Agenda and minutes

To confirm a Chairman and Vice Chairman for the meeting and future meetings.

It was noted that Nina would be Chairman and Finlay would be the Vice Chairman for this meeting.

The Youth Councillors had agreed the attached rota of Chairman/Vice- Chairman for their term of office.

Nina welcomed guest speakers District Councillor Holly Whitbread and Sarah-Joy Maddeaux from the ‘You Are Hear Project’.

Nina explained the role of Chairman as follows;

·         To ensure the meeting runs smoothly;

·         To conduct business in the order set out in the agenda;

·         To keep discussions focused on the item as set by the agenda;

·         To ensure the topics meet the aims of the Youth Council’s manifesto;

·         To make sure that a decision has been reached before going onto the next item on the agenda;

·         To allow everyone to speak and be heard; and

·         To make sure a record of all decisions were kept.

Finlay reported the duties of a Vice chairman include;

·         Helping the Chairman in anyway possible;

·         Preparing for meetings;

·         Assist with taking names of people wishing to speak; and

·         Escorting guest speakers to and from the venue.

An opportunity to meet the Leader of Epping Forest District Council.

Councillor H Whitbread advised that she had been a former Independent Youth Councillor from 2008 – 2011, representing the Epping area. She had chosen to be a Youth Councillor due to her interest in politics and debating, mostly enjoying taking part in the annual Youth Conferences. The EFYC held these conferences which saw young people representing several schools and colleges throughout the district, come together to discuss issues affecting them.

Councillor H Whitbread also advised that she had enjoyed some time working at the Houses of Commons as a Parliamentary Caseworker for a Conservative MP and Minister from 2015 – 2016.

She had been elected as a District Councillor in May 2016 and represented the Epping Lindsey & Thornwood Common Ward. As a District Councillor she sat on a number of committees including Select Committees for Governance, Resource and Communities, Area Planning Sub-Committee East and the Constitution Working Group. She had been elected as a Epping Town Councillor in May 2015 for a four year term and currently sat on their Planning Committee.

Councillor H Whitbread encouraged the Youth Councillors to speak up about the concerns and issues that young people were facing and not to be shy to put these issues to the District Councillors and other relevant service providers.

Sarah Joy-Maddeaux from Essex County Council Essex Record Office attended to speak about the ‘You Are Hear Project’. This was an Essex Sound and Video Archive Project that aimed to digitise and catalogue heritage recordings from the Essex Sound and Video Archive, and then share them to encourage people to develop their sense of place. Benches were being installed to play recordings from the Essex Sound and Video archive and had been funded through the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Essex Heritage Trust and The Friends of Historic Essex.

Sarah advised that the Essex Record Office were looking for volunteers to:

·         Review existing recordings in the archive;

·         Select clips for the benches;

·         Edit audio clips for the benches;

·         Decide on a location for the bench; and

·         Help organise the installation.

Youth Councillors that were interested in supporting the project were Blake, Oliver, Jude, Suzannah, Ashwin, Finlay, Davin, Jess, Marley, Abigail, Jacob, Nina & Adam.

Further information could be found online at  www.essexsounds.org.uk

To confirm the minutes of the last meeting of the Youth Council. (To be handed out at the meeting).

            RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 1 November 2016 be taken as a correct record subject to Item 252 -  Youth Council Elections and the inclusion of ‘Forest’ when mentioning Epping Forest College.

Regarding the agenda;

Officers asked that the EFYC logo on the agenda be amended to the new logo, that Councillor Holly Whitbread had been invited to this evenings meeting and future meetings were now to start at 19:00.

The following amendments had been requested for future meetings as follows;

Youth Councillor D Bacheta not Batcheta;
Youth Councillor M Chick not M J Chick; and
Youth Councillor Z Foster not Z G Foster.

To agree the attached Youth Council Constitution for 2016-18.

Di advised that the Constitution set out the principles, rules and protocols for the way in which the Council conducts its business. It included the processes by which decisions were made and set out who was responsible.

ACTION – All Youth Councillors to read the Youth Council’s Constitution and come back with any questions at the next meeting on Tuesday 10 January 2017.

The opportunity for Youth Councillors to feedback any information from their schools.

Di advised that this was an opportunity for Youth Councillors to feedback any information from their schools and colleges.

Davenant Foundation School - Finlay reported that the EFYC’s Positive Mental Health Project, the MiLife Roadshow had been delivered to pupils in Years 7, 8, 9 & 10 at Davenant School on Wednesday 30November 2016 and it had been well received by students and teachers.

Debden Park High School - Ashwin reported that DPHS were fundraising in school for a charity called Shelter through cake sales and games. The charity aimed to raise awareness of homeless people in the area and would use the funds raised to support these people.

