Agenda item

3.1

Ward Pot Small Grants

Question 1

Maurice Birch asked the Council to continue with the Small Grants fund for local communities as this was an important source of funding

Answer 1

Councillor Mazher Iqbal (Cabinet Member for Communities and Public Health) stated that each Ward had a small funding pot and this would be protected in 2015/16.

Councillor Julie Dore (Leader of the Council) recognised how important the Ward pots were to local communities. She referred to the reduction in funding for the City over the current term of this Parliament. As some services were delivered in partnership, the Ward Pots could be used to attract further funding.

3.2

Skate Park for Beighton

Question 2

Alan Burton spoke on behalf of his grandson and referred to a meeting he had attended in Beighton where the idea of a skate park for the area had been raised and that a couple of possible sites had been identified. A fund raising event at a local school was being proposed and he asked if any Council funding would be available.

Answer 2

Councillor Mazher Iqbal (Cabinet Member for Communities and Public Health) highlighted the reduction in Government funding and the changes in the priorities for Lottery funding. He referred to the work with the Youth Council and suggested that Mr Burton’s grandson could become a member. It would be useful to learn from the experiences of those involved in the skate park at Hackenthorpe, where there was initially some local opposition.

Councillor Jackie Drayton (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families) referred to the assistance local Councillors had provided with the skate park at Hackenthorpe. There were a number of other potential sources of funding such as Virador Tax Credits, Veolia, the Sheffield Town Trust, JG Graves Trust and the South Yorkshire Community Foundation. The groups involved in the Beighton project would need assistance in putting a funding bid together and they should learn from those involved in the skate park at Hackenthorpe. One of the difficulties would be in obtaining revenue funding to maintain the facility.

Councillor Julie Dore (Leader of the Council) emphasised the need for local Councillors and groups to work together to discuss funding for the project.

Councillor Iqbal agreed to facilitate a meeting with local Councillors and the Youth Forum to discuss a skate park in Beighton.

3.3

Snow Wardens/Grit Bins

Question 3

Mike Peat stated that the Westfield area used to have a Snow Warden and the housing estate no longer had grit bins as it did not meet the criteria. He added that community volunteers salted the route to the tram stop. He asked the Cabinet Members to reconsider the policy on the provision of Snow Wardens.

Answer 3

Councillor Jayne Dunn (Cabinet Member for Environment, Recycling and Streetscene) stated that that the criteria for the provision of grit bins and the use of Snow Wardens would be reconsidered at the end of the winter season. She recognised that there might be a need for some changes to the location of grit bins. Councillor Dunn indicated that Sheffield had 1921 grit bins compared to 180 in both Nottingham and Manchester and 1300 in Leeds.

Councillor Julie Dore (Leader of the Council) added that 60% of roads were gritted in Sheffield. She referred to the budget reductions in Adult Social Care and Libraries and that it had not been possible to protect funding for winter gritting but this highlighted the difficult decisions that had to be taken in making budget reductions. In respect of grit bins, the Council would ensure that they were in the right locations and be repositioned if necessary.

In response to a question from Councillor Ray Satur (Chair), Councillor Dunn agreed to circulate details of the expenditure on winter gritting.

Councillor Ray Satur (Chair) highlighted the importance of thanking people for their community spirit during the recent period of winter weather.

3.4

Voting

There was a discussion on voter registration and encouraging people to vote.

Councillor Julie Dore (Leader of the Council) stated that it was National Voter Registration Day and asked how young people could be encouraged to vote.

Councillor Ray Satur (Chair) asked if there was anything that could encourage young people to vote or if there were any barriers. Young people had highlighted the need for electronic voting.

Daniel from the East Youth Forum suggested that there should be a legal requirement to vote but that the ballot paper should include the option of ‘none of the above’ or to abstain.

Councillor Satur asked if people supported the idea of compulsory voting.

A member of the public asked what would happen to people that did not vote if it was a legal requirement. Councillor Satur suggested that there could be a small fine with the money used to encourage people to vote.

Members of the public suggested that there was a need to educate people on politics and the different political parties and there should be electronic and text voting.

