Meeting documents

+ Cllr Richard Brooks - Chairman

+ Cllr Bruce Mansell - Vice-Chairman

+ Present

Also present:     Councillors Keith Bush, Anji Patterson, Audrey Roxburgh and David Whitcroft.

PC Julian Crabbe - Surrey Police

Joel Bailey – Surrey County Council Youth Worker 

Jonathon Olaofe and Richard Savage - Connexions

Jacqui Newson, Jackie Swaine, Kelly Carvey, Jayne Boitoult - Surrey Heath Borough Council

Rachel Tallon - Disability Challenge

Councillor Lavinia Sealy - Surrey County Council

Carol Brooke-Read - Ministry of Defence

Trevor Mitchell - ‘Young Enterprise’

Dan Daly and Doug Price - Surrey Heath Youth Focus

Berni Cassiong - Youth for Christ

Wyatt Gates - South West Trains 

Chris Sawyer - Neighbourhood Watch Representative

PART I

(public)

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 14th September 2004 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Chairman welcomed the many guests to the meeting, thanking them for their commitment to young people in the Borough. He reported that the Committee had established a working group to examine the various issues in depth and asked the Working Group Chairman, Councillor Stewart Stevenson, to report on developments.

Councillor Stevenson reported that the Services for Young People in Surrey Heath Working Group had met recently, assisted by Police Constable Julian Crabbe. Concern had been expressed over the view that, across Surrey, the varied and disparate groups providing services to young people were, in themselves, doing tremendous work, but were not necessarily co-ordinated. The Working Group would meet on 16th December 2004, at 7.00 p.m. and he would welcome any representatives to attend this meeting. The Council hoped to act as a conduit for the various bodies to talk to each other.

a)     Presentations were made by

Surrey County Council Youth Service

Joel Bailey provided an overview of youth services provided in Surrey Heath, by Surrey County Council’s Youth Service, directly and in partnership with other County Council departments and external organisations, such as Connexions. He emphasised the need for both mainstream services and those to young people who would find no attraction in those services and, in particular, those who are likely to err. In outlining some new and innovative projects being developed in the Borough, he reiterated the importance of partnership work.

In response to a question from Councillor Stevenson on how much longer the Bisley Youth Centre would remain closed, Joel acknowledged that youth work in rural areas was important and agreed to raise the youth club with the youth worker who was fronting the project to re-launch the Centre.

Connexions

Jonathan Olaofe and Richard Savage reported on the work of Connexions in the Borough. Connexions had been established with funding from the Careers Service. Its work in Surrey had been supplemented by funding from Surrey County Council, giving it a budget of £8 million. With 150 advisers from the careers service, schools, youth service, voluntary sector and social services, Connexions provided a range of services to support young people in danger of disconnecting from the education system.

Connexions worked in close partnership with a number of agencies. Having now appointed a lead manager for Surrey Heath, Connexions would be looking to develop a strategic plan for Surrey Heath and to promote strong links with both the Council and the voluntary sector in the Borough.

The increase in the number of advisers in Surrey, to 150, appeared to be bearing fruit, with the numbers of young people out of full time education dropping from 4.5 to 3.2% and the numbers of young people in some form of education rising from 94.6 to 96.7%. Connexions targeted young people from ages 14 to 19 and currently supported 43 young people in the Borough. It had also established a Youth Forum in Surrey which was currently chaired by a young person from Camberley.

Youth for Christ

Berni Cassiong explained that Youth for Christ was an umbrella organisation whose purpose was to assist the work of churches with young people. He had only recently been appointed as Director for Surrey Heath and was now seeking to assist the member organisations of “Churches Together†with their youth work. Youth provision varied across the churches, both in terms of the target age groups and the level of service. He hoped to co-ordinate the work of the youth workers from the various churches, particularly in their work with schools. He welcomed Joel Bailey’s offer of joint training and looked forward to stronger links with the various agencies, as he developed his role.

Surrey Police

Police Constable Julian Crabbe is the Youth Affairs Officer for Surrey Heath. Having served in the Surrey Police for fifteen years, most of which had been based in the Borough, he had been developing the Police role in supporting young people, assisted by Ben Williams, a Youth Police Community Support Officer, with particular responsibilities for Old Dean.

Young people had always gathered in the same area, just to mix with each other, but older people have interpreted this as being much more sinister than it might actually be. The Police get complaints and move young people on, but this often serves only to fuel their frustration. Seventeen year olds upwards tend to be more of a problem. The proposed disco for older age range could well help in this respect.

Surrey Police, in partnership with many other agencies, promoted a number of initiatives in the Borough, including “Rhyme Against Crimeâ€, SNAP discos and Young Citizenship. A number of projects were being developed, such as teen shelters, disco events for older age groups, in partnership with Envy Nightclub, peer mentoring and work with the Speed Management Officer, where young people talked to drivers stopped for speeding on the dangers this caused for young people.

