A presentation of the Youth Work Team was given by the Officer, Patrick Kielty. The Youth Work Team consisted of youth workers and youth support workers who were part of the Youth & Outdoor Education Team and within Inspire. They ran clubs and activities across Thurrock for young people aged 11 – 19 years of age. There was no statutory duty to do so and the idea was to support the personal and social development of young people. The Youth Work Team sought funding for projects from a number of sources which included the police commission.

Recently established projects included:

·         Tilbury Youth Club;

·         Ockendon Youth Club which had gotten busier with a recent number of 70 young people attending;

·         Street Football which was very popular with the World Cup 2018 currently being on; and

·         #USound which was a music studio based in Grays.

The Youth Work Team benefitted young people as being involved helped to boost their confidence, improve their peer relationships and improve social skills.

The Parent Governor Representative asked whether the Youth Work Team had any young carers. The Officer answered that there was none but the Youth Work Team worked closely with young carers who were also able to access the Youth Work Team’s mainstream projects.

Councillor Okunade questioned how young people would be able to get involved with the Youth Work Team. The Officer replied that it was mainly through word of mouth and social workers would refer the Youth Work Team to young people. There was a growing presence of the Youth Work Team through online social media and the team would also walk around Thurrock to see where clubs were needed. Councillor Okunade referred to the recent 70 attendees in Ockendon Youth Club and asked if the club would have coped had there been more than 70. The Officer confirmed they would have coped but there was not always 70 attending every week. The average was 20 – 30. He went on to say that the Tilbury Youth Club was also looking to add on an extra night and that they had never had to turn away anyone.

Referring back to Councillor Okunade’s earlier question, the Chair sought clarification on whether it was the Youth Cabinet or the Council that advertised the youth clubs and activities. He also wished to know the number of followers the team had on social media. The Officer confirmed the youth clubs and activities were on the Council’s website and advertised through other mechanisms. There were just under 1000 followers on Twitter but word of mouth worked best. He believed social media applications such as Snapchat and Instagram may need to be used as most young people tended to use those.

The Committee further discussed how the Youth Cabinet reached out to disaffected young people. Some of the disaffected young people were reached through schools but when a youth club opened in the area, most of them would join. There had been a lot of work done by the Youth Cabinet on ways to reach disaffected young people. However, it was best to give Inspire a chance to grow further. A lot of funding had also been sought through Inspire but the Youth Cabinet would continue to look at other options. The Committee also discussed the Youth Work Team and Youth Offending Services working together in which the Youth Offending Services would give presentations with powerful images on issues such as gang crime.

The Chair thanked the Officer for the presentation and went on to say how proud he was of what the Youth Work Team did for Thurrock’s young people. He also commented that out of the 95% of the money the government spent on youth services on the National Citizen scheme, only 12% of eligible youths received this. He believed the money would be better spent if it was devolved down to local government who would know where the young people were and how it could be spent locally.