Issue - meetings

To approve the Telford and Wrekin Youth Strategy.

The Cabinet Member: Early Years, Children, Young People, Education, Employment and Skills, presented a report by the Director: Education and Skills, which set out the proposal of the Youth Strategy in Telford and Wrekin. The proposal was underpinned by the Council’s statutory duty, as outlined in Section 507B of the Education Act 1996, to ensure, so far as was reasonably practicable, that sufficient educational and recreational leisure-time activities were available for young people.

The Strategy was forward thinking, inclusive and had a need led approach that truly reflected the best of this Council's work.

The thoughts of the borough’s young people who had been involved in shaping the Strategy were shared with Cabinet.  Young people had told the Council what mattered most and the Council had listened.

This included being safe, having things to do and having their voices heard.  They said that the importance of having a child's opinion on their community was very important as the child was going to grow up in the community that residents lived in, and it was not all just based around adults but also the opinions and the sacrifices that children would like to make for their community.

The Cabinet Member thanked every young person who shared their ideas and helped develop the strategy and their voices had guided the Council every step of the way and that, as a Council it had set its ambition to be truly child-friendly and one of its key outcomes was ensuring that children and young people felt heard.

That message had come through loud and clear as a priority throughout this process and this strategy was more than words on a page, it was a commitment shaped by the voices of those who mattered most and together everyone could make the borough a better place where every young person felt valued, supported and empowered to thrive.

The strategy was not just a statutory requirement under Section 507b of the Education Act 1996 but went far beyond to create a child-friendly borough where every young person could thrive, was a vital investment in the future of the borough’s young people in its communities.  The purpose of this strategy was to ensure that as far as reasonably practical, the Council was able to provide sufficient education and recreational leisure time activities for young people aged 13 to 19 and for those with learning difficulties or disabilities up to the age of 24.

This, aligned with the national priorities such as the national youth guarantee and strategy guidance for improving young people's well-being.

This strategy was built on three pillars of excellence. Firstly, universal youth activities with a wide range of inclusive opportunities like sports, urban games, uniformed groups such as cadets and scouts, arts and leisure opportunities, many free or low-cost to ensure that every young person had access to enriching opportunity experiences. Secondly, targeted youth clubs, a commissioned model that strengthened youth work with a youth worker-led provision for priority groups, that embedded quality assurance, long-term  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42