To receive a presentation by Wokingham’s Youth Council giving an update on their work.
Minutes:
The Committee received a verbal report from Holly Mackinnon, Wokingham Youth MP. She was supported by Sarah Desson, Child Friendly Project Officer.
Some of the main points made by Holly Mackinnon are listed below:
· The main focus of the Youth Council this year was youth engagement in politics, informing young people about political systems and issues that affect them;
· On Thursday 23 February a Youth Politics event was going to be held, Sir John Redwood was invited as a guest to talk about his political career. Also a debate with local councillors from different political parties was being organised to talk about different issues that interested young people;
· Some of the issues that were of interest were: climate change, lowering the voting age, cost of living crisis and mental health;
· The Youth Council was interested in securing a place in the Borough News publication and possibly other publications;
· The Youth Council was planning on organising a Youth Summitt in Wokingham. They were seeking support from WBC to run this event. It was hoped that this event would improve collaboration with different schools, giving an opportunity for young people to talk to each other about the issues that interested them;
· Another idea was to run debate events simulating House of Parliament debates, for young people to engage in discussions with local councillors;
· Recent meetings of the Youth Council and WBC had included topics such as: domestic violence, waste collection and the recycling scheme in the borough. The Youth Council valued the opportunity to share their views with WBC and be included in consultations. They wished to continue to be given the opportunity to feedback their views to WBC on policies and consultations;
· The Youth Council wanted to work together with WBC to build a better Wokingham.
Some of the comments made during the discussion that followed Holly Mackinnon’s presentation are listed below:
· Members were very impressed with the presentation and the ideas that had been put forward;
· Members suggested that the Youth Council could write columns for local newspapers, they believed this would be well received. Another suggestion was to use the weekly email newsletters that the Council sent to residents that signed up to it;
· Members suggested communicating with schools in the borough to inform them of the work of the Youth Council;
· Helen Watson, Director of Children’s Services informed that the Youth Council had participated in the Borough Vision event, which had happened the day before, and that the engagement had been very positive;
· Helen Watson suggested that the Youth Council may be interested in taking part in the Berkshire West Safeguarding Children Partnership (BWSCP), acting as scrutineers of the BWSCP;
· Sarah Desson informed that the Vision event had included various people from different backgrounds talking about what they envisaged for Wokingham in 20 years time.;
· Sal Thirlway, Assistant Director for Learning, Achievement and Partnerships offered to include messages from the Youth Council into the weekly newsletter that was sent from his department to all school in the borough;
· Fr Richard Lamey had attended the Vision event and confirmed that it had been very positive. He added that social media was a good way to communicate the Youth Council’s messages to the borough;
· In response to a question Holly Mackinnon stated that the Youth Council would like to be involved in consultations about the development of policies within WBC. She added that young people were interested in a wide variety of issues and it should not be assumed that young people were not interested in issues such as waste collection, for example;
· In response to a question Holly Mackinnon stated that there were around 20 members of the Youth Council, but this number varied. There were representatives from five Wokingham secondary schools currently. However, there was a desire to involve all schools, in particular all the secondary schools in the borough for a more even representation;
· Sarah Desson informed that schools’ engagement varied, and she believed more work needed to be undertaken to engage schools;
· Sarah Desson informed that she had been in attendance at some of WBC’s internal meetings, in an effort to inform different departments about the Youth Council and their desire to take part in consultations;
· Holly Mackinnon stated that the Youth Council would like to organise a hustings debate with borough councillors, perhaps inviting Politics A-Level students to take part;
· The Chairman suggested that all councillors should receive regular updates on the work of the Youth Council and welcomed ideas to facilitate this;
· Holly Mackinnon stated that a Youth Council Annual Report could be shared with the Council;
· Councillor Rowland offered to liaise with the Youth Council to organise a regular slot for them to address a meeting of full Council;
· Councillor Boyt suggested that the Youth Council could produce a charter (similar to the one included in the Tenants report) to include in their annual report;
· Holly Mackinnon informed that currently, there was a national manifest for young people. She agreed that this was a good idea and there was an ambition to develop something like a ‘young people wish list for the borough’, this idea was being explored;
· The Chairman added that the Youth Council could submit questions to any of the formal meetings of the Council through the questions process.
The Chairman, on behalf of the Committee expressed his gratitude for the work of the Youth Council and the presentation received.
RESOLVED That:
1) The report be noted; and
2) The Mayor’s Office would be requested to organise a regular slot for the Youth Council Annual Report to be presented at Council.