Over the year Wembley Matters has catalogued the gradual disappearance of Brent's Youth Service. As concern over gangs and knife crime mounts the Council's answer to a question from the Youth Parliament seems incredibly complacent - they are basically told there are more cuts on the way and they must rely on the voluntary sector.
Question from Brent Youth Parliament to
Councillor Mili Patel, Lead Member for Children’s Safeguarding, Early Help and
Social Care:
What has
the Council put in place for young people in response to the severe cuts to
Youth Services?
Response:
Since
2015 the focus of services for young people has been in the voluntary sector
through the Young Brent Foundation. However the Council continues to run
regular universal youth activities from the Roundwood Youth Centre in
Harlesden. Alongside this the site provides education, employment and training
support for young people through Connexions services.
To help
enable all young people in Brent to connect with other providers of youth
activities and services the Council has recently launched the ‘Brent Youth
Zone’, a new, distinctive and mobile friendly website. A ‘search’ facility is a
major feature of the website, together with information pages about health,
‘things to do’, personal safety, and employment advice. Many of the activities
and services are inclusive, welcoming young people with SEND. Young people have
been included in the development of the website. The logo was inspired by designs
from a young person who entered a Brent-wide competition to brand the Brent Youth
Zone. The website can be found at: www.brentyouthzone.org.uk
The
Council as a whole must take further difficult decisions as part of the next
phase of budget planning for the 2019/20 – 2020/21 financial years. In Children
and Young People’s Services there are a limited number of services that could
be considered for future savings and our continuing youth offer is an area
therefore where consideration of resource savings need to be made.
There are
proposals to change the use of the Roundwood Youth Centre that will build on
the current arrangements. If agreed, the site would be used during school term
time for an Alternative Provision school setting, with evening and weekend
youth activities being provided by the voluntary sector. This will help meet the
need in the borough for local places and preventing permanent school
exclusions. Currently a number of young people temporarily excluded from their
secondary school setting attend alternative provision out of borough and this
will be one solution to this issue.
We are
working with the voluntary sector through the Young Brent Foundation to make
sure that services to young people continue from the Roundwood site and also
that the broader Youth Offer across the borough is comprehensive, updated and
secures charitable funding.
