Issue - meetings

The Chair welcomed the Barking and Dagenham Youth Forum representatives to the Chamber, namely:

Viroshan Gnanapandithan - Chair

William Haggis

Ramat Ojetola

Jade Ramsey

Bethany Dowding

Roshelle Mitchell

Danielle Mitchell

Jessica Matovu

Faraz Hanif – Deputy Youth Parliament

Assembly received and noted the report introduced by the Corporate Director of Children's Services, who before giving the floor to the Youth Forum representatives, announced that last year's Chair, Paul Cox, had been awarded a place at Oxford University.

Jade Ramsey, who has been a Forum member for five years, introduced the presentation, stating that through the Forum she had built up her self-confidence.

Each of the Forum representatives spoke in turn about the work of the Forum over the last year:

The Media Sub-group:

This sub-group had wanted to raise awareness of stereotyping and developed their project by videoing the reactions of young people to a number of scenarios they were presented with.

The aim of the video was to challenge people's negative stereotypes and to get them to think more about how they view different groups of people in society.  It will be toured to various youth groups and shared with schools, as well as being uploaded to YouTube.

The Education Sub-group

This sub-group considered it vital to improve communication between the schools in the borough and the Forum, to promote working together to enable young people to have a voice and make a difference.  The sub-group was invited to deliver an icebreaker and workshop at the School Council Summit.

The sub-group also focussed on the content of Personal Social Health Education lessons and Citizenship and considered that the lessons should include information on:

·  how to open a bank account

·  budgeting

·  writing a CV

·  how to vote

They developed a survey/questionnaire which was sent to all secondary schools in the borough.  A third of the schools responded (285 responses in total) and the findings have been presented to the Advisory Teacher for Health, Jo Caswell.

Young Inspectors

In its second year as a sub-group, they carried out the following inspections:

·  Come Correct condom distribution – 10 pharmacies

·  Becontree Leisure Centre

·  Four inspections in partnership with London & Quadrant Housing Association

·  Subwize substance misuse service

·  Review of the Youth4Us website

·  One Patient Participation Group with one more in the process of completion

Young Inspectors have begun planning an inspection of the 14-19 Service, commissioned by Council Officer, Helen Richardson.

The Consultation Sub-Group

This sub-group undertook the following one-off consultations, in collaboration with council officers and external partners:

·  Jackie Chamberlain (Children's Commissioning and Procurement) - Borough transport operation

·  Shola Akala (Joint Strategic Needs Assessment Consultant) - Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy & Health Strategies in the Borough - Elizabeth Winnett (LSCB Business Support Manager) - LSCB Website Feedback

·  Kid space - Kid space Online Survey for Anti-Bullying

·  Manisha Modhvadia (Healthwatch) - Pharmacy services offered in the Borough

·  Simona Daniel (New Media Advisor)- Effectiveness of StreetBase Local Facebook page

·  Chris O’Connor (OFSTED stakeholder Engagement Manager) -  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50