NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
20 JULY 2022
STATEMENT OF VICE-CHAIR
YOUNG PEOPLE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
Membership
The Committee appointed Anna Kirkham, Parent Governor, as a non Councillor Member of the Committee. Given the varied range of expertise that these Members bring, it is pleasing to see that eight of the nine vacancies for non Councillor Members have now been filled.
Overview and Scrutiny at North Yorkshire County Council
In common with other Overview and Scrutiny Committees in this first cycle of meetings, the Committee received a report from the Principal Democratic Services Scrutiny Officer, which outlined the role of scrutiny; why it is important; and the role that Members play.
Holiday Activities and Food Programme – 2021-2025
The Committee considered a report by Karen Atkinson, Stronger Communities Delivery Manager, together with a presentation by David Sharp, Chief Executive, North Yorkshire Youth and David Watson, Chief Executive, North Yorkshire Sport, which updated them on this Programme.
The presentation is available here
In 2021, the Department for Education (DfE) provided funding to all local authorities to deliver a programme of school holiday activities alongside a food offer for children eligible for means tested free school meals (fsm). The programme funding was to offer 6 weeks of activities comprising a minimum of 4 days over Easter, 16 days over summer and 4 days at Christmas.
The Council delivered the 2021 programme through a mix of internal officer support and direct award of grants to a voluntary sector consortia comprising North Yorkshire Sport, North Yorkshire Youth and Rural Arts operating under the branding of North Yorkshire Together, who co-ordinated the service provision.
A further 3 years funding will be made available for the Programme, from Easter 2022 to January 2025. The Council has been allocated a grant of £1.3615m for the financial year 2022/23. The funding allocation is based on the numbers of eligible children in the local authority area.
There will be an open procurement under the light touch regime. It will be a competitive process with a total value up to £500,000. The successful supplier will start on 1 October 2022.
Due to the time restraints between receiving final notification from the DfE in December 2021 and the operational needs to start planning the 2022 programme in January 2022, it has not been possible to run the procurement in advance of the 2022/23 programme starting. To avoid potential service interruption and risk non-delivery of both the Easter and Summer Holiday programmes, it has been agreed to extend the arrangements with the existing coordination until the end of September.
The Programme is branded as FEAST, which stands for Food, Entertainment, Arts and Sport Together.
In terms of delivery of the first year of the Programme:-
Easter 2021
- 12,000 activity packs delivered to all eligible children
- Online videos and resources
- Food vouchers provided
Summer 2021
- Primarily face to face provision
- 47 local sports, arts and community organisations delivered a range of enriching activities
- Food provision was through a mix of a central contract and local providers
- 2,554 fsm eligible children attended (22%) and 3,778 non fsm children
- 11,336 children were also provided with activity booklets and access to online
provision
Winter 2021/2022
- Blend of face to face and remote provision
- 25 local providers
- 1,217 fsm eligible children attended (lower numbers due to the Omicron variant)
The targets set for the first year were attained. There are, however, a number of challenges. These include the social stigma of accessing the programme; engaging young people to participate; and rurality/the ability to move around during holidays. Work continues to overcome these challenges but there is no easy fix.
The presenters responded to questions from Members on a range of matters including:-
- How they are engaging with young people - particularly those hard to reach and what outreach tactics they utilise.
- The use made of social media channels.
- How provision is monitored and how the Programme ensures that standards are being met.
- How the Programme integrates with existing providers and youth clubs.
Being Young in North Yorkshire
The Corporate Director for Children and Young People’s Service, Stuart Carlton, delivered a presentation which informed the Committee about this Strategy and the progress being made.
The presentation is available here
Being Young in North Yorkshire is the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership Strategy for Children and Young People. The Strategy has been developed using data and feedback gleaned through engagement with Schools, such as the Growing up in North Yorkshire Bi-Annual Survey of pupils.
The vision is that All children are Safe, Happy, Healthy and able to Achieve in North Yorkshire.
Progress against the four key Themes is monitored regularly and reported through the Partnership.
The Corporate Director highlighted that good progress has been made against each of the themes. For example:
A Safe Life
Just one custodial sentence for a young person in 2021 - down from 27 in 2018. This year, we are on course to have no custodial sentence for any young person.
A Happy Life
75% of children in care live with a North Yorkshire County Council Foster Carer.
A Healthy Life
The proportion of 5 year olds with tooth decay in North Yorkshire, at 20%, is lower than the national average (23.4%) and the Yorkshire and Humber average (28.7%).
Achieving in Life
There has been a return to a more expected trend in children being electively home educated (EHE). In 2021 the number of EHE pupils increased by 5.7%, compared to 21% the previous year
Members raised a number of questions with the Corporate Director, such as:-
- What area(s) he felt represented his biggest challenge.
- The importance of youth work.
- Whether there is a timeline to get Mental Health Support Teams into Schools.
- The link between disengagement and anti-social behaviour.
- Whether consideration has been given to a programme to test some of the underlying issues that may arise from EHE.
Looking ahead
The Committee considered its outline Work Programme. Items currently scheduled for our next meeting in September are:-
· Young Carers
· Report of the Chair of the Executive and Independent Scrutineer – North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership
· Child Death Overview Panel Annual Report
The question of meeting in person was considered. The Council has decided meetings should be held in person, with the caveat that a Committee Chair can request that a meeting be held remotely where no legally binding decisions are to be taken. The feeling of the Committee was that this request not be made and that meetings of the Committee be held in person.
COUNTY COUNCILLOR HEATHER PHILLIPS
1 JULY 2022