The reasons for urgency were agreed.

The recommendations were amended and then agreed.

The Pre-Decision Scrutiny Questions and officer responses were noted.

DECISION

1.            To endorse the proposal set out in the report to create a newly restructured, mixed economy Youth Service subject to further consultation with the Mayor on the overall budget envelope;

2.            To approve a new 12 month contract, from 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021, to all current Community and Voluntary Sectors (CVS) youth activity providers (universal and specialist) in order to provide continuity of provision and to coincide with the implementation of the redesigned youth service in 2021/22 subject to a further consultation with the Mayor over the impact of cost growth on service providers.

3.            To note that an update report would be presented to Cabinet later in the process.

Action by:

CORPORATE DIRECTOR, CHILDREN AND CULTURE (D. JONES)

(Divisional Director, Youth and Commissioning (R. Martins-Taylor)

(Youth Service Strategic Development Lead (M. Bannis-Royer)

The Mayor moved the report on the review into the Youth Service and proposals for change.

He agreed the reasons for urgency as set out in the report, namely:

·         This report was not available for publication by the statutory publication deadline because additional information was required.  It is presented for determination at this meeting as it is not possible to defer until the March Cabinet meeting because approval is sought from Cabinet to issue new contracts to existing commissioned providers. These will commence from 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021. It should also be noted that the report title and a summary of the content of the report were made available as part of the original meeting agenda.

Councillor Danny Hassell, Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Young People, introduced the report. He highlighted how this provided the high level proposals and that discussions would take place with service providers and young people to determine more details about the shape of individual services. He noted the proposed mix of in-house and outsources provision and stated that external partners were often able to secure additional funding from sources not usually available to Councils.

In discussion it was noted that areas of coverage, quality of buildings and staffing arrangements would all need further discussions. It was also confirmed that an Equalities Impact Assessment would take place as part of the project.

During discussion, Cabinet also heard from service providers and young people. Concerns were expressed to make sure that a good quality service was still available to young people.

In relation to the proposal to extend existing contracts, the Mayor noted concerns that provider costs had increased over time and so an extension at existing contract values could be difficult to manage.

The Mayor noted concerns expressed around the proposed budgetary savings and also the impact of cost increases to service providers. He amended the recommendations to highlight his wish for updates on those issues. He also highlighted that further reports would be presented to Cabinet (and potentially Scrutiny meetings) on the review as it progressed.

He then agreed the recommendations as amended.

RESOLVED

1.            To endorse the proposal set out in the report to create a newly restructured, mixed economy Youth Service subject to further consultation with the Mayor on the overall budget envelope;

2.            To approve a new 12 month contract, from 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021, to all current Community and Voluntary Sectors (CVS) youth activity providers (universal and specialist) in order to provide continuity of provision and to coincide with the implementation of the redesigned youth service in 2021/22 subject to a further consultation with the Mayor over the impact of cost growth on service providers.

3.            To note that an update report would be presented to Cabinet later in the process.