5 DELIVERING THE YOUTH ENGAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK IN GWYNEDD PDF 283 KB
Cabinet Member – Councillor Cemlyn Williams
To consider a
report on the above.
*10-30am – 11.30am
Additional documents:
Decision:
To accept the report, noting
the observations made - particularly in respect of the suitability of the
arrangements of the Framework, the need to offer full support for young people
who are at risk / disengaged from the field of education, training or
employment, ensuring that these elements are addressed
when reviewing our provisions in the future.
Consideration should be given to scrutinising
this field further, discussing the timetable for that at this committee's
Annual Workshop in May.
Minutes:
The Cabinet Member for Education and Cabinet
Member for Children and Young People, along with officials from the Education
Department and the Children and Supporting Families Department were welcomed to
the meeting.
Presented - the report of the Cabinet Member
for Education inviting the scrutiny committee to consider whether the Council's
arrangements and provisions are sufficient to support young people who are at
risk of disengaging from education or who have disengaged from education,
training or employment.
The two Cabinet Members set out the context
noting that:
·
The Youth Engagement and Development Framework,
introduced by the Welsh Government in 2013, was a cross-departmental
responsibility.
·
The views of the scrutinisers be sought on the
arrangements for meeting the requirements of the Framework following the
cessation of European Social Fund (ESF) funding for TRAC and ADTRAC projects.
·
Everyone needed to constantly remind themselves during
the discussion that this was a framework report, i.e. the framework for how the
Council supports children and young people not in employment, education or
training (NEET).
Members were given an opportunity to ask
questions and make observations. During
the discussion, the following observations were noted:
·
Going forward, it was important to understand the
successes and failures of the current provision.
·
It was felt that the committee was scrutinising this issue
too soon, or too late. The Framework
itself was eight years old. Although the
framework arrangements had been in place since then, some of the provisions
attached to it had changed. Some of the
provisions were under review. To date,
the Wavehill review of TRAC and ADTRAC had identified the need for this type of
support for young people, and their success was evident in the review up to a
certain point, but things had changed since then, especially as a result of the
pandemic context. There was also a
desire to continue with these provisions, but their funding was ceasing. ADTRAC funding ended next month, and TRAC
funding ended in a year. Discussions on
sources of funding beyond the current European Funds were being led by the
Westminster Government, but how could it proceed, unless there was a very
significant change of mind on the part of the powers who fund these things?
·
Collaboration was particularly important in the
current difficult situation as a result of the loss of ESF funding, and multi-agency
collaboration in Dyffryn Nantlle was cited as a good example of thinking
outside the box.
·
One of the biggest influences on young people is their
peers, and it was assumed that there were young people, who were once difficult
and vulnerable, but who had now turned a corner and moved on to further
education, training or employment, and who were willing to talk openly to
disaffected young people.
·
It should be asked whether there is evidence that the
decision to charge for transport to Coleg Meirion Dwyfor had been a barrier to
young people attending further education.
In response to the observations and
questions from members:
· Details were provided of the collaboration between ... view the full minutes text for item 5