This report of the Head of Leisure, Parks and Communities seeks Board approval, following consultation, to the approval of a Youth Ambition Strategy for the Council for the period 2013-2017.

The Head of Leisure, Parks and Community Services submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended).

The Board also had before it a report (previously circulated, now appended) from the Scrutiny Committee on 2 July.

Councillor Fooks spoke on the item.  She referred to Appendix 4 to the report insofar as it dealt with the activity preferences of young people and suggested that in relation to the Strategy it appeared to her to be sport-focussed whereas the activity preferences were very much broader than sport.

Both the Board Member and the Head of Leisure, Parks and Communities responded by saying that the Strategy was not and would not be biased towards sport and that the Council would continue to respond to activity preferences of young people.

Resolved to approve the Youth Ambition Strategy for the Council for the period 2013 – 2017 as set out in Appendix 3 to the report.

Contact Officer: Ian Brooke, Head of Leisure, Parks and Communities

Email: ibrooke@oxford.gov.uk Tele: 01865 252705

The Head of Leisure, Parks and Communities presented a report on the Youth Ambition Strategy which was consulted on in May 2013. The strategy aims to provide positive activities for young people that will teach them skills that will prepare them for entering the workforce.

The strategy has been developed on the needs of young people after consultation with youth. It is expected that frequent youth consultation with occur to make sure the strategy remains current.

The strategy relies on partnerships will other agencies ie Sport England to be formed to run and fund activities for young people.

The Committee questioned how officers planned to measure the value of performance, as the strategy was missing any base figures to measure from.  

They outlined the importance for youth to have a safe place to go to spend time with other young people and the success of the Blackbird Leys Friday youth evenings at the community centre, which had

The Committee resolved to send a report to CEB with the following recommendations:

1.         To provide now a set of concrete outcome measures focused on the direct effects on the ambitions and pathways of the young people involved in this work.

2.         To monitor and revisit regularly the type of activity provided to ensure that it is flexible, contemporary and engaging the right numbers, in the right place, at the right time. 

3.         To express the need for the provision of safe spaces for young people to express themselves as an overarching priority for all the schemes, actions and outcomes within this Strategy.

The attached report presents the draft Youth Ambition strategy for public consultation.

City Executive Board is recommended to approve the draft Youth Ambition strategy for public consultation.

The Head of Leisure and Parks submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) concerning the Council’s Youth Ambition Strategy. Ian Brooke presented the report to the Board and provided some background and context. He empahsised the following points:-

(1)   Oxford has an above average number of young people living in the City – almost 60,000 aged between birth to 24 years;

(2)   The diverse nature of Oxford is expected to continue, with almost half the births in the City being to mothers from outside the UK;

(3)   Almost 6,000 children in Oxford live in poverty and over 2,500 households with dependant children have no adult in work;

(4)   There are 250 people in Oxford defined as “NEET” (not in employment, education or training);

(5)   It can be seen that there are some significant challenges for young people living in Oxford.

Councillor Curran, Board Member for Young People, Education and Community Development added that young people in Oxford were especially affected by unemployment and cuts to services. Oxford was right to be concerned. To make its work successful, the City Council needed to work with other agencies.

Ian Brooke confirmed that the consultation would start at the end of April, run throughout May, and report the results to a meeting of CEB in the summer – probably early July.

Resolved to:-

(1)   Thank Ian Brooke and his team for their work on this issue;

(2)   Approve the Youth Ambition Strategy for consultation.