DELEGATED POWERS REPORT NO.

1523 SUBJECT: Positive Activities Equipment Control sheet All of the following actions MUST be completed at each stage of the process and the signed and dated report MUST be passed to Governance Service for publishing
All reports 1. Governance Service receive draft report Name of GO Date 2. Governance Service cleared draft report as being constitutionally appropriate 3. Finance clearance obtained (report author to complete) 4. Staff and other resources issues clearance obtained (report author to complete) Name of GO Date Name of Fin. officer Date Name of Res. officer Date Name of TU rep. 5. Trade Union response received (Staffing issues only) 6. Legal clearance obtained from (report author to complete) Policy & Partnerships clearance obtained (report author to complete) Equalities & Diversity clearance obtained (report author to complete) The above process has been checked and verified by Director, Head of Service or Deputy (report author to complete) Date Name of Legal officer Date Name of P&P officer Date Name of officer Date Name Date Name of GO Date Name of GO Date Name of GO Date Andrew Charlwood 16.12.11 Andrew Charlwood 16.12.11 Kerry-Anne Smith 04.01.12 Rena Abraham 18.12.11 John Burgess Paul Coles 04.01.12 Hema Parmar 15.12.11 Andrew Nathan 08.12.11 Andrew Nathan 08.12.11 Robert McCulloch-Graham 04.1.12 Paul Frost 05.01.12 Paul Frost 05.01.12 N/A

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10. Signed & dated report, scanned or hard copy received by Governance Service for publishing 11. Report published by Governance Service to website Officer reports: 12. Head of Service informed report is published and can be implemented. Cabinet Member reports: 13. Expiry of call-in period 14. Report circulated for call-in purposes to Business Management OSC members & copied to Cabinet & Head of Service

Date Name of GO Date

N/A N/A

ACTION TAKEN UNDER DELEGATED POWERS BY OFFICER (EXECUTIVE FUNCTION)

Subject Officer taking decision Date of decision

Summary

Positive Activities Equipment Director of Childrens Services 04 January 2012

This report seeks permission for the Youth Support Service to spend 374,000 from the Play Builders capital funding to purchase, store and maintain a range of equipment to support the third sector in the delivery of Positive Activities. Flo Armstrong Public All None

Officer Contributors Status (public or exempt) Wards affected Enclosures

Contact for further information: Flo Armstrong, Divisional Manager Youth Support Service ext. 7846

Serial No. 1523

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RELEVANT PREVIOUS DECISIONS Delegated Powers Report 1275, 24 March 2011, Youth Offer Restructure of Youth Support Services authorised the restructure of Youth Support Services creating a new service model that brings together a range of statutory and preventative services. Delegated Powers Report 1438, 20th October 2011, Positive Activities Arrangements authorised the Youth Support Service to distribute the Positive Activities and Development funding in line with local targets and identified need. CORPORATE PRIORITIES AND POLICY CONSIDERATIONS The proposals will improve the support and delivery of the Corporate Plan 2010 /13 especially the priority of sharing opportunities, sharing responsibilities. The Positive Activities Equipment will enable the third sector to deliver activities and programmes, helping to support the corporate objective: Develop the new youth support service; including enabling community groups and the voluntary sector to build their capacity to support vulnerable young people with positive extra-curricular activities. Supporting community and voluntary groups with positive activities equipment will recognise their commitment to providing local services. It will also help to ensure activities are delivered in a cost-effective way, supporting the corporate priority better services with less money. Government policy puts a strong emphasis on the importance of empowering local communities and individuals to take control themselves. Using the funding to purchase equipment in consultation with local community and voluntary groups will help to support the big society agenda.

