Agenda and minutes

At the last meeting it was agreed that Matthew would chair this meeting. Chloe would be Vice-Chairman.

Noted that Matthew was the Chairman for the meeting and Chloe was the Vice-Chairman.

            RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 10 February 2015 be taken as a correct record subject to inclusion of Imogen’s apologies.

Mark Balkham to give a short presentation regarding Timebanking.

Marc Balkham from Voluntary Action Epping Forest (VAEF) gave a short presentation on the volunteering initiative ‘Timebanking’. This allows members to make a difference in their community by giving time and skills to help out other people in the community in return for time to learn new skills from other people in the system. The scheme was free to join for people over 16 and a list of activities that were covered by insurance was provided. Marc suggested that the Youth Council could become a Mini Timebank, that individuals members could collect hours for in return for other skills for the Youth Council.

Members interested in this service could register online at www.timebanking.org and were required to complete an application form and provide two references.

The Youth Council thanked Marc Balkham for attending the meeting.

Emma Callaghan to give a short presentation regarding Restorative Justice.

Emma Callaghan gave a short presentation on Restorative Justice, which was a service that enables victims to meet or communicate with their offender to explain the real impact of their crime. The restorative practice may be used anywhere to prevent conflict, build relationships and repair harm by enabling people to communicate effectively and positively. This was increasingly being used in schools, children’s services, workplaces, hospitals, communities and the criminal justice system.

The process involves both a proactive approach to preventing harm and conflict and activities that repair harm where conflicts have already arisen. These were facilitated meetings, enabling individuals and groups to work together to improve their mutual understanding of an issue and jointly reach the best available solution.

Emma asked Youth Councillors to complete questionnaires which should be handed back to Di/Louis.

To receive a report on the Stakeholder Event which Vicky Young (ECC) would like Youth Councillors to help her plan. It is a consultation with local third sector groups about the commissioning of future Youth Strategy Group funding to deliver initiatives for young people.

Joe advised Youth Councillors that the Stakeholder event was being held on Thursday 16 April 2015 at the Box in Epping. The event would consist of providers bidding for funding on projects for the District. Youth Councillors would be helping to determine the applications and whether they were a good use of funding.

ACTION: JOE, IMOGEN, LEONORA, HAZEL and possible JULIE to attend the event on Thursday 16 April 2015.

To consider forth coming projects;

·         Debate

·         Environmental

1.            Debate

Mathew advised that he, Doncho and Leonora had met up to discuss the idea of holding a debate with the local schools that would comprise of workshops for public speaking, debating and how to set up a party with either groups rotating around the workshops or the group being split up and attending the workshops in small groups then reporting the information back to their group. A debate would then follow in the afternoon about three main topics’s which currently included the Environment, Education and another to be decided.

ACTION: ALL YOUTH COUNCILLORS to find out suitable dates with their schools and what years would be interested in taking part. Discussions would also take place at the next training meeting schedule for the following week.

2.            Environment

Nathan advised that the funding had been received for his project. Di/Louis would be contacting Countrycare to organise an event in one of the Districts nature reserves.

To report back on events attended since the last meeting;

1.    High Sheriffs Awards;

2.    #URNotAlone Award;

3.    Civic Awards;

4.    Loughton Town Council Awards;

5.    Intergeneration Day; and

6.    Houses of Parliament.

1.            High Sheriffs Awards

Joe, Matthew and Jaymey attended the High Sheriff Awards where the Youth Council

was presented with the prestigious High Sheriffs’ Shield Award which acknowledged the valuable work the Epping Youth Council was doing in their community, contributing to crime reduction and community safety.

2.            #URNotAlone Award

The Youth Council was also presented with another award from the High Sheriff at the Awards evening for the #URNotAlone project. The Youth Council were presented with £1000 to produce more of the wristbands that had been distributed to Year 9 pupils for bullying advice.

3.            Civic Awards

Olivia, Matthew, Thomas and Leonora as Youth Council Cup winners. Evie also attended the evening and won the Young Citizen of the Year Award. Everyone enjoyed the evening.

