The Operation Manager – Targeted Youth presented the report of the Director of Children, Families and Education which noted that During the Children, Young People and Education Committee on the 18th October 2023 it was resolved that :-

1.  The youth services provided for children and young people be reviewed and scrutinised.

2.  The receipt of a further report on how the Youth Offer met the requirements of the statutory guidance issued by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport under Section 507B of the Education Act 1996, issued September 2023 be agreed.

The report set out headline changes since October 2023 and identified continuous improvement themes identified when assessing the offer against Section 507b of the Education Act 1996 Statutory Duty. A further report would be brought back to Committee in Quarter 4 24/25, setting out impact and outcomes for Wirral’s youth offer.

Section 507B required local authorities to, so far as reasonably practicable, secure access for all qualifying young people to a sufficient quantity of ‘youth services’,

namely:

·  a sufficient quantity of educational leisure-time activities which were for the improvement of their well-being and sufficient facilities for such activities; and

·  a sufficient quantity of recreational leisure-time activities which were for the improvement of their well-being, and sufficient facilities for such activities.

Members asked why the Youth Spaces continuous improvement had started with West Kirby rather than a more disadvantaged area of the borough.

The Operation Manager – Targeted Youth responded that the site at West Kirby was used due to available staffing and resource as they were the only user group of the site.

Members queried what work would be coming to Birkenhead and Tranmere.

The Operation Manager – Targeted Youth noted that the Hive was the main provision already in Birkenhead and that there were other sites within Birkenhead that offered counselling, the response drug and alcohol team and the detached youth work team.

Resolved – That the report be noted.