Agenda item

Review the provision of youth work and outcomes for all young people at county and district levels and outcomes for service users since a decision in 2020 to replace universal youth work with targeted youth work; compare and contrast data from new provision with that of previous provision and seek assurance of the adequacy and impact of current provision.

Witnesses

Cllr Clare Curran, Cabinet Member for Children and Families, Lifelong Learning

Cllr Maureen Attewell, Deputy Cabinet Member Children and Families, Lifelong Learning

Jackie Clementson, Assistant Director – Early Help, Youth Justice & Adolescent Service

Dave McLean, Service Manager – Early Help, Youth Justice & Adolescent Service

Elaina Phillips, Commissioning Officer – Early Help, Youth Justice & Adolescent Service

Judith Brooks, Head of Children & Young People and Deputy CEO - YMCA East Surrey

Stuart Kingsley, Family Services and Youth Work Manager - YMCA East Surrey

Melissa Salisbury, Hale Community Centre Manager

Jo Goodhew, Hale Youth Centre Team Leader

Key points made in the discussion:

1. The Hale Youth Centre Team Leader informed that the centre serves 45-50 young people aged 11-19 in eight sessions a week, providing a safe space in which they can talk to a trusted adult. The building is leased for free from Surrey County Council (SCC) who maintain it. They could not run without volunteers. There are also paid staff employed to secure funding, which comes from National Lottery and Waverley Borough Council. Aside from SCC’s holiday activity camps for those on free school meals, the centre runs term-time only, due to funding rather than staff availability, which can lead to distress in the summer holidays when young people feel deserted.

2. The YMCA Surrey’s Youth Work Manager told the Committee they deliver 20 sessions a week in Reigate and Banstead, with SCC offering a peppercorn rent and paying for utilities. They had secured Safer Streets and National Lottery funding, would not be able to do their work without the building, and report back quarterly to SCC. Recruiting was a barrier.

3. Asked how provision differed from before a reorganisation of youth work four years ago, the Service Manager reassured Members that none of their 27 buildings were being closed or knocked down; the Council was looking to enhance the work of the third sector and not throw them out. A couple of buildings were currently closed for repairs. The Commissioning Officer explained that 14 of the 27 buildings had been leased to interested community organisations or third sector providers. The other 13, described as retained youth centres, had no interested hosts and still sat with SCC; they were fully utilised by police and health partners and managed by a business property support team. Some of the leaseholders had struggled to deliver their contractual terms in the financial landscape, meaning ten of the 14 buildings being leased out were standing empty much of the time, apart from perhaps one or two evenings a week. Meanwhile, SCC paid for the utilities and had statutory services like family centres that needed places to go, but the Service Level Agreements (SLA) meant they were not allowed to use their buildings. Leaseholders were able to generate rental income to invest in support for local families, though in many cases were not doing so.

4. A Member asked the Service how it was collecting information on which of the 14 buildings were working well. The Committee heard that the SLA, inherited by the current team, was not sufficiently effective to ask for monitoring data and provided no means of enforcement if leaseholders did not provide KPIs quarterly or meet with the Council the required two times a year. The five-year leases, due to end in 2025, allowed for termination of the lease should providers not improve, but included no criteria for what constitutes improvement.

5. The Service Manager explained that SCC’s budget for its youth offer remained £1.2m, the same as in 2019 before the transformation. It was spent on buildings and more money was needed to enable them to run the service as they would want. The Assistant Director said this would be as a mixed economy, working in partnership with the voluntary sector who have a real understanding of the communities they work in. Asked if the Service believed the intended changes had been successfully delivered, the Commissioning Manager said needs had changed due to Covid, they want a blended model, and they wanted to improve relationships.

6. Members suggested a workshop for the Committee to understand what provision was available, with information provided in a paper in advance.

Actions

1)    Assistant Director – Early Help, Youth Justice & Adolescent Service to provide a list of the locations of the 27 buildings (centres referenced in paragraph 8) and how many of them are currently being used for youth work. 

2)    Provide the Committee, ahead of the workshop and confidentially if necessary, with the template Service Level Agreement for third sector providers leasing youth centre buildings.

Resolved:

A workshop would be arranged with a paper circulated beforehand.

Cllr Bernie Muir and Cllr Bob Hughes left the meeting at 1pm.

Break at 13:00, meeting resumed at 13:15.