The Police were also developing school surgeries, contributing to school newsletters and developing sports driven initiatives, targeting more challenging young people, Ben Williams’ football project being a good example.

From a Police perspective, the problems with youths in the Borough were much as they had been in the past, involving alcohol, graffiti, petty theft and drug taking. However, reporting of crime had improved. Surrey Police would look to develop its role in services for young people and to encourage further partnership arrangements to address youth issues.

Transport was a huge issue for young people, particularly those living in rural parts of the Borough.

b)     Further Contributions

In the course of discussion, the following was raised:

South West Trains

Wyatt Gates managed Camberley Railway Station and reported that vandalism was a major problem, as was alcohol consumption at Camberley railway Station particularly following the implementation of the ‘no drink’ policy in Camberley town centre. South West Trains recognised alcohol consumption as a community problem and were working in partnership with other agencies to address the root causes. Bored young people committed vandalism at considerable damage to the Station and users, an example being a recent twenty a side football match in the Station Car Park, which resulted in damage to the fabric of the Station and to cars parked there.

British Transport Police had accumulated a considerable amount of information and data on youth crime, which they would be happy to share with Surrey Police.

Ministry of Defence

Carol Brooke-Read reported that the Ministry of Defence had been building links with partner agencies through the Local Strategic Partnership. It had also been developing its role in assisting the Borough Council’s Action Holidays Scheme. She looked forward to strengthening these and other partnership arrangements.

Young Enterprise

Trevor Mitchell reported that Young Enterprise had no direct links with Connexions, but would welcome closer liaison. The organisation had programmes it could offer Connexions under ‘Surrey Bridges’. This proposal was supported by Jonathan Olaofe, who was on the Surrey Bridges Board.

Disability Challengers

Rachel Tallon focused on the number of disabled young people in the community. A concerted campaign was needed to change peoples attitudes to these young people, particularly as they got older. Disability Challengers were working on a project with the Youth Service and maintained close contacts with Surrey Police.

Corporate Portfolio Holder, Surrey Heath Borough Council

Councillor Keith Bush welcomed the previous very helpful presentations and asked the presenters to pass copies of their scripts to the Policy and Partnerships Manager for circulation. He reported that he and the Borough Council’s Communications Team had led interactive workshops with three schools in the Borough looking at what they would put in place for young people in the Borough. He agreed to circulate the results to all attendees.

Councillor Bush highlighted a number of initiatives including the Surrey Heath Youth Council, which would meet on the following day, and the Scouts and Girl Guides putting on a ‘Gang Show’ at the Camberley Theatre. The Council was drawing up a long term strategy on Services for Young People in the Borough and he would welcome inputs from all present.

Chairman

The Chairman thanked all concerned for attending what had proved to be a very productive event. He requested that all attendees complete the contact forms or leave business cards. This would allow a list to be drawn up to facilitate networking. He reiterated the invitation, from Councillor Stevenson, for all interested parties to attend the Working Group on 16th December 2004 and asked those who had agreed to provide information to do so through the Committee Lead Officer and/or the Committee Administrator.

RESOLVED, That the Services to Young People in Surrey Heath Working Group be asked to address the issues raised during the Committee’s consideration of this issue.

The Committee received a report detailing the proposed terms of reference for the following Working Groups:

a)     Services to Young People; and

b)     Speed Management.

Members noted the terms of reference and the proposed dates for reports to be presented to the Committee.

RESOLVED, That the following terms of reference be agreed:

Members noted the work programme for the municipal year, as amended to reflect the wishes of the Committee in relation to services to young people in Surrey Heath and speed management. It was also noted that the Committee programme would need to be flexible to be responsive to referrals from the Executive and partnership issues.

RESOLVED, That the Committee work programme, as attached at Annex C, be agreed.

CHAIRMAN

ANNEX A

SERVICES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE  WORKING GROUP

DRAFT TERMS OF REFERENCE

1.     Purpose

The purpose of the Services for Young People Working Group is to:

(ii)     establish the need, perception and reality for any additional services;

(iv)     consider ways of improving the current perception of anti-social behaviour.

2.     Membership

The Working Group will consist of three Members, those being Councillors Bill Chapman, Bob Smith and Stewart Stevenson. The Working Group will invite appropriate external experts to assist in its deliberations.

3.     Timescales

The Local Government Act 2000 requires that Working Groups be task specific and time limited. As such, the Working Group is asked to make proposals to the External Partnerships Select Committee on appropriate timescales.

ANNEX B

SPEED MANAGEMENT  WORKING GROUP

DRAFT TERMS OF REFERENCE

Purpose

1.     The purpose of the Speed Management Working Group is to:

Membership

Timescales

ANNEX C

EXTERNAL PARTNERSHIPS SELECT COMMITTEE

DRAFT COMMITTEE WORK PROGRAMME

2004/05