Agenda item

The Chair welcomed the Deputy Mayor and Executive Member for Culture, who was accompanied by the Directors of Education and Partnerships and Regeneration, respectively.

 

The Deputy Mayor was invited to deliver her presentation. The presentation was separated into three parts: Culture, Education and Partnerships and Other Areas.

 

Members were advised there was a need for Cultural Services to embed their work into school’s educational programmes. This this had already started with the Museums Service working with Primary Schools such as Beechgrove. The work undertaken with the school was well received and it was hoped the presentation created by the children could be installed in the Town Hall in the future. This collaboration had generated interest from other schools, and it was hoped this work would continue with other schools.

 

In terms of the Town Hall and Middlesbrough Theatre, one of the main objectives for these venues was to balance financial sustainability and community use. The Deputy Mayor stated that if OSB decided to undertake more work in this area it would be welcomed. There had been a reduction in use of the Town Hall venue owing to other venues in the area such as the Globe in Stockton. Conversely, Middlesbrough Theatre had seen an increase in use, particularly from School Groups which had increased from four to fifteen groups.

 

In terms of the Events team, there had been significant challenges in terms of capacity. However, there was now a Programming Officer in place which was helping with this.

 

Teesside Archives service needed substantial investment, but this was difficult as it was a shared service across the Tees Valley. It was commented that the Teesside Joint Archives Committee was not able to make financial decisions. The Archives Service also faced significant challenges around digitisation or records. It was commented that if the Archives Services was not able to do this effectively it was in danger of losing its accreditation. The Chair queried if the Terms of Reference for the Teesside Joint Archives Committee could be changed to allow it to make financial decisions. It was commented that the Terms of References needed to be reviewed.

 

A discussion took place about how important the Archives Service was for the Teesside’s local history which included allowing people to research their family history.

 

The Chair queried if the Tees Valley Combined Authority had a role in this area. The Deputy Mayor responded there was nothing in legislation to compel the Combined Authority to do this.

 

A Member queried if schools contributed to the cost of the work undertaken by the Museums Service and to the wider cultural offer made by the Council.  The Deputy Mayor confirmed there was no school contribution as schools faced the same financial challenges as the Council. However, there was a need for such initiatives as many cultural events were based in the town centre and some children would not ordinarily access. It was recognised that growth in this area would be beneficial going forward.

 

The Deputy Mayor outlined her priorities in this area which included:

 

·         Supporting Schools through cultural development.

·         Increasing capacity of the Events team.

·         Supporting child literacy.

·         Creating access to facilities to improve childhood experiences.

·         Enhance creative ways of learning

 

As there were no further questions on the Cultural element of her presentation, the Deputy Mayor continued with the Education and Partnership section. In terms of working with schools, the Deputy Mayor wanted to reduce the number of exclusions and suspensions. This would be achieved through sharing good practice, as well as improving access to the Inclusion and Outreach Service. There was also a need to drive strategies that supported better outcomes for young people.

 

In terms of Family Hubs, there was a move to recreate services that resembled SureStart centres but there were several barriers in place to achieving this. It was also stated that breaking down those barriers would take time. The Chair commented that his own experiences with Family Hubs had been positive, and it was something the Council needed to publicise more. He also commented it was good to see a people from a range of backgrounds using the service, but noted the numbers were low. It was recognised that services, such as Bloom, were beneficial for children and parents.

 

It was queried where the Family Hubs were located, and it was clarified they were in former children’s centres.

 

A Member asked what the financial cost was for exclusