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Brent Youth Parliament (BYP) Midyear progress report October 2010-April 2011

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Summary This report outlines the progress made by Brent Youth Parliament (BYP) in its first six months of the third term. The report includes progress made against the Terms of Reference (TOR) agreed by BYP, issues identified by BYP as a priority for young people and activities planned by BYP around their chosen campaign for the year.

Background BYP is now in its fourth year. It was established in March 2007 with the aim of creating a robust youth participation structure that:

is representative of the borough’s children and young people encourages young people in Brent to have a say and influence policy and decision making.

Elections were held in October 2010 during Local Democracy Week to elect new Members of Youth Parliament (MYPs) for the year 2010-2012. There are 72 seats on BYP. These are comprised of representatives aged ten to 19 years from local schools, youth groups and targeted groups such as young people with disabilities, young people in care, young people who go to special schools and young people with refugee status. The structure chart of BYP and the profile of current MYPs are shown in Appendix 1 of this report. The MYPs attended the induction day in November 2010 and started their formal monthly sessions from January 2011 where they elected their chair, vice chair, media representative and UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) representatives. Together these five MYPs form what is known as the BYP Executive. The role of the Executive is to set the agenda for the monthly parliament sessions, facilitate the sessions and steer the BYP forward supported by the Strategic Youth Engagement Officer.

Terms of Reference (TOR)

At the induction the elected MYPs agreed their TOR for their term in office. These are outlined below along with the progress made to date against each area.

1. To be the voice of young people in Brent

2. To have a say in decisions that are usually made by adults and to influence local policy

3. To promote the work of BYP and celebrate the achievements of young people

4. To work with UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) and influence national policy

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Progress made by BYP on their Terms of Reference

BYP ensures that it is the voice of young people in Brent by coming together at monthly parliament sessions to talk about and raise issues that matter to young people and by attending meetings outside of the sessions to ensure that young views are always represented. Detailed progress is set out below.

Monthly parliament sessions

BYP have held monthly sessions with an attendance rate of over 75% per session. The sessions are driven by young people i.e. planned and facilitated by BYP Executive. The aim of the monthly sessions is to provide a space where young people can talk about issues that are of importance to them and for the sessions to act as a consultative forum for policy makers.

Some of the items discussed at the parliament sessions so far in the last year have included: consultation on the establishment of a youth website direct input of MYPs into the review of the Children and Young People’s Plan (CYPP),

ensuring that the views of young people are taken on board right from the beginning and how issues raised have been addressed

highlighting local issues via the ‘Have your say’ feedback forms that are of importance to young people in Brent and presenting these to local councillors and senior officers across different organisations

beginning the BYP campaign, ‘Empower the youth, Power the change’ to raise political awareness amongst young people, especially within schools by holding a youth conference in the autumn

consultation on the Child Poverty Strategy to gauge views on any improvements or potential changes that could be made

presenting the outcomes of the Brent Youth Parliament media summit report to the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee

organising a workshop on crime prevention to find out from young people reasons why

young people are more at risk of committing crime, what the barriers are and what the

council can do to help them integrate into society.

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Attending meetings outside of parliament sessions

In addition to attending the monthly parliament sessions, members have taken part in meetings outside of the sessions that require young people’s input. They also attend the monthly Brent Youth Matters 2 forum to listen to the views of other young people.

Some of the work that MYPs have done outside of the parliament sessions includes: MYPs regularly meeting with the team of professionals responsible for the design of the

new Civic Centre in Wembley to ensure that the plans take into consideration the needs and desires of young people

MYPs have been regularly consulted on the design of the state of-the-art youth centre in Roundwood following the successful submission of the MyPLace Bid

MYPs regularly administering the BYP account on Facebook to communicate with non members.

BYP executive attending fortnightly meetings to plan and set the agenda for monthly parliament sessions and provide strategic direction for the youth parliament.

MYPs that are part of the campaign planning group regularly meeting to work on the campaign and particularly now to plan and organise the youth conference

MYPs regularly attending and observing Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings ensuring they are actively involved in building better communication links with local councillors.

The full list of meetings and events attended by MYPs so far is shown in Appendix 2 of this report.