4.            Loughton Town Council Awards

Fatemeh, Matthew and Doncho attended the Awards and they received positive comments from Loughton Town Council about youth engagement from the Youth Council.

5.            Intergeneration Day

Youth Councillors attended the Intergenerational day in Buckhurst Hill. Everyone enjoyed the day which involved cake decorating and Bingo with Youth Councillors chatting to the residents. Youth Councillors enjoyed the event and asked if another one could be arranged in the future.

ACTION: DI to liaise with VAEF for a future event.

6.            Houses of Parliament

Youth Councillors were unfortunately unable to visit the Houses of Parliament because of a prior event being held on the same day.  A refund for the coach had been arranged so that the event could be rearranged after the elections.

To report back on the latest Strategy meeting.

Olivia advised the attendance had not been very good, so the meeting was relatively short although the discussions were mainly about the Stakeholder Event on Thursday 16 April 2015 and the future role of Essex County Council in these services.

Matthew/Tom to report.

Matthew and Thomas advised that they had attended a meeting in March and around 75 members had been elected to the Assembly. They would regularly update members on any information that came from the Assembly.

Matthew to report.

Matthew advised that he had been on a recent residential with other members of the Youth Parliament. The British Youth Council (BYC) had provided the training for the event and Matthew had experienced training on campaigning, communication methods and being a new Youth Councillor, which he would be happy to share with other members. He advised that the BYC website was looking for positive stories from young people on how they had improved their community. Matthew would like to write an article about the Youth Council.

AGREED that MATTHEW write an article and produce it at the next meeting for comments before submitting.

ACTION: MATTHEW to write the article.

Youth Councillors to report.

·         Olivia advised that Braeside school Council representatives were changing and she would update the Youth Council accordingly.

·         Matthew and Doncho advised that in Roding Valley they had now been given the responsibility to consider applications for their schools Council.

·         Chloe advised that she had attended a student voice meeting at King Harold.

·         Julie advised that she had received a number of suggestion cards.

ACTION: JULIE to hand Di the suggestion cards.

To report that Jaymey and Matthew would be representing the Youth Council as non-voting members on this panel. The first meeting will be held on Monday 20 April 2015.

Gill advised Youth Councillors that Matthew and Jaymey had been chosen as the Youth Council representatives on the Youth Engagement Review Task and Finish Panel. The first meeting would be on Monday 20 April 2015 and the panel would be considering the Terms of Reference and the time scale of the panel.

ACTION: JAYMEY and MATTHEW to feedback to the Youth Council.

Di advised that two submissions had been received from Mentor UK and the National Citizenship Service. The Youth Councillors requested that the information be emailed to them.

ACTION: DI to email Youth Councillors interested in either of these submissions.

a)    The Chairman for the next meeting would be Chloe would be Vice-Chairman would be Doncho although this may change because of exam commitments.

(a)          Notices by Diane;

(b)          Notices by Louis;

(c)          Any other Notices; and

(d)          Youth Councillor Notices.

(a)                  Notices by Diane;

·         Attendance – Di advised that all Youth Councillors would be receiving a letter regarding their attendance. Youth Councillors were asked to advised Di or Louis if they were unable to attend meetings.

·         Elections Count – Di advised that a place was available for another Youth Councillor to attend the District Council count on Friday 8 May 2015, although the attendee would require permission from their school and parents.

·         Suggestion cards – Di asked that all suggestion cards should be handed to Di or Louis when received.

(b)                  Notices by Louis

Louis ran through the diary dates for the Youth Council which included;

·         Youth Stakeholder Event – Thursday 16 April 2015 at the Box, Epping;

·         Youth Engagement Review Task and Finish Panel – Monday 20 April 2015 at Civic Offices;

·         Council – High Sheriff Award at Council – Tuesday 21 April 2015 at Civic Offices; and

·         Training – Tuesday 28 April 2015 at the Civic Offices.

(c)                  Youth Councillor Notices

Chloe advised that she applied to be an ambassador for ‘Ditch the Debate’.

To note that the next meeting will be held on Tuesday 12 May 2015 at 19.30 – 21.00 at the Civic Offices.

The next meeting would be held on Tuesday 12 May 2015 at the Civic Offices.