An opportunity to question the Cabinet Member for Communities, Councillor Mark Blake, on developments within his portfolio.
Minutes:
Councillor Mark Blake, Cabinet Member for Communities, reported on key developments within his portfolio as follows:
· A bid from Haringey to the Mayor’s Young Londoners fund had been successful. More details on this would be provided in due course;
· A successful bid for funding had also been made for the Project Future initiative to the Big Lottery fund. This was a community based, youth led mental health service aimed at young men aged 16-25 who were involved in offending and affected by serious youth violence and run in partnership with the Council, Mind in Haringey and Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health;
· Reports on the Serious Youth Violence strategy and Children at Risk were due to be considered by the Cabinet in March. Consultation had been undertaken with young people in developing these. This had been facilitated by the Godwin Law Foundation. There had also been a fruitful meeting with local MPs;
· The Council’s Corporate Delivery Unit was currently looking at school exclusions and alternative provision. He would welcome input from the Panel on these issues;
· He congratulated the Director of Children’s Services on the outcome of the recent OFSTED inspection. Although the outcome had been good, there were nevertheless areas where the Council acknowledged it needed to improve. He was delighted that Bruce Grove Youth Centre had been praised by the report, particularly after it had previously been threatened with closure. One key area that needed to be developed further was the strategic response to criminally exploited children. A seminar on reducing the criminalisation of children was being planned as part of the development of this.
Panel Members expressed concern at the increase of violent crime. It was felt that there might be a lack of awareness of its impact in the west of the borough. Young people often did not report crime. There was a lack of youth provision in the west and it was difficult for young people to find safe places to socialise. The Cabinet Member acknowledged that a significant number of young people had been victims of muggings and other crime. There was a need for schools to acknowledge the problem. Although there were now new resources for youth provision, there was nowhere near as much as was required. Whilst the Police had an important role to play in addressing violent crime, he wanted to see earlier engagement with young people.
In answer to a question, Ms Gibson reported that the Bridge Renewal Fund had just completed a mapping exercise of existing youth provision provided by the voluntary and community sector. It was intended to improve signposting of services for young people that currently existed. In respect of the successful bid for Young Londoner funding, the successful evaluation of the impact of the project was critical.
Panel Members highlighted the fact that secondary schools had all received Building Schools for the Future (BSF) via the Council and there had been an expectation that facilities would be available for community use in the evenings. However, many schools had diminished their commitment to this. Schools had been badly affected by the growth in violent crime and a conversation needed to take place with them regarding how they could collaborate with the Council in responding to it by making their buildings more available.
In answer to a question, the Cabinet Member stated that the £3 million that had been earmarked for the Onside project had been capital rather than revenue funding. In answer to another question, he stated that there was a need to galvanise a community response to the increase in violent crime. This needed to involve a range of partners and the Council would use its leverage to encourage involvement. There was a particular need for youth provision in areas of the borough other than Tottenham, such as Wood Green and Hornsey. He acknowledged that there were particular issues with the involvement of schools that needed to be addressed.