Agenda item

Curtis Ashton, Director – Young Islington, presented the report.

In the presentation and discussion the following main points were made:

·       Islington’s youth provision included Lift, Platform, Rose Bowl, CYP, Soap Box and The Zone. As a result of an extra £500,000 a year investment, the universal youth work offer would continue to be responsive to the needs of Islington young people. Since February 2020, there had been engagement with young people and key stakeholders to design and formulate a new borough wide universal youth work offer.

·       Data had shown that the previous offer did not engage with some communities e.g. Somali, Turkish, Bangladeshi and LGBQT communities and young people with disabilities plus young people from poorer and more deprived backgrounds.

·       The development of the new universal youth work offer coincided with the ending of a number of youth offer contracts.

·       The procurement process was slightly hampered by COVID-19 and the council did not receive the number of bids that were anticipated. Lot 1 was awarded to London Youth and St Mary’s. Lot 2 was awarded to Isledon Arts and Lot 3 was awarded to Fourth Monkey. However this provider for Lot 3 withdrew so it had been brought in-house.

·       As part of the Lot 1 contract, London Youth and St Mary’s would be leading on an annual report and helping with youth related leadership opportunities.

·       As part of the Lot 2 contract, there was a newly appointed youth worker for Lift. A minimum of 1,500 Islington young people would be engaged each year across Lift and Rose Bowl.

·       As part of Lot 3, the council was creating a small internal youth work focussed team that would be supported by the Brandon Centre.

·       Eligible staff members from Isledon Arts were being TUPEd across to Islington Council and this would continue for the foreseeable future.

·       A Youth Hub Manager and a Senior Youth Officer had been appointed for Platform and would be starting in April. Services users had been involved in the recruitment.

·       Work was taking place with key stakeholders on a programme of sessions. This would include cooking, access to safe spaces and open mic sessions.

·       In response to a member’s question about how many days/hours Brandon Centre staff would be at Platform, the officer advised that there would be a full time worker on site who would be responsive to the needs of young people. There would be a trained psychologist providing six counselling sessions to young people who needed it and these could be extended or the young person referred if necessary. A leaflet with contact details of the youth worker had been sent round to young people via social media networks and had been posted on the Platform website.

·       A member raised concern that between January 2022 and April 2022 there was no youth worker in post. The officer responded that since the beginning of January 2022 there had been Targeted Youth Support staff on site. No young person had been turned away or left without support during this transition period.

·       In response to a question about the strategy to engage priority groups, the officer stated that work would take place with locality networks. A number of youth providers were meeting regularly to ensure that the needs of young people were being discussed so that they could be supported more effectively and efficiently. Data would be monitored and work was taking place with groups of young people who had not accessed services in the past. Work would also take place with schools and colleges to ensure they were aware of the youth offer and could refer young people.

·       Funding had been received from the Violence Reduction Unit to continue the Parent Champion Programme across Camden and Islington to reach out to and support young people and their families.

·       The Andover Community Project was in a deprived part of the borough. There would be a youth provider there from June 2022.

·       In response to a member’s question about the costs of the in-house youth provision, the officer advised that the costs would be more than £320,000 and would be subject to discussion with members.

·       In response to a question from a member of the public about outreach engagement and design, the officer stated that over 70 in-depth ethnographic studies had been undertaken to understand young people's needs and their way of life. Work started in February 2020 and in from March 2020, the Covid pandemic had made much more difficult to engage with young people in large groups so engagement had taken place virtually. Engagement and participation would be measured and monitored.  

·       In response to a member’s question about whether every young person in Islington could be informed about centres, support available and have a youth worker to contact, the officer stated that the service wanted all young people to know who to contact and work would be taking place on this in the coming months.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.