Issues raised by BYP This year BYP selected five portfolios from the list of member portfolios that councillors work to and identified one issue from each which they felt was a priority for young people in Brent. In March 2011, BYP members elected their portfolio leads who will drive the portfolio forward and liaise with the respective elected Lead Member. BYP have commenced working on their chosen portfolios and the portfolio leads meet fortnightly. The list of portfolios and details of the issues highlighted by BYP and via the ‘Have Your Say’ feedback forms are listed below, including the progress made to date:

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Portfolio Issues raised by BYP

Crime prevention and public safety

BYP raised concerns on the reasons why crime amongst young people was such an issue in Brent. BYP worked in partnership with the Prevention of Youth Offending task group chaired by Cllr Gladbaum to facilitate and deliver a workshop to BYP and Care in Action (CIA), to find out from young people the reason why young people are at more risk of committing crime, what barriers they face, how they can be helped to integrate into society, what is needed to fulfil their potential and how the council can help remove those barriers. This exercise was accompanied with a paper based survey aimed at finding out the views of various different young people in the borough. The survey was distributed widely to young people known to the Youth Offending Service, young people in care and Horn stars, a voluntary sector organisation. The results of the survey and the views from the workshops have been compiled and analysed into a report which will inform the members of the Prevention of Youth Offending task group’s recommendations. BYP will support the implementation of the recommendations outlined in the report. The BYP portfolio lead for Crime Prevention and Public Safety has started her own campaign against Gun and Knife crime in Brent called U.N.I.T.Y (Understanding Negative Issues Towards Youths) which BYP will be supporting, and has written an article for the Willesden & Brent Times (W & B Times) and sister newspapers about her views on crime in Brent.

Adult, Health and Social care

BYP members and many of their constituents highlighted the need to raise awareness of the possible health effects of smoking and shisha amongst young people particularly around schools.

BYP joined forces with NHS Brent to support a poster competition campaign. The

competition was designed to get young people to think about the dangers of

smoking, learn the basic facts and then promote those dangers to their friends and

the wider community through their poster designs. The competition was

coordinated by Brent Youth Volunteers and supported by the Brent Tobacco

Control Alliance. It was promoted to youth groups and local schools via

advertisements, presentations and mini workshops. These were delivered by a

group of young people from Brent Youth Volunteers who were trained on tobacco

facts and issues, running workshops and creative marketing. The competition

attracted around 100 entries from young people in Brent aged five to 19 and the

winners were spread over four age categories. To view the posters please visit

http://brentyouthvolunteers.weebly.com/photo-gallery.html

In addition, BYP, NHS Brent and Shishaware worked in partnership to produce a

shisha DVD. BYP members designed, produced and helped edit a shisha DVD –

‘Don’t be Fooled’, to raise awareness of the health affects of smoking shisha

amongst young people. The shisha DVD and shisha lesson plan is part of a

resource pack for NHS Brent that is currently being disseminated to all secondary

schools in Brent. To view the shisha DVD please visit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkqi3VWo-Dw&feature=email or

http://www.bmyvoice.org.uk/byp

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To accompany the BYP shisha awareness campaign, one of the BYP members that

helped produce the DVD has written an article on shisha for the W & B Times.

Environment and culture

BYP would like to be involved in the London 2012 Olympics by possibly getting involved in volunteering opportunities. BYP would also like to work and support green projects such as the Brent River park clear up.

Regeneration and Economic Development

BYP wanted the opportunity to highlight what young people in Brent needed in the new Civic Centre. Last term, BYP sent a letter to the Civic Centre project; as a result BYP were consulted on the design of the Civic Centre staff and some initial design plans were actually changed. Now BYP have requested council updates, minutes and meetings from the Civic Centre project team. The project manager is due to visit and consult with BYP on the new Civic Centre, this is to strengthen communication between young people and decision makers whilst the plans are being put in place to make a real impact as the building evolves. Further plans are in place for future regular consultation with BYP members on the project.

Children and Families

BYP and their constituents raised major concerns about the cuts to Youth

Provisions within the borough.

BYP would like to raise awareness and publicise the current various youth

provisions and activities available to young people in Brent. This will be done

utilising the current partnerships with the W & B Times and existing channels, such

as bmyvoice.org.uk, The Brent Magazine, facebook etc to publicise youth activities.

This will be an ongoing strategy to ensure regular publicity of youth provisions in

Brent.

The youth conference that is being planned for the BYP campaign ‘Empower the

youth, Power the change’ in the next few months will encompass the BYP Children

and Families Portfolio campaign in raising awareness of youth activities by possibly

holding a workshop and stalls at the conference to advertise the positive activities

that young people can get involved in Brent.

BYP have been regularly consulted on the design of the myplace funded state of

the art youth centre in Roundwood and would like to continue to be involved in

the ongoing plans, design and development of this youth centre.

