Agenda item

(a)       That the Committee acknowledge the effective partnership with local Town and Community Councils to deliver the universal playscheme offers for all children aged 5-12 years across the county during the summer and 5-17 years for the Flintshire Buddy scheme providing for children with disabilities;

(b)       That the Committee acknowledge the contribution from Welsh Government (WG) for summer play scheme via the Holiday Playworks grant and urge WG to continue to make this funding available; and

(c)     That the Committee note the ongoing developments within the service to strengthen the relationships with partner organisations to ensure that the most at risk children in Flintshire were identified and provided with play opportunity in the summer.

In presenting the report the Senior Manager - Integrated Youth Provision said the successful Summer Playschemes had been running since 1996.  He provided information on the 57 playschemes which included criteria for site locations, with the involvement of 30 Town & Community Councils and the 2 targeted Welsh language sites.  A bi-lingual approached was being developed with all play workers receiving Welsh language training.  Over the summer there were approaching 4,000 registrations, with 15,500 attending the 2 hours sessions with the data captured digitally for each session. This had enabled parents to enrol their children prior to attending ensuring the smooth running of the sessions with information in relation to the children already uploaded.   He then outlined the on-line Health & Safety Risk Assessments and revenue received from Town & Community Councils, the Play Works Grant and the Summer of Fund Grant to support the schemes.  The situation was still unclear regarding the funding for the Summer of Fun and Winter of Well Being.   The Senior Manager also referred to the consultation undertaken with the young people and their families which was fed back to progress that provision and he outlined how the play provision could be developed.

The Senior Manager then reflected on the work undertaken by Janet Roberts over the last 26 years.  Janet was retiring and he personally wanted to thank her for all her support.  She left the service in a positive place with 90 young people employed over the summer with some retained to join the Youth Service.

Councillor Dave Mackie firstly said that he was sad that Janet was leaving and reflected on the discussions he had had with her at Committee over many years.  He referred to workshops he had attended with Janet saying it was her enthusiasm which came across and said it had been a delight to be a part of her journey.   

Referring to the report, Councillor Mackie said he would have liked to have seen the objectives and information on what they were trying to achieve during the preparation of the playschemes included with the outcomes highlighted in the report.  He felt that this would enable the Committee to understand the direction the service was going and ask questions.  In response, the Senior Manager - Integrated Youth Provision took Councillor Mackie’s points on board saying that in January the service would be implementing a new system which would enable the mapping of provision against the play sufficiency assessment and other local data.  He outlined how this data would highlight the reasons why schemes were placed in certain communities, the decision-making framework and where sustainable provision was determined.

In response to a question raised by Councillor Carolyn Preece, the Chief Officer agreed to take the comments on the letters to Town & Community Councils back to potentially getting the notifications out sooner and to also demonstrate how much their contribution made to the scheme.   Referring to the Summer of Fun point she confirmed the Council would continue to press Welsh Government (WG) for further funding because of young peoples’ emotional and physical well being

The Chief Officer was delighted that Janet Roberts (Play Development Officer) was present today to enable her to thank her for her years of service at Flintshire County Council.  Her dedication to all things play had been Janet’s drive and ambition and instrumental in making the playscheme programme such a success.  The report provided information on the range of opportunities provided for children and young people through the playschemes.  The Play Development Officer thanked Councillor Mackie and the Senior Manager for their comments.  She said this work was so important and she thanked members for their support.  She thanked her Chief Officer and Line Managers over the last 26 years who had been so supportive.  She said that it had been her passion and privilege to work with the children of the county.  The programme provided little moments of well being for children and young people and with schemes such as the buddy scheme, support for Ukrainian children and looked after children providing that 2 hour of play which in some cases had been the safest place for those children.

The Chair referred to the report where the terms “children with disabilities” and “vulnerable” were used and she said that the preferred terms now used were disabled children and at-risk children.   She referred to the support provided to Ukrainian children and asked if support was also provided to Syrian and Afghan families. The Chief Officer confirmed that it was provided.

The Chair then spoke to Janet saying that although they had not met, she had heard so much about the work she had undertaken and said that on behalf of the Committee she would like to give a small gift as a token of their thanks.

The recommendation, as outlined within the report, was moved by Councillor Carolyn Preece and seconded by Councillor Ryan McKeown  

RESOLVED:

(a)      That the Committee acknowledge the effective partnership with local Town and Community Councils to deliver the universal playscheme offers for all children aged 5-12 years across the county during the summer and 5-17 years for the Flintshire Buddy scheme providing for children with disabilities;

(b)      That the Committee acknowledge the contribution from Welsh Government (WG) for summer play scheme via the Holiday Playworks grant and urge WG to continue to make this funding available; and

(c)     That the Committee note the ongoing developments within the service to strengthen the relationships with partner organisations to ensure that the most at risk children in Flintshire were identified and provided with play opportunity in the summer.