Epping St Johns School - Marley and Annabelle reported that ESJ was supporting the Operation Christmas Child campaign, which included filling boxes of goods to be sent to children and young people in deprived areas of the world. The ESJ boxes would be making their way to the young people of Zambia. Further information could be found on Operation Christmas Child at www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child

Annabelle reported that ESJ had been having issues with school buses and students behaviour on buses.

ACTION – Nina to speak to the Epping St Johns Student Leadership Team about resolving this issue.

King Harold Academy - Adam reported that he and Lisa had taken part in a Remembrance Day speech at their school, as part of a day to raise funds in support of the Royal British Legion. Adam advised that over £1000 had been raised in total.

Roding Valley High School - Samuel reported that he attended a school council meeting earlier in the day and had spoken about his new role as a Youth Councillor. The other school council members and teachers were fully supportive of EFYC work.

Raajveer and Maitland reported that they would like to do a project around Cyber Bullying to raise awareness of the issue and help young people to get the support they required.

All other Youth Councillors had nothing to report.

The following submissions had been made to the Youth Council;

1.         GUEST SPEAKER Councillor Helen Kane, Leisure & Community Services Portfolio Holder. To attend the next meeting on Tuesday 10 January 2017;

2.         GUEST SPEAKER Emma Selby & Chyna Desveaux NHS NELFT Positive Mental Health Project. To attend the next meeting on Tuesday 10 January 2017; and

3.         That the members of the Young Essex Assembly attend a future meeting.

AGREED that Officers should confirm the requests.

(i)            To consider any items of business for the next meeting; and

(ii)           Members to raise items of business for consideration at the next meeting

The following items were raised for the next meeting;

1.            Social Media – Instagram Sam Copeman to report;

2.            Suggestion boxes – Louis Walton to report;

Items for consideration at future meetings:

·         Transport for young people;

·         Cyber Bullying – Toot Toot App;

·         Drug & Alcohol Misuse;

·         Stop cuts to the NHS;

·         Weapons in schools/colleges;

·         First Aid for young people; and

·         Bullying Awareness

ACTION – Marley to give Di details for a First Aid trainer.

(a)          Notices by Diane;

(b)          Notices by Louis;

(c)          Any other Notices; and

(d)          Youth Councillor Notices.

Notices by Diane;

-       Emotional Well Being & Mental Health was a massive topic and the Youth Council has  been working with the NELFT NHS service to deliver the MiLife Roadshow, which talks about positive mental health. The Emotional Well Being & Mental Health services were looking at developing a number of digital projects over the next 6 months which included  e-bulletin videos, advertisement videos for the service and a large social media campaign relating to resilience and self help. Emma and Chyna would be attending the January meeting to talk about their work and how they could work with the EFYC.

-       Reminder - Dress code for the Christmas social on Tuesday 20December 2016 was Christmas jumpers a unisex secret Santa gift.

ACTION – All Youth Councillors to send food choices and dietary requirements to Di for the Christmas social event.

ACTION – All Youth Councillors attending the Christmas social to bring a £5 secret Santa (wrapped) gift for the lucky dip sack.

Notices by Louis;

-       Social Media Campaign – Promotion of EFYC work and increasing the following on social media sites via competitions to be discussed at the next meeting;

-       Suggestion Boxes - New lockable suggestion boxes had been purchased and were to be installed in secondary schools in the district. Louis explained that former Youth Councillors had developed the suggestion scheme idea as a way for young people to communicate with the EFYC and inform them of any concerns or issues which they would like to be address on their behalf;

-       Transport - Reminder to all Youth Councillors that if help with transport to meetings was required that Youth Councillors should contact Lou or Di by 5pm on Friday’s.

-        Christmas social event - Tuesday 20^th December;

-        Training Programme for 2017 – This would be starting Tuesday 24 January 2016 with training on the role of a Youth Councillor and making the most of meetings. The training programme had also been included in the weekly EFYC diary.

ACTION – All Youth Councillors to find a suitable location for an EFYC suggestion box to be installed.

ACTION – All Youth Councillors to design an A4 cover to promote the suggestion box and encourage students to use it.

Notices by Gaby;

-       Reminder of Attendance - By failing to attend at least 50% of scheduled meetings, training, or working group meetings in any rolling six month period unless their absence for a longer term had been agreed in advance by the Youth Council. Reasons for absence must be advised to the Council Officers in advance and there would be a warning limit of 60% . If a Youth Councillors attendance dropped below 60% within a three month period then an appropriate officer would advise the Youth Councillor accordingly.

Youth Councillor Notices;

Finlay reminded Youth Councillors of the two separate what’s app groups used for communication. One was for social conversations and one was for business related conversations. He asked that the Youth Councillors to use  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To note that the next meeting will be held on Tuesday 10 January 2017 at 19.30 – 21.00 at the Civic Offices.

To note that the next meeting will be held on Tuesday 10^th January 2017 at 19:00 – 21:00 at the Civic Offices.