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RISK MANAGEMENT ISSUES There are risks of compliance for the council if it does not deliver sufficient leisuretime activities for young people. The statutory duties relating to positive activities are set out in section 6.1. Providing positive activities equipment will help to reduce the risk of Barnet not fulfilling these duties. There are reputational risks relating to residents perceptions to consider for the council if resources are not made available to deliver the positive activities programme. The 2010/11 Residents Perception Survey found that youth provision was a key concern with teenagers hanging around the streets being one of the top three residents concerns and 16% of residents saying that not enough was being done for young people. There is a risk of equipment failing or becoming hazardous. The Youth Support Service will be responsible for the maintenance of equipment and ensuring that organisations borrowing the resources have appropriate health and safety standards in place. A lease/hire agreement will be put in place between LBB and the user where responsibility for loss or damage of the equipments and liability arising out their use is clearly set out and attributed to the user.

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EQUALITIES AND DIVERSITIES ISSUES The Youth Support Service aims to target provision to those who are most vulnerable and at greatest risk of disengagement (e.g. involvement in crime, poor school attendance, unemployment, lack of qualifications or aspirations) and poor outcomes. The equipment will enable a wider programme of activities to be offered by the third sector to young people in Barnet. Included in the pool of equipment will be specialist resources for those with disabilities to ensure that activities are as inclusive as possible. FINANCIAL, STAFFING, ICT AND PROPERTY IMPLICATIONS Staffing The proposal set out in this DPR will not have any impact on staffing levels within the Youth Support Service. Oversight of the equipment will be maintained by the Youth Support Service. Finance The Playbuilders funding has been allocated to LAs to develop and provide activities for children and their families. We propose to use the 374,000 capital funding to purchase equipment which will support community groups in delivering Positive Activities. This funding must be spent by 31st March 2011 Property Equipment will be the property of LBB and stored at existing Youth Support Service or provider/partner property. Sustainability Purchasing this pool of equipment will support a more sustainable approach to Positive Activities. By Barnet supplying high quality equipment and relevant training, the cost to the third sector in establishing engaging and innovative programmes will greatly reduce. Any hiring charges made to groups will support ongoing maintenance costs. Ongoing running costs (c10k) will be met out of the Positive Activities Budget.

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LEGAL ISSUES Under Section 507B of the Education Act 1996 Barnet Council has a statutory responsibility to so far as reasonably practicable, secure for qualifying young persons in the authoritys area access to: - Sufficient educational leisure-time activities which are for the improvement of their well-being, and sufficient facilities for such activities; and - Sufficient recreational leisure-time activities which are for the improvement of their well-being, and sufficient facilities for such activities. - Information on positive activities and facilities in their area.

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All providers will be required to evidence that they meet minimum standards before equipment will be loaned out. These will include safeguarding, health and safety and insurance and will be detailed in service level agreements with partner organisations, CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS Constitution, Part 3 Responsibility for Functions, Section 6.1 Powers of Chief Officers - Chief Officers may use whatever means they consider appropriate to discharge the functions allocated to them . BACKGROUND INFORMATION The service has developed the ability to reach large numbers of young people through a range of engagement methods including positive activities. However, the Youth Support Service currently has very few resources that can be loaned out to groups within Barnet. By making available a central pool of resources it will enable the service to target needs within the community and to quality assure the activities, ensuring agreed standards are met. The Local Authority has been working with third sector partners to identify appropriate equipment that will best enable them to meet the needs of children and young people. This includes equipment that will support the delivery of activities such as tools, sports and media resources to reduce economic disadvantage by increasing young peoples knowledge, skills and increasing employability. Equipment will be allocated and agreed by the Positive Activities Steering Group. The Positive Activities steering group brings together a range of partners such as the police, schools and the voluntary sector to share information and data to ensure that we focus the resources at targeted groups. The Youth Support Service is committed to supporting capacity building within the third sector. As well as making available a central pool of equipment it will deliver a training programme to support the use of the equipment, facilitate the Positive Activities steering group, and identify, train and support a group of young people to become ambassadors for Positive Activities across the borough. This group have already supported in identifying relevant equipment to be purchased.

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LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS The Youth Offer restructure consultation paper, which can be viewed by contacting Mark Vargeson on 020 8359 7842

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Positive Activities Steering Group Terms of Reference, which can be viewed by contacting Mark Vargeson on 020 8359 7842