WCC Cabinet Deciding Future of Youth Services
Worcestershire County Council's Cabinet will be deciding on the future of positive activities for young people, also known as youth services, when it meets next week (November 24).
The council has a legal duty to secure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that qualifying young people 13-19 and those 20-24 with a learning disability have access to positive leisure activities. It does not have to provide these activities directly. Positive activities for young people have been reviewed as part of the council's £60-70 million BOLD savings programme.
Proposals on how positive activities could be delivered in future were consulted on with 2001 individuals this summer, including more than 1400 young people.
Cabinet will consider the feedback from the consultation and the proposal that would realise a saving of £1.4 million over 3 years but would see the council continuing to provide over £1million annual investment for the commissioning of such activities by a body made up of local County Councillors and young people in each area.
The proposal would mean that the county council ceases to directly provide positive activities by 2014. The £1 million funding would be allocated across these local areas for the activities themselves on a need/population formula of 70%/30%. The commissioning framework encourages activities to be targeted in particular on reducing anti-social behaviour and those not in education, employment or training in the most appropriate way locally.
Investment would also be made in the voluntary and community sector to develop and sustain positive activities in a safe manner for young people. This aspect is being considered alongside the new infrastructure support arrangements across Worcestershire's voluntary and community sector, which are currently out for consultation following the Cabinet meeting in October. An additional £150,000 would be retained by the County Council to be commissioned by councillors and young people if any unforeseen needs arise.
Linked to the decision to cease to directly provide positive activities by April 2014, Cabinet on November 24 will also be considering the future of youth support assets to ensure that buildings are being used in the most cost effective way for communities.
Councillor Liz Eyre, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Young People's Social Care, said: "These recommendations would see the council continuing to provide around £1 million annual investment in positive activities and importantly young people are deciding on what activities they want to see provided in their local area.
"If the recommendations are approved by Cabinet, Worcestershire County Council will no longer be the direct provider of positive activities, and will instead be commissioning them with young people.
Community feedback has led to local considerations through the consultation. Recommendations for the future of Malvern Youth Centre are being considered separately by Cabinet, where at the request of the community it is being recommended to be leased to the Malvern Community Collective. This would be initially for a two year trial period potentially with a transitional grant of £25,000.
At Rubery Youth Centre, an options appraisal will be undertaken looking at co-location to identify the most cost effective way of providing a single facility for library, youth and community use. Officers will report recommendations to Cabinet specifically about Rubery Youth Centre in March 2012.
Further information:
· In Worcester City, the Worcester Community Trust will continue to provide positive activities until 31 March 2015. During that time a Worcester Positive Activities Local Commissioning Group (made up of local county councillors and young people) will ensure that the Community Trust meets its contractual requirements and feed in recommendations to ensure all areas of need in Worcester are served .
· Officers at the County Council are also undertaking a feasibility study, informed by local views, on establishing a Trust to ensure the sustainability of the Ryland Centre, Bromsgrove, with the potential of it becoming a regional centre of excellence for disabled children and young people. The Cabinet will consider the outcome of this feasibility study in March 2012