Received from Councillor Mary Clarkson

Members are asked to declare any interests they may have on items contained in this agenda.

None

Contact Officer: Lois Stock (Democratic and Electoral Services Officer), Tel 01865 252275, lstock@oxford.gov.uk

The Head of Law and Governance submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) giving the background of this Select Committee. Councillor Jim Campbell introduced the report and explained how this part of the meeting would work.

This meeting was the start of the Select Committee that would look at supporting young people into education, training and work. He thanked Lead members Councillor Lloyd-Shogbesan and Councillor Altaf Khan for for their work on this matter. Councillor Lloyd-Shogbesan would chair the meeting whilst the Select committee was in action.

The Committee welcomed the following guests:-

• Ruth Ashwell – Oxfordshire County Council Youth Engagement and Opportunities Service Manager, Early Intervention – Children, Young People and Families;

• Sarah Burrows – Oxfordshire County Council - Manager of the East Oxford Hub;

• Riaz Ahmed – Chair of the Stanley Road Mosque;

• Khalid Shariff – SportsBox;

• Sharon Highton –  CfBT Education Trust (Oxford Includes);

• Amir Hamza;

• Jawaid Mailik;

Introduction

The guiding question for the Committee was:-

To understand and review what organisations, agencies and the voluntary sector do to communicate with and support young people into education, training and employment. To consider data and evidence from young people and agencies concerning the effectiveness of these strategies.

Councillor Lloyd-Shogbesan explained that this was an important piece of work for the Council. He outlined to the guest speakers the areas upon which they were invited to focus:-

For agencies:-

• Where and what were the issues?
• What do you do in relation to the issues, both formally and informally?
• What outcomes are being achieved?
• What do you see as the barriers to better outcomes?

For young people (and other guests):-

• What are your ambitions for work, training and education?
• What do you see as the issues and barriers to your achieving your ambitions?
• What help have you had – and did you find it effective?
• What do you, and others, need to do in order to move forwards?

Councillor Altaf Khan reminded the Committee that there was concern about GCSE results within the City. Without good results, young people would find it even more difficult to move into work, education or training. The issue of educational attainment, and its relevance to the issue currently before the Committee, should not be overlooked.

First Witnesses: Ruth Ashwell and Sarah Burrows

Ruth Ashwell explained that she was responsible for youth engagement opportunities, and that she and her team are responsible from tracking young people from aged 16 plus in order to see how they are progressing.

Figures show that the situation for young people who were not in education, employment or training (NEET) in Oxfordshire was not as bad as nationally, and that the County was doing quite well. Information from Job Centre Plus showed that there were now 35 fewer young people on Job Seeker’s Allowance (JSA). However, there was a percentage of young people for whom there was no information available and this was reflected in the adjusted figure on the graphs that Ms Ashwell supplied to the Committee.

Ms  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

Contact Officer: Lois Stock (Democratic and Electoral Services Officer) 01865 252275, lstock@oxford.gov.uk; Pat Jones (Principal Scrutiny Officer) 01865 252191, phjones@oxford.gov.uk

The Head of Law and Governance submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended). Councillor Jim Campbell introduced the report to the Committee.

Councillor Graham Jones, as one of the two Lead Members, commended the report to the Committee, and thanked Lois Stock and Pat Jones for all their support and enthusiasm for this project.  The recommendations that were before the Committee were felt to be deliverable, affordable and measurable.  Councillor Van Coulter (Board Member for Leisure) had been involved with discussions around the recommendations and had been very supportive and helpful. Should City Executive Board (CEB) accept the recommendations, Councillor Jones felt that the Committee should keep a watching brief on them, and meet during the year to assess how well implementation of the recommendations was progressing.

Councillor Dee Sinclair, the other Lead Member, observed that, of the three recommendations, it was the final one – the “Community Mum” – that had presented the biggest challenge. She and Councillor Jones, with support from officers, had refined all the ideas down to what they felt the City council could reasonably do, using its own resources. She felt that the ideas were deliverable.

Pat Jones commented that this, the first Select Committee, had been a learning experience, and in future, the work would benefit from being carried out over a longer period. The three recommendations were chosen from a long list (which had been appended to the report); but she felt that Councillor Coulter had been supportive during the process and she was hopeful that the report would receive a good hearing from CEB.  The “Community Mum” idea had indeed been a challenge, but there were projects elsewhere which delivered a similar type of work, and it was hoped that CEB would work with Scrutiny to persuade the Oxfordshire PCT to develop this idea.  It is a new idea, but also an important idea.

Councillor Jim Campbell added that he had tentatively floated the idea of a “Community Mum” with his Health Centre, as there were a number of retired health professionals living in the City and it would be useful if they could be persuaded to come on board with this.

Councillor Wilkinson pointed out that not all deprived areas were within regeneration areas, and it was important that they were not overlooked.

Two small amendments were made to the report:-

(1)    Health Bus – need to recognise that Cherwell DC was providing some funding for this;

(2)    Difference in life expectancy across the City – need to check figures as the Committee felt that the disparity between north and south was greater than 5 years.

With those amendments, the report was APPROVED to be sent to CEB.

Contact Officer: Pat Jones (Principal Scrutiny Officer), Tel 01865 252191, phjones@oxford.gov.uk

Pat Jones introduced this item to the Committee.

As members of the Committee were aware, work on the next Select Committee had started at this meeting, and would continue over the next few months.

She also reminded committee members that a reception was to be held for some young people from the “Positive Future” project with whom she and other officers had been working on a different project. This would be held on 27^th March starting at 6pm in the Mayor’s Parlour, and it was hoped that as several members of the Committee would attend.

The Committee asked that Sharon Highton and Khalid Shariff should be invited along if possible.

Minutes of the meeting held on 14^th December 2011 are attached.

Resolved to confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 14^th December 2012.

It was noted that Dr Peter Von Eichstorff is one of the Oxford Leads on the Clinical Commissioning Body.

The next meeting will be held on 2^nd April 2012 at 6pm.

Resolved to note the following date:-

2nd April at 6pm