plan.
Priority not met. Ensure partnership working to avoid unnecessary costs. Avoid embarking upon anything which requires more resource than available.
Expectations are unrealistic.
Disappointment and reputational impact.
Ensure expectations are not raised too highly during the consultation process.
