Issue - meetings

Multiplying Impact - Flintshire Integrated Youth Provision Delivery Plan 2021-2024

Meeting: 15/02/2022 - Cabinet (Item 116)

116 Multiplying Impact - Flintshire Integrated Youth Provision Delivery Plan 2021-2024 pdf icon PDF 127 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

As detailed in the recommendations.

Minutes:

Councillor Roberts introduced the report which provided details of the new plan that had been developed for the delivery of the Council’s youth services, known as Integrated Youth Provision, for the period 2021-2024.

 

            The plan had been prepared following consultation with young people, with staff in the Integrated Youth Provision Team and with key partners who supported the Council in its delivery of services to young people aged 11 to 25 in Flintshire.  It had been developed within the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which was widely acknowledged to have had a significant impact on the emotional, mental and physical health of young people.

 

            Aspects of the delivery plan were already being actioned as the service had continued its support for children and young people throughout the pandemic.  It had been offered in different ways from traditional youth work activities due to the COVID-19 restrictions that had been in place at different times.

 

            The title of the plan Multiplying Impact, was deliberate in order to demonstrate how lessons learned about service delivery during the pandemic were embedded in in youth work going forward and also how effective partnership working between the Council and its key partners in that area positively benefitted young people and maximised its impact.

 

            The plan outlined the national and local context for youth work, referenced the feedback from the consultation process on which the plan had been built and set out ambitious priorities for the future development of the service.

 

            The Chief Officer (Education and Youth) explained that the report had been considered at Education, Youth and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee the previous week and a discussion had taken place on how young people were supported once they left education, which was through the Integrated Youth Provision which was a statutory responsibility.  She explained that the traditional delivery of youth work during the pandemic had been curtailed but a lot of services had been provided via a digital platform.  The authority aimed to maintain youth clubs in large communities where there was demand, but in addition, pop up facilities were being provided where there was a need.  In addition, Youth Workers were working within high schools where pupils could receive advice and be signposted to appropriate services.

 

            The Chief Officer and Cabinet Members paid tribute to Ann Roberts who had led this piece of work, who was retiring from the authority.

           

RESOLVED:

 

(a)       That the vital work of the Integrated Youth Provision during the COVID-19 pandemic in supporting Flintshire’s children and young people be positively acknowledged; and

 

(b)       That the ‘Multiplying Impact – Flintshire Integrated Youth Provision Delivery Plan 2021-2024’ be endorsed.