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Progress made by BYP on the second Terms of Reference

BYP ensures that it has a say in decisions that are usually made by adults by having young people present at meetings attended by adults, by ensuring that policies for children and young people are brought to the attention of BYP for consultation and by getting involved in the recruitment of staff that work with

young people. Detailed progress is set out below.

Consultations

BYP is the borough’s youth consultative forum. BYP was established in 2007 and its high profile has led to a high number of colleagues requesting consultation with the group before initiating new projects and/or when reviewing their services.

This has included: consultation on Brent’s Child Poverty Strategy consultation on the Libraries Transformation Project consultation on sports facilities consultation on play equipment in local parks survey seeking views of young people about improvements needed in their

neighbourhoods survey on the quality of Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) in schools consultation on the service review of Youth Services in Brent consultation on the NHS ‘Better Services for Local Children’ responding to governments consultation on PSHE reforms in schools

One of the major pieces of work that BYP has influenced is the development and review of Brent’s Children and Young People’s Plan (CYPP) for 2009-2011. This is the over-arching plan for services for children and families across Brent and covers the work of statutory and community sectors. MYPs were asked at the beginning to identify key issues facing young people in Brent so these could form the basis of the plan and make it current, relevant and directly responsive to the needs of young people. MYPs also designed and produced a CYPP comic version for young people. The CYPP was reviewed last year to monitor the progress Brent Council has made to date against the priorities and issues raised by young people.

Members of Brent Children’s Partnership

The chair and UK Youth Parliament representative of BYP are both members of Brent Council’s Children’s Partnership Board, thereby ensuring the views of young people are taken into consideration during strategic decision making. The BYP executive meet quarterly with the Director, Assistant Director of Children and Families and the chair of the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee to discuss BYP as well as those that come to the attention of the Committee to ensure that young people are at the heart of discussions and decisions that are pertinent to services in Brent and this also helps strengthen youth participation.

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Progress made by BYP on the third Terms of Reference Progress made by BYP on the third Terms of Reference

BYP ensures that it promotes the work of MYPs by regularly featuring in The Brent Magazine, updating BYP pages on the BMyVoice website and interacting with non

members on Facebook. BYP also planned and organised a media summit last term to help raise the profile of young people in Brent.

Progress made by BYP on the fourth Terms of Reference

Getting involved in the recruitment of staff

The involvement of young people in the recruitment of staff that work with young people was identified by BYP last term as an area for development. It was felt by young people that these decisions were often made solely by adults, yet they have a significant impact on young people (the service users). Based on that feedback, 12 MYPs went on a two-day certified training course on recruitment and selection ran by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). They have continually been involved in the recruitment and selection of staff. As the initial certified training took place almost two years ago, most of the members have moved on, therefore current elected BYP members would like be trained to be part of recruitment interview panels across the council.

Publicity and promotion

Since the third term began in November 2010, BYP has featured in six out of the seven issues of the monthly Brent Magazine. Brent Council’s Youth website BMyVoice, has pages dedicated to BYP and articles on BYP have also featured regularly in the W & B Times and other local press, radio and television. As a result of last term’s BYP campaign ‘Break the Stereotype, Fix the Impression’ to improve the impression of young people and their portrayal in the press and other media, BYP have built up a partnership with the Willesden & Brent Times that allows BYP members to have a regular monthly column for young people.

To find out more about BYP activities visit www.BMyVoice.org.uk/byp

Events

In August 2010 last year BYP planned and organised the first ever media summit in Brent. The summit would tackle the issues that had been identified through the BYP campaign ‘Break the Stereotype, Fix the Impression’, namely the negative portrayal of young people in the press. The event took place on 12 August 2010 and included representation from the council, police, youth organisations and local media.

The event attracted extensive positive publicity and was attended by 120 guests. The aim of the summit was to create a long term strategy to build positive relationships between young people and the media that would help create a better environment within the community by changing the way young people were portrayed. The media summit was planned and delivered by BYP members. At the event BYP members first presented examples of negative media portrayals before questioning a specially invited panel. The panel discussion was chaired by a BYP member and its members were: Cllr Roxanne Mashari (Co-chair of BYP); Sarah Teather MP (Minister of State for Children and Families); Matt Gardner (Brent Borough Commander); Andy McCorkell (News Editor, Willesden and Brent Times); Andy Hamflett (Chief Executive, UK Youth Parliament).

