Agenda item

Considered – A report presenting information in response to a number of Motions received at full Council in November 2024.

Councillor Barbara Brodigan introduced the Motion on Youth Council Engagement providing an overview of her reasons for seconding the motion.  She confirmed it was intended as a way to encourage more young people to engage on political issues.  She acknowledged the other ways in which the Council was already engaging with young people, as detailed in the report, but went on to suggest more could be done.

Committee Members had mixed views on the proposal which included:

·          Area Committees would be a better place for the Youth Assembly to engage as they could comment directly on issues affecting specific areas of the County.

·          It would set a precedent if a specific group was identified as being allowed to submit a motion to full Council.

·          It would be unfair to other groups.

·          It could be considered a token gesture limiting the Youth Council to submitting a Motion only once a year.

·          Young People are more engaged in politics than ever and so there was no need to proceed as proposed.

·          The proposal created an age imbalance - what about groups representing older people.

·          The full council meeting process would not be a good mechanism for encouraging young people to engage given its strict procedural rules. 

·          It should not be an issue allowing the Youth Council to submit one motion a year.

Given the mixed views, the Chair invited Committee members to vote on the proposal and the votes were as follows:

·          3 in favour

·          11 against

·          1 abstention.

Members went on the consider the second Motion on adopting appropriate means to ensure that policies and decisions made by the Council were properly informed by their impact on local communities, as introduced by Councillor Chris Aldred.  He suggested the introduction of a similar assessment tool to that already provided on equalities and climate within the appendices of a decision making report.

The Scrutiny Officer read out a brief statement provided by Councillor Peter Lacey in his absence as follows:

I am aware that the measurement of community impact by Local Authorities and other public sector organisations is in its relative infancy and that it comes with potential risks.  However, I believe that identifying and following best practice elsewhere would both minimise and outweigh these risks.  For this reason I would welcome a measured and considered approach to this subject by officers but also believe that an appropriate way forward can be identified and agreed by Council within the suggested 12 month timescale.  Not to do so could undermine the Council’s still to be realised ambition of being the most local large Unitary. 

Members went on the consider the information provided within the report and some expressed concern around the additional officer time it would require to assess community impact more thoroughly, over and above the information already being provided within decision making reports, particularly given the ongoing transformational work and that planned for the future, alongside ‘business as usual’ work.

It was recognised the proposal would add another layer of bureaucracy in a time when officers should be focussed on service delivery, and Members suggested it would be better to concentrate on the basics i.e. delivering a good functioning council, responding to public needs. 

Councillor Chris Aldred drew attention to the options within the report at paragraph 6.2 and given Members’ concern around officer workloads, proposed option (ii) as the appropriate way forward, which Councillor Bryn Griffiths subsequently seconded.  Members voted on that option which showed 2 members in favour, 11 against and 2 abstentions.

The Committee went on to vote on the Motion proposal and the votes were as follows:

·          2 in favour

·          13 against

Based on the votes received on both Motions, it was

Resolved: That it be recommended to full Council that:

i.           The Motion on Youth Council Engagement is not supported.

ii.         The Motion on Community Impact is not supported.