HEP031

HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT POLICY COMMITTEE

REPORT Title: Winchester District Youth Provision 1 MARCH 2023 REPORT OF PORTFOLIO HOLDER: Cllr Paula Ferguson, Cabinet Member for Communities and Housing Contact Officer: Susan Robbins Tel No: 01962 848461 Email srobbins@winchester.gov.uk WARD(S): ALL

PURPOSE This report is a summary of an audit and mapping exercise into what is on offer and accessible for children and young people in the district, which in turn may identify gaps in the provision of services or facilities. The report and accompanying presentation build on the presentation to committee on physical activity provision. It provides a useful source of information and a building block for any future work in relation to the children and young people of the district. The consideration of what is available for the district’s children & young people covers both direct provision by the council and from others. This is because many services and responsibilities for support fall outside the role of the council. For the purpose of this review children and young people (CYP) are those aged 0-24.

RECOMMENDATIONS: The policy committee are asked To note the conclusions arising from the data, insights and audit. To support the programming of work in 2023/24 to create a guide to help local community groups and organisations seeking new local facilities or activities, to be carried out in liaison with Winchester Town Forum.

RESOURCE IMPLICATIONS

This initial review of the district’s CYP offer provides an audit of facilities, services and funding from the council and others in order to assist in determining the need and demand for future investment. It does not consider the financial and resources implications of this provision. Any future work in respect of children and young people policy would need to assess the resource needs at that time as these are not currently available.

SUPPORTING INFORMATION:

Background

This overview and summary of the CYP offer in Winchester district has been compiled for a number of reasons. The Winchester Town Form received a request to consider the provision of multi-use games areas (MUGAs) in the city; there has been a recent increase in anti-social behaviour involving young people; pressures from the impacts of COVD-19, the cost of living crisis and the climate emergency is affecting the levels of anxiety experienced by young people.

These are complex issues and are not for the council to address alone. However, a better understanding of what is available across the district for children and young people in the form of facilities and services will assist in identifying how best the council can respond and where it can direct its resources. This work builds on the presentation “Communities & Wellbeing Briefing: An overview of WCC-led physical activity programmes” given to the Policy Committee in October.

To create the overview of the district’s CYP offer, desk research was undertaken to pull together existing information from a number of internal and external sources. The work looked at what is delivered and funded by the council; the county and parish councils and external agencies and organisations. The research included:

Data collection – what figures do we have on the number of young people across the district?

Insight - what are recent consultations or surveys telling us about the concerns and needs of CYP?

Audit – what facilities and services do we have in the district? In particular:

Sport & recreation – both formal and informal including the provision of MUGAs.

Health and mental health.

Potential and growth – e.g. arts, culture, learning/skills (outside of formal education), volunteering, community participation.

Summary of the district’s Youth Offer

Data

A number of data sources were used to compile a picture of children and young people (those aged 0-24) across the district. This included the 2022 Census and ONS Mid-Year Population Estimates 2020. Legal definitions for age groups are children 0 – 16, young people 16 – 18 and younger adults 18 – 24. The Hampshire Children’s Trust, Children and Young People’s Plan uses the following age groups; children or young people 0-19 (up to their 19th birthday), care leavers up to the age of 25 (their 25th birthday), and young people up to the age of 25 who have special educational needs and disabilities. For this work a broad age of 0-24 years old has been used.

The number of the district’s CYP is 38,400 which is a little under a third (30.1%) of the total population. This is the highest share across the county, excluding Southampton and Portsmouth. At the ward level, six wards have a greater share of CYP in their population:

St Luke at 50.8%	(of which 23.8% are 20-24 years old)

St Paul = 40.7%	(of which 15% are 20-24 years old)

St Michael = 34%

St Bartholomew = 32.6%

Southwick & Wickham 31.1%

The Worthys = 30.5%

The largest population forecast growth CYP is in the 15-19 age group at 17% by 2027.

Insight

National, county-level and district consultations and surveys were reviewed to understand the areas of concern, the issues that CYP find important and the type of support they are looking for. This included Mark Your Mark 2022, “The Big Conversation” - Police and Crime Commissioner's Youth Commissions consultation, Hampshire Members Youth Parliament, Hampshire Children’s Trust – Children and Young People Plan 2022-2025 and the council’s Young Person Climate Assembly, Next Generation – housing and the Residents Survey – Young people.

Repeated topics of importance across the various engagements were:

Mental health and welling

Environment

Socialising and activities

Volunteering

Audit

The audit collated information on services and facilities managed and or run by the council, Hampshire County Council, agencies, community organisations, local societies, clubs and groups located in the district.

It is clear there is a great deal on offer to the district’s CYP in the form of facilities, spaces, clubs, support and services. However, access to these is not equally shared across the district with rural areas less able to do so, for example as highlighted by the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment of access to leisure facilities. Whilst the audit shows what is available, detailed work on the take up of services and support has not been carried out. For example, The Hampshire Trust’s Children & Young People Plan states that the Children’s and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) eating disorder services have seen the number of new presentations double. This level of demand is not known for other facilities and services.

The work also showed the council invests in providing and maintaining a range of sporting, play and community facilities. The need for which is identified in a number of strategies and assessments for example Winchester District Open Spaces Assessment 2022, Local Football Facility Plan 2020 for Winchester and the Winchester Playing Pitch Strategy April 2018. However, as evidence by work on the Winchester Town Vision and public requests for additional MUGAs, local communities also seek to set up facilities. Currently there is not a process by which this can be supported.

Conclusions

This mapping exercise provides a summary and high-level view of CYP provision across a wide and diverse topic that has many interested parties, stakeholders and providers; not least children and young people themselves. It demonstrates there is in fact a great deal on offer in terms of facilities and support with no discernible gaps identified. In particular the work found:

A lot of data and insight has been collated which has focused on population profile. There is also a lot available on specific topics especially health and leaning & skills.

Information on facilities, support and services for CYP is dispersed and across websites and different agencies, including on the council’s website.

There are several examples of where organisations consult and engage with CYP in the formation of policy, including forums where the voice of CPY is heard. The council is intending to set up a Youth Forum which is under currently being research by the council’s Policy Team.

Support for community led activity could be facilitated through the creation of a guide to help communities lead on their ideas and plans for new facilities or services.

OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED AND REJECTED

Do nothing. This was rejected as the question of adequate and accessible facilities and services for CYP has been raised by members and the public in response to increased anti-social behaviour, cost of living, longer term impacts of COVID-19 and the provision of MUGAs.

Do a full review and research of CYP provision in the district. This was rejected as it would require the commitment of resources to an extensive piece of work which are currently not available. The option to undertake an audit and mapping exercise to map the district’s CYP offer was chosen to determine if there was any gaps.

BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:-

Previous Committee Reports:- None

Other Background Documents:- None

APPENDICES:

Appendix 1 – Winchester District Youth Offer presentation.