Agenda and minutes

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

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

            RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 14 April 2015 be taken as correct record subject to following amendment;

Minute 122. (Any Other Business (c) Youth Councillor Notices)

To replace the word Debate with Label.

Youth Councillors to feedback on any progress on the following projects;

1.    Debate

2.    Environment

1.            Debate

Di advised that the Debate would be held in conjunction with Local Democracy week in October 2015 and Elenaor Laing had committed to attending the event. The dates had been confirm for either Friday 9^th or 23^rd October 2015.

Youth Councillors were asked to approach their teachers about the Debate and establish whether they would commit.

ACTION: ALL YOUTH COUNCIILORS to ask their schools whether they would commit pupils to the debate.

2.            Environment

Di advised that a visit to the Recycling centre in Edmonton had been arranged for Wednesday 27 May 2015. All Youth Councillors attending should wear shoes that were strong, sturdy and cover the foot completely and no skirts or shorts. Everyone attending should meet at Hemnall Street Office at 11 am.

Di also advised that the O2 Think Big funding Nathan received would be contributing to ‘Bring a mate’ event, which would be held on Thursday 27 August 2015 in conjunction with the City of London. This would involve Youth Councillors bringing their friends and relatives who were 13 and over, to encourage them to take part in a volunteering day in the forest.

ACTION: ALL YOUTH COUNCILLORS to see whether they were available and could bring volunteers to the event. Consent forms would be required for other attendees.

Youth Councillors to feedback on any evens attended since the last meeting.

1.            Online Safety Training

Joe advised that Youth Councillors had received online safety training from Essex Police, which focused on befriending other people through the internet and the potential dangers. Everyone who attended the training felt that it was very useful and reaffirmed the importance safety with online media.

2.            General Election Count

Jaymey advised that he had attended the General Election Count at Debden Park High School on Thursday 7 May 2015. He found it very interesting to see how much media interest was at the count and how the process of verifying votes and counting the votes works. He recommended if any other Youth Councillors get the chance to attend they should.

3.            Local Election Count

Leonora and Joe attended the Local Election Count at Theydon Bois’s Village Hall on Friday 8 May 2015. They found the count very interesting and spoke with a few of the candidates.

Councillor Surtees had wanted to meet with Joe and Leonora and would arrange a meeting.

ACTION: Di to arrange a date for Councillor Surtees to meet the Youth Councillors.

Youth Councillors to report back on any school updates.

Due to the exam period many of the Youth Councillors had no updates from their schools.

Olivia advised on behalf of Matthew that Roding Valley had selected their year 7 members for the School Council and were awaiting the election of other members.

Jaymey advised that he had been selected as deputy head boy at the Anglo European and would be looking at making contacts with other Youth Councillors in different boroughs/districts.

Matthew/Tom to report.

Jaymey advised that the YEA would be shortly asking young people to submit ideas for the ‘Make your Mark’ campaign, which gathers together campaign ideas to later debate in Westminster.

Matthew/Jaymey to report.

Jaymey advised that both he and Matthew had attended the first Youth Engagement Review Task and Finish Panel and what surprised him was that Members thought that Youth Councillors were politically motivated and the lack of understand of what the Youth Council do.

Both Matthew and Jaymey would be making a presentation to the Members of the Task and Finish Panel which would include information on their current term of office and what the Youth Council as a whole had achieved since it had been established.

Matthew to report.

Olivia advised on behalfof Matthew that UKYP had national campaigns about the living wage and Mental Health services. Matthew had been researching the mental health services in West Essex and had received a reply from a lady representing the West Essex NHS CCG (Central Commission Group), which would be focused on.

Matthew also mentioned the ‘Make your Mark’ campaign, which he would like Youth Councillors to get their schools involved in. Joe and Julie already had a representative, former Youth Councillor Josh Collins (Year 11) who would be the contact in Davenant.

Di to present the Youth Council Cup.

The Youth Council Cup was presented to Joe for his commitment to his Youth Council work. Joe had excellent attendance, passionate about the community, always offers to do additional duties and was a role model for the Youth Council. He recently co facilitated an event with County Councillor Metcalfe and has written for the Theydon Bois News column. Joe would be attending the Charman’s Civic Awards next year.  

Jaymey advised that a lady who works for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport approached him regarding getting involved with a campaign called ‘Love what you wear?’.

AGREED that Jaymey would contact the lady to invite her to the Youth Council meeting on 7 July 2015.

i)      The Chairman for the next meeting would be Doncho and the Vice Chairman would be Drew.

ii)     Jaymey questioned whether the Youth Council should try to increase their Social Media figures and how this could be achieved. The Youth Council considered options available to them including paying for advertisements on the sites themselves, ‘Keep it local’ websites, competitions and other ways.

AGREED that Youth Councillors would consider other methods of increasing the Social Media followers and discuss it at their next meeting.

(a)          Notices by Diane;

(b)          Notices by Louis;

(c)          Any other Notices; and

(d)          Youth Councillor Notices.

(a)          Notices by Di

·         Volunteering Guides – Di asked Youth Councillors to contact their schools to arrange dates for the Volunteering Guide assembles;

·         Suggestion Cards – Di requested that all suggestion cards be passed onto Di or Louis immediately;

·         Mentor UK – Youth Councillors were asked if they wanted to be part of a team presentation for Mentor UK on 25 June 2015. Also if they wanted to be part of an interview panel that would be meeting with the Robert Halfon MP for Harlow and County Councillors on Sunday 17 May 2015. Any one interested should contact Dom Bergonsi direct from MentorUK.

·         Youth Online Understanding Radicalisation Survey – Youth Councillors were asked to complete the survey which had been circulated by the Association of Chief Police Officers.

(b)          Notices by Louis

·         Who Will Care Award Ceremony – Fatemeh would be attending at Weston Homes Community Stadium, United Way, Colchester.

·         Visit to Youth Plus on 21 May 2015 @ 19:15 – 20:30pm Ongar Youth Centre,

·         Dementia Friend Training with Sarah Bellairs on Thursday 26 May @ 19:00 – 21:00 Committee Room 2, Civic Offices, Epping.

·         Social Media – There were 516 followers on the Twitter account.

(c)          Notices by Youth Councillors

Olivia reported on behalf of Matthew about the ID card idea. Matthew had received a letter from Boris Johnson MP replying to his email (attached). Furthermore, he had  received a letter from Eleanor Laing MP on Friday to acknowledge Boris’ response and Matthew would be organising a meeting with Eleanor Laing and Boris Johnson although this would be done in his own time with no association to EFYC.

To note that the next meeting will be held on Tuesday 2 June 2015 at 19.30 – 21.00 at the Civic Offices.

The next meeting would be held on Tuesday 2 June 2015 at the Civic Offices.