Councillor Mazher Iqbal (Cabinet Member for Communities and Public Health) referred to the funding arising from the work of the Fairness Commission to encourage young people and communities to register to vote. He welcomed any ideas to encourage people to vote, particularly as there was only a 36% turnout at the local election in 2014.

Councillors and members of the public then discussed whether voting should be compulsory.

3.5

Youth Service

Question 4

Andrew Watson referred to the situation in Rotherham and the recent report from Louise Casey on the Inspection of Rotherham Council. He commented that the Social Work service was not best equipped to deal with young people as it was focused on families. The Youth Service in Rotherham had been decimated and, in Sheffield, a large amount of the provision for young people had been withdrawn.

Answer 4

Councillor Jackie Drayton (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families) referred to the Louise Casey report that indicated that the Youth Service had been telling people what happened and had been closed down. In Sheffield, there was the Sexual Exploitation Team that was co-located and included Youth and Social Workers, the Police and Drug and Alcohol Workers. The Team went out into the community and raised the signs of child sexual exploitation (CSE). It was also important to recognise the different skills provided by Youth Workers.

Councillor Drayton stated that following publication of the Jay Report, Sheffield Council had passed a Motion requesting an independent Assessment of CSE Services in Sheffield. The assessment indicated that Sheffield had exceeded a large number of the recommendations but the Council was not complacent. The approach was to prevent, protect, pursue and prosecute.

Councillor Mazher Iqbal (Cabinet Member for Communities and Public Health) highlighted the importance of the victims seeing justice.

Councillor Drayton referred to the criticism of the use of agency staff rather than permanent Social Workers. In Sheffield, Social Workers had been protected in the budget to ensure that Children and Families and safeguarding were key areas and that the Council had a stable, skilled workforce.

Councillor Leigh Bramall (Cabinet Member for Business, Skills and Development) commented that there was a separate issue relating to the budget pressures on the Youth Service in that it is not a statutory service.

Councillor Drayton commented that that there had been a move away from youth work and identifying the needs of young people. The Government targets were now based on the number of young people Not in Education, Employment or Training. The next Government should be encouraged to provide more services in relation to working with young people to increase their confidence.

Councillor Jayne Dunn (Cabinet Member for Environment, Recycling and Streetscene) referred to her concerns for young people using the internet and sought the Government to do more in terms of internet safety.

Mr Watson indicated that he was reassured that the Council was aware of the issues and reviewing their services within the resources available. There was a need for youth workers on the ground as young people were still vulnerable and there was a tendency for teams to react to situations.

Councillor Dore (Leader of the Council) commented that youth workers on the ground understood young people.

3.6

Youth Involvement Team

Question 5

Daniel from the East Youth Forum referred to the reduction in the size of the Youth Involvement Team from seven to three youth workers and considered that three people could not run a team for the whole of the City. Also there was no representative for the north of the City. He was undertaking some of the tasks of one of the workers, such as organising meetings. However, he felt that funding should to be put back into youth services and asked that Sheffield Futures should be made to put further funding into the Youth Involvement Team.

Answer 5

Councillor Drayton (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families) stated that this was a contract managed by Sheffield Futures and there were certain services that the Council wanted delivered as part of that contract. She considered that the Government did not want money spent on youth services and sought those services to be provided by the voluntary and community sector. The Government had indicated that the focus should be on youth justice. There would be a further reduction in the budget this year but the Council was working with Sheffield Futures who could apply for other funding as they were a charity.

Councillor Drayton also stated that she was very aware of the work of the Youth Involvement Team and it was important to understand that, although the Council had tried to protect the service, Sheffield Futures had decided how to manage the use of that funding.

Councillor Mazher Iqbal (Cabinet Member for Communities and Public Health) referred to work of Councillor Lynne Rooney in looking at how to bring in external funding, the proposed meeting to discuss mental health issues for young people and the reduction in funding on youth services and that there may be a conversation with Sheffield Futures on how to ease the pressure on involvement and participation. Councillor Iqbal stated that he would address the points raised in the meeting.

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In closing the meeting, Councillor Ray Satur thanked (a) the East Youth Forum for their excellent presentation and contributions to the meeting, (b) the Woodhouse and District Community Forum and (c) the members of the public for attending and participating in the meeting.