Agenda, decisions and minutes

www.swansea.gov.uk/disclosuresofinterests

Councillor Ceri Evans declared a personal interest in Minute 40 “Employability Programmes Update.”

In accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by the City & County of Swansea, the following interests were declared:

Councillor Ceri Evans declared a personal interest in Minute 40 “Employability Programmes Update”.

To approve & sign the Minutes of the previous meeting(s) as a correct record.

Approved.

Resolved that the Minutes of the People Policy Development Committee held on 22 December 2021 be approved and signed as a correct record.

Update noted.

Nia Pugh, Principal External Funding Officer presented a report on behalf of Elliott Williams, External Funding Manager to provide the People Policy Development Committee with an update of the Employability Programmes.

The report provided an overview of the key employability, skills and training programmes being delivered by Swansea Council, provided a summary of the achievements to date and highlighted the opportunities and challenges going forward that should be taken into consideration in the development and securing of funding for successor projects, post-EU funding.

The Committee asked various questions, which the Principal External Funding Officer responded to accordingly.

The Chair thanked the Officers for the report and update and requested that a further update be provided at the meeting scheduled for 23 March 2022.

Resolved that the People Policy Development Committee receive a further update at their meeting scheduled for 23 March 2022.

Deferred.

Item deferred to the next meeting scheduled on 23 February 2022.

Update noted.

Gavin Evans, Principal Officer for Early Help, Partnership and Young People provided a verbal update on the Young Carers Strategy.

He explained that it had been an extremely busy time for the service.  He reminded the Committee that the YMCA had been successful in the commission of our Young Carers service. 

During the winter period they had been able to access some of the Winter of Wellbeing funding alongside three strands of ICF funding for the current year.  This had resulted in three additional members of staff and the ability to run many different projects supporting the Young Carers and their families.

They had been able to fund 2 minibuses to help with transport utilised for the weekly Wednesday youth club type sessions.

The funding had also been utilised for wellbeing weekend sessions every Saturday.  These sessions were led by the Young Carers.

A number of residentials had taken place for the Young Carers with a further 4 scheduled up until the end of March 2022.

They had been back into schools carrying out various face to face sessions with the Young Carers and more schools were now participating in these lunchtime sessions.

The Young Carers Forum continued to meet on a monthly basis and assist with the work on the Young Carers Strategy.

The Principal Officer informed the Committee that it would be Young Carers Action Day on 16 March 2022 with theme focusing on ‘Tackling Isolation’.  The Young Carers Forum had organised an event which would be held in the YMCA and they had extended an invitation to the People Policy Development Committee.  The Young Carers Forum would meet later this month to plan for the event and further details would be forwarded to the Committee. 

The roll out of the ID card was progressing well.

A Young Carers Grant scheme had been set up whereby Young Carers were able to apply for a grant of up to £200.  The Young Carers Forum had been involved in overseeing the decisions of that scheme and enabling the grants to be allocated to the Young Carers and their families.

The website and podcast continued to be rolled out until the end of the financial year.

Whilst the focus had been on maximising the amount of support they could allocate to the Young Carers community, one of the concerns was the huge amount of uncertainty after 31 March in terms of funding.  This would result in the Summer of Fun and Winter Wellbeing being unable to continue next year. 

In terms of the provision, the three support strands of ICF funding would cease and whilst the region had focussed on allocating funding throughout the winter, no formal communication had been received in relation to the alternative funding that would be available next year.  This would result in three out of the four members of staff being “at risk”.

He went on to say however, that another strand of funding would be available via the new Regional Investment Fund (RIF) which would replace the ICF funding, but further details were still awaited.  Part of this funding would support the Young Carers Forum, therefore it could have a huge impact on the work being undertaken with the Young Carers Strategy.  Three meetings had taken place with the Young Carers Forum and it was hoped that this work would be finalised in March, with a view to sharing their thoughts with the key strategic managers and the People Policy Development Committee.  However, he stressed that the timeline could be impacted as a result of the funding issues outlined.

The Committee asked various questions, which the Principal Officer responded to accordingly.

The Chair thanked the Officer for his update.

Approved subject to amendment(s).

The Chair presented the Work Plan for 2021-2022.

Resolved that the Wok Plan be approved, subject to the following amendment(s):

23 February 2022

Add

·                    Children and Young People's Rights Scheme – Verbal Update.

23 March 2022

Add

·                    Employability Programmes Update and

·                    Young Carers Strategy Update