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BYP ensures that it works closely with UKYP to influence national policy. This is done by attending UKYP meetings, events and the annual sitting. Detailed

progress is set out below.

Campaign of the year ‘empower the youth, power the change’

MYPs voted for ‘empower the youth, power the change’ as their campaign for 20011-2012. The main focus of the campaign is to raise awareness of politics amongst young people in Brent by:

working in partnership with democratic services to find ways in which to raise the

profile and perceptions of politics amongst young people increasing the amount of young people registering to vote in Brent planning a youth conference in autumn 2011 that will bring together young

people from across the borough, local and national decision makers and media representatives, to raise awareness and educate young people on politics, including promoting various youth activities in Brent

Supporting MYPs

In order for young members to fulfil their duties as MYPs, robust structures are put in place to support them to develop their skills and knowledge. For example:

all newly elected MYPs attend an all-day induction where they take part in team building

activities, learn about the role of the youth parliament and decision-making in the council at every parliament session there is an ice breaker that helps MYPs develop skills e.g.

taking part in a debate to improve public speaking skills MYPs are given opportunities to train as grant makers MYPs are kept informed of local and national opportunities to further develop their skills. Each member has a Personal Development Plan (PDP) outlining the skills they wish to gain

during their term time with BYP. The Strategic Youth Engagement Officer, along with a member of the BYP executive monitors these plans and ensures opportunities are provided to members to enhance their skills

Work with UKYP

BYP currently has four seats on UKYP. Brent MYPs are active members of UKYP and attend regular meetings and events. Brent representatives have attended every annual sitting of the UKYP since BYP was established. The former chair of BYP was a member of the national UKYP youth advisory board that was successful in winning the debate about UKYP having access to the House of Commons for their annual debate for the next four years. The televised debate, which was a huge success, was the second time that UKYP would have sat on the green benches in the House of Commons, apart from MPs. Four MYPs from BYP were part of this historical event debating five issues suggested and voted for by thousands of young people across the UK.

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Monitoring the impact of BYP

It is important that young members have a positive experience during their year with BYP. Therefore, feedback is sought from MYPs at the end of each parliament session (via evaluation forms) on the quality and content of the session. To date the majority of feedback has been very positive. This is further demonstrated by the voluntary attendance of MYPs at the monthly sessions which have been maintained at 75% and above per session. The BYP Executive also have a debrief at the end of each session to ensure improvements at future meetings. As well as monitoring experiences of the young members, the influence BYP has on policy and decisions is also monitored. Progress against the TOR and the log of meetings/events attended by BYP indicates that good progress has been made by the young members six months into the third term. There is a real sense of positive contribution from the young members and a genuine desire to make Brent a great place to live for all young people.

For further information about BYP contact Renata Chavda, Strategic Youth Engagement Officer, Email Renata.chavda@brent.gov.uk Telephone 020 8937 3446 Background papers Outcomes of the Brent Youth Parliament (BYP) Media summit, ‘Break the Stereotype, Fix the Impression’ report, 20 October 2010 Overview of the work of BYP report, 13 July 2010 Summary results of the BYP campaign survey ‘Break the Stereotype, Fix the Impression’ report, presented to the Executive on 12 April 2010

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Appendix 1 Profile of BYP members elected for 2010-11

Note: In order to be a member of BYP, young people have to either be a resident of Brent or go to school in the borough. The locality profile is based on where young people live, regardless of the groups/areas they represent. Therefore, the 11% out of borough members, as shown above are the ones that live out of borough but go to school in Brent.

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Appendix 2 Details of events and meetings attended by BYP in its fourth year to date.

Event /activity Impact / difference made

October 2010

BYP activities during Local Democracy Week

- Annual BYP elections. - Attended a CO11

interactive presentation by the Met police

- Participated in the House of Commons debates

- BYP elections give a large number of young people in the borough an opportunity to get elected to become a member of the youth parliament (MYP), thereby giving them the access to directly influence policy. It further advocates the participation of young people in local democracy.

- Educating young people on the processes involved in a public order incident, from the initial application process to dealing with incidents of disorder.

- Representing and debating issues that affect young people on a national level.

Outcomes of the BYP media summit report

- The BYP chair and UKYP representative presented the report to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for members to note the outcomes achieved from the BYP media summit and to help ensure that the members of the media summit panel deliver on their pledges.

November 2010

BYP induction

- The newly elected members took part in team building activities and were given information on how decisions are made within local government, in order to equip them to be able to fully participate in discussions at future BYP sessions.

