Agenda item

Question a) from Youth Councillor Tega to Councillor Watts, Leader of the Council:

How will the election result impact on the lives of young people in the borough and what specific challenges and opportunities does Cllr Watts identify?

Reply:

Thank you very much for your question. The election result was a shock to many, not least of which the Prime Minister, who called for a strong and stable government but spent the entire time looking weak and wobbly. The Prime Minister lost her majority and had to do a deal with the DUP to cling to power, throwing a billion pounds of money which is needed in boroughs like Islington to Northern Irish MPs.

In the short term the election result means political paralysis and chaos. The Conservatives have lost their moral mandate to govern and their parliamentary majority; the public have rejected the austerity politics that they have been pursuing for the last seven years; and they have propped themselves up through the DUP, who’s track record on gay rights, women’s rights, and other matters shows that they are a long way away from the values of this Council and the vast majority of residents in our borough and beyond. I am very concerned indeed about the DUP having a say on the important matters that affect our country.

On the positive side, this election showed that the Labour Party has enormous momentum, we achieved the biggest increase in the party’s share of the vote in any one election, we saw young people assert their place at the centre of British politics and go out to vote in record numbers, 64% of registered votes aged 18 to 24 are thought to have voted, and I think that politicians of all parties will take notice of young people’s issues far more than they have ever done.

I think there will be another election before too long. If opinion polls are to be believed that election will result in a Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn, and a fully costed Labour manifesto promising to bring back EMA and maintenance grants for students, abolish tuition fees, build more genuinely affordable housing for young people, to end the public sector pay cap and to end austerity. This will be paid for by a slightly higher taxes on corporations and people who have the money to pay a bit more tax. I think that will fundamentally change the lives of young people in this borough for the better.

Question b) from Young Mayor Diana to Councillor Caluori, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Families:

It’s really exciting that the council’s commitment to youth provision in the borough will see another great summer offer including Summerversity, Launchpad and the opening of Soapbox youth centre. How will councillors promote the fantastic offers across the borough to young people in their wards?  

Reply:

Thanks for your question Diana. I think we should all be really proud that Islington is probably the only borough in the country that hasn’t cut youth services by even a penny, in fact we are investing more in our youth services.

We will be promoting our youth offer throughout the summer. We will be giving out 16,000 brochures in secondary schools, leisure centres and housing estates. Every young person in Islington will get their own Summerversity brochure, we will also be sending information to young people who don’t go to school in Islington but live in the borough, so they know what the offer is too. There will be features in IslingtonLife, the residents’ e-bulletin, the schools’ circular and all the relevant internal council bulletins. The main online sources of information will be through izzy-info, and the Things to Do section on the website, but we are also launching a social media campaign led by local young influencers with thousands of followers to promote the opportunities on offer as it is very important to ensure we stay connected with young people in ways that are relevant to them and in line with how they communicate. All of the main social networks will be used.

This will be supported by street team style outreach activity led by a team of local young people with a strong and respected local Islington reputation, so there will be promotion happening on the streets as well. We will also be launching a hashtag campaign, #LaunchpadLDN, so that young people can create their own content and upload photos; this is building on the work we’ve done together which shows that young people are more likely to go to events if they know that their friends are going, so we need to get rid of that fear that some people might have, and make sure that everyone feels comfortable and relaxed, because there are some amazing opportunities available.

Question c) from Youth Councillor Honey to Councillor Watts, Leader of the Council: 

Following the horrific terrorist attacks in Westminster, Manchester, London Bridge and Finsbury Park, what more can be done to promote a zero tolerance approach on radicalisation and extremism in the borough, so Islington’s young people feel safe?

Reply:

Thank you very much Youth Councillor. We have already marked a minute’s silence for those awful attacks which we all condemn. Clearly we have a duty to implement the Prevent Programme and fulfil our legal duties, but we fundamentally believe that the best way we can reduce radicalisation and extremism in our borough is to ensure our borough has as much community cohesion as possible. What happened in Finsbury Park was somebody coming to destroy the cohesion and sense of unity that this borough has; that’s why it’s so important that the community works together in the face of that. We do a lot of work in our local community, not because of any Home Office programme, but so we can have the strongest, most united, most cohesive community that we can; that is by far the most effective way of ensuring that we keep our community safe.

However, from a safety point of view, I very much welcome the extra police that the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has committed to patrol outside mosques and other institutions, particularly during the holy month of Ramadan. I think that another way of keeping people safe would be to reduce the cuts to police numbers, which has reduced their ability to respond to some of the threats that we face. I thank the GLA and Mayor of London for trying to allocate funds to make sure there is more physical security on streets to stop vehicle attacks, I think that will make a major contribution to making people feel safe. But in the end I think that people feel most safe by being in a community where people feel valued, people feel included, where people have decent homes and where they feel they have a stake in society. I think that is at the heart of what we need to do, so we can make sure that our borough is safe.

Question d) from Deputy Young Mayor Tega to Councillor Caluori, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Families: 

We have over the last few months participated in a variety of activities including the youth crime workshops to help develop the ‘Working together for a safer Islington’ plan. How can the council encourage schools to make the most of their Safer School Officers to help reduce crime and increase trust between the police and young people?

Reply:

Thank you Tega, and thank you to the Youth Councillors for your work in not only developing the Working Together plan, but delivering it as well; this work has been very interesting, especially the poster competition which you have been involved in.

The Safer Schools team in Islington hasn’t always been great if I’m honest; but it has got a lot better since the new Sargent has come in to oversee what is happening in our schools. We are now able to talk to the Police about what should be going on, what we think is important, and what they are seeing is going on in our schools.

Since the programme’s launch in 2015 over 160 sessions have taken place within Islington Schools with over 7,000 pupils taking part. We are going to keep on promoting this offer so that the programme benefits as many people as possible. We have been talking with the Police about how Safer Schools Officers are promoted, and the Safer Schools Sergeant has given a presentation to the Safeguarding Children’s Board. The Council’s Health and Wellbeing Team are promoting Safer Schools Officers as they meet with schools to promote their PSHE programme. We have held two head teacher briefings to make sure the heads understand the offer and are using the officers as much as possible; and we have used other initiatives, such as a Safer Schools Officer being interviewed by a young person from the Youth Offending service as part of the launch of Working Together.

We are going to keep talking to the schools and the head teachers and keep making the point that Safer Schools Officers are a really good resource and we need to use them as much as possible.