Agenda and minutes

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In accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by the City & County of Swansea, no interests were declared.

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

Resolved that the Minutes of the People Policy Development Committees held on 21 October and 18 November 2020 be approved and signed as a correct record.

The Chair reminded the Committee that Dave Howes, Director of Social Services had attended the meeting on 21 October 2020 to outline prospective items for the Committee to consider for its Work Plan for 2020-2021. Unfortunately, since that time, there had been unprecedented challenges on the Adult Social Services Department and they were currently unable to provide the relevant resources to the People PDC in order to progress the items previously discussed.

Therefore, following further discussions with the Director of Social Services and relevant Cabinet Members it had been recommended that the Committee consider work in relation to Children’s Services, in particular “Young Carers - Ensuring the wellbeing of young carers in the context of Covid19”.

Gavin Evans, Principal Officer for Early Help, Partnership and Young People attended to provide an overview of the current position in Swansea in relation to Young Carers.

Swansea YMCA currently held the contract for Young Carers in Swansea who provided various different elements of support such as Youth Groups, 1-2-1 assessment of needs and the ID Scheme – currently a Swansea scheme but hoped to become National. 

Whilst Swansea YMCA currently held the contract for Young Carers in Swansea, a re-commissioning process was currently being undertaken and the result of the successful bidder would be known in January 2021.  The successful bidder would be invited to contribute in the work undertaken by the Committee via a co-production approach.

The Principal Officer went on to outline the various groups that had met during the pandemic which included regular working group meetings with Swansea YMCA in order to ensure young carers had been supported. New means of communication had been developed via various digital platforms and on-line resources had also been utilised.   In addition, 20 laptops had been purchased as a result of Welsh Government funding which were being loaned to the Young Carers via Swansea YMCA.

Work was ongoing in relation to a survey on the views and impact of Covid19 on young carers up to age 18.  Egija Cinovska, the Young Carers Project Co-ordinator in Swansea YMCA who had worked extensively with young carers would be invited to a future meeting to share her knowledge should the Swansea YMCA be successful in the re-commissioning process. 

A cross departmental group including officers from Education, Adult Social Services, Child & Family Services, Early Years Teams and Health had been developing a new 3 year Young Carers Strategy,  It was hoped the work would be completed by April next year and co-produced with Swansea YMCA and the Young Carers themselves.

The various challenges being experienced by the Young Carers and the complex issues were discussed and the Committee asked various questions, which were responded to by the Principal Officer.  Contributions from the invited guests were also noted and appreciated.

The Chair thanked the Principal Officer for Early Help, Partnership and Young People for attending to provide the overview.

He went on to explain that the Director of Social Services had requested that the People Policy Development Committee take a more central role in progressing this piece of work and suggested that working groups be held in addition to the formal Committee meetings.  Various background documentation would be emailed to the Committee in advance of the next meeting in January 2021.

Resolved that the People Policy Development Committee consider the following item for the Work Plan 2020-2021:

Young Carers - Ensuring wellbeing of young carers in the context of Covid19, to develop policy that will:

·                    Capture young carers’ views on the impact Covid19 has had on their wellbeing, with particular reference to the impact of lockdowns;

·                    Co-produce a range of measures that could better support carers in potential future outbreaks and lockdowns to ensure their wellbeing;

·                    Identify any changes in service provision implemented during lockdown that worked well;

·                    Build on existing provision of carers support in the City and County of Swansea;

·                    Include the views of a range of stakeholders including; Councillors, carers, those that are being cared for, Swansea Carers Centre, third sector providers, Education and other relevant stakeholders that may be identified.