11 Million Takeover Day

- For this year’s Takeover Day a young person shadowed the Director and Assistant Director at a meeting with the Chief Executive Officers of Harrow and Ealing PCT. Another young person shadowed the News Editor of Willesden & Brent Times during a court hearing. These activities not only gave young people taking part the opportunity to meet decision makers, but also helped reinforce the importance of young people in society.

Tobacco Control Alliance Strategy -BYP members attended the launch of the Tobacco Control Alliance Strategy as they were part of the planning and steering group.

December 2010

BYP session in December 2010 - The session in December was cancelled due to the adverse weather conditions.

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January 2011

BYP session in January 2011 - MYPs elected their executive team - Discussion on library closures - Campaign ideas - Choosing portfolio groups

New Years Day parade - Seven MYPs organised and took part in the New Year’s Day Parade for Brent and came second, winning £6,000 for the mayoral chosen charity; this demonstrated young people’s commitment to joining wider celebrations across London. For their time and effort at the parade, the young attendees received medals from the Mayor of Brent.

Mentor UK – Youth Involvement Project

- Three MYPs are part of a group of 20 young people across London. Mentor is a substance misuse prevention charity and the aim of the project is to enable young people’s views on substance misuse prevention policy and practice heard by policy maker, commissioners and practitioners. The young people will gain experience in carrying out research and consulting with policy makers. This will determine the key areas and figures regarding drug prevention and will help deliver London’s drug prevention strategies.

Holocaust memorial day - Four MYPs lit the memorial candles at this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day. BYP has maintained an annual presence at this day to mark young people’s commitment and respect.

February 2011

BYP session in February 2011 - MYPs had a debate regarding telecommunications - Elected their portfolio leads - Consulted on the Libraries Transformation Project - Chose the BYP campaign - Educated on the 2011 Census

Anti Bullying Council (ABC) half termly meetings

- The ABC is represented on BYP and the Strategic Youth Engagement Officer regularly attends the ABC meetings to ensure robust links between the two groups.

All Party Parliamentary Group on Youth Affairs (APPG)

- One MYP attended this event, the APPG on Youth Affairs allows for a lively debate between ministers, parliamentarians and young people. It is an excellent opportunity to engage directly with young people across London to understand their concerns and aspirations.

Mayor’s presentation of New Years Day Parade medals to participants

-All BYP members that took part in the New Year’s Day Parade were presented with medals from the Mayor. This was a celebratory event to commend the good work that the young people were involved in.

Full council meeting - Six MYPs attended the full council budget setting meeting at the Town Hall to learn and feedback to the rest of the Youth

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Parliament on the budget cuts.

March 2011

Brent Careers & GCSE Information Evening

- One MYP attended a careers evening at Wembley Plaza hotel. The young person was interviewed by the Brent Council Communications team and helped write a short article on the event.

BYP session in March 2011

- MYPs debated whether the Olympics was a waste of money - Crime prevention workshop - Completing their Personal Development Plans - Ideas for campaign names - Workshop on how to campaign

UKYP Welcome induction at the Houses of Parliament

- Five MYPs attended the Welcome induction where they had the opportunity to learn about the work of the UKYP and were able to represent the views of Brent’s young people at a national level.

Mentor UK – Youth Involvement Project

- Three MYPs attended their second meeting to discuss substance misuse. The young people will continue to meet monthly with the rest of the group to take this project forward.

End of Year Celebration event - Five MYPs attended the event celebrating the achievements of the young people and projects that they were part of, or funded through the Youth Opportunity Fund/Youth Capital Fund and the VTalentyear programme both of which have now ended.

April 2011

BYP session in April 2011

- Workshop delivered by the Parliamentary Outreach team - Consultation on the Child Poverty Strategy - Choosing the campaign name - Shisha awareness workshop and filming part 1 of the DVD

UKYP Induction and London regional meeting

- Four MYPs attended the UKYP induction at Tower Hamlets where they had the opportunity to put forward the views of Brent’s young people. At the induction session all boroughs put forward an issue that have affected young people in their area; BYP chose cuts in youth provision. Three priorities were chosen of which youth provision was one.

- Three MYPs attended the London regional meeting at City Hall

Shisha awareness DVD - Six MYPs attended four shisha filming planning meetings - Four MYPs were directly involved in the planning, designing,

filming and editing of the shisha DVD.

Libraries Transformation Project - The chair of BYP made a presentation and put forward recommendations to the Scrutiny Committee setting out BYP's position on library closures. BYP put some recommendations forward, one of which was passed.

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