Agenda item

To consider the report of the Chief Libraries, Arts and Heritage Officer which provides information on the engagement of young people in cultural activities,  the effectiveness of the programme and communication with young people. The report reviews the activities available over the summer 2011 in order to demonstrate, the range of activities provided, the geographic spread and where data is available the take up of these activities.

(Report attached)

The Chief Libraries, Arts and Heritage Officer submitted a report setting out the remit of Session 2 of the Inquiry (effectiveness and communication). The report included data collected on the availability and uptake of the different events and activities offered by LCC thorough various programmes aimed at young people. As reported previously, uptake was tracked through Breeze Card use.

Ms A Stowe of Leeds Owl Trust attended the meeting along with the following officers

Catherine Blanshard – Chief Libraries, Arts and Heritage Officer

Mark Allman – Head of Sport

Sally Coe - Out of School activities co-ordinator

Ms Blanshard stated that the data presented would assist identification of those parts of the Service which needed to maximise access; however it had become clear that there was no comprehensive data collection process and the Department needed to adopt common approach.

The Board heard from Ms Stowe regarding her experience as a representative of a voluntary organisation working alongside LCC. Ms Stowe outlined the activities provided and the usefulness of being able to work from LCC buildings as a base to provide activities alongside LCC services. This in turn encouraged return visits. She also highlighted the resource issues facing voluntary organisations and her experience of working with Welcome to Yorkshire, a tourism venture jointly funded by Yorkshire local authorities

Discussions followed on the following themes:

Breeze Card access –

-  Welcomed the 2010 blanket issue of the Breeze card funded by the Activities Fund

-  Application forms were available in most public outlets and on-line. Attendees at Breeze events were also registered if they did not have a card

-  A joint Library card/Breeze card was issued when a young person joined a library and this initiative was being extended to include sports activities

-  Members supported the suggestion that every child entering into the care of LCC should be automatically registered for a Breeze card

-  Noted the use of Breeze card recorded approximately 630,000 individual visits last year; and approximately 500,000 non Breeze card holders attended the same events

Service duplication -

-  Concern there may be duplication of provision or lack of co-ordination with the Youth Service

-  Considered the response that activities were not based on the boundaries of departmental responsibility and the two Departments worked in partnership to maximise the number of young people engaged in activities

-  Noted that Scrutiny Board (Children and Families) was looking at  the role of the Youth Service and Executive Board was due to consider the Youth Service provision in December

Locations

-  The data showing service provision available across the area clusters and the concern that some areas of the city were not adequately provided for.

-  Ms S Coe provided more detail on individual service provision, including the Friday Night Project which was regarded as a successful model to be rolled out across the city.

-  Members commented that more should be done for inner-city areas where levels of deprivation were higher and life expectancy shorter. Officers highlighted the key issues of resources and commissioning to ensure relevant groups were reached in order to promote engagement and the healthy living agenda

-  Members also commented that even areas regarded as “outer areas” included localities of deprivation or little provision

Prices

-  Discussed the comment that Sports Centres did not provide substantial discount and the response that lower prices could not be proven to encourage new attendees and could restrict the range of events/activities available

Other Providers

-  Events and activities provided by voluntary and charitable organisations were not all recorded in the schedule. Further work was required to give the full picture of services in order to assess and inform future provision, particularly from those organisations where funding it provided by LCC.

Members expressed surprise to note that Welcome to Yorkshire requested £300 corporate membership fees from local businesses, charities and social enterprises as well as receiving council funding, but required additional funds on top to promote venues, including council venues. 

The following Key issues were identified

• the importance of involving young people at an early age so that they remained engaged with the scheme when coming up to “youth age”
• noted the challenge to provide events where young people gravitated. On some levels, the Service was hindered by the locations of existing LCC buildings - an example of this was the library service where the use of a mobile library had been successful
• the need to track where grant funding was spent and whether the recipient organisations were the most appropriate and effective. Future grant applications could have conditions to require the organisation to  report back to the Department
• further consideration of opportunities to blanket issue the Breeze card was required
• the need to encourage a city wide approach – some area clusters produce publicity material on events available in their area, but each with a different approach. The Morley, Ardsley and Tingley cluster did an audit of all that was going on in their area. This resulted in a co-ordinated programme and could be a best practice model across the City.
• Schemes funded by Wellbeing/Activities Funding could be required to produced a printed programme which is available in every school in its area

The Board thanked the participants for their presentation and noted the discussions. Members suggested the Chair write to Welcome to Yorkshire to express the comments made by the Board today.

RESOLVED – To note the contents of the report and the comments made by Members

Councillor Bentley left the meeting at this point)

(Councillor Akhtar withdrew from the meeting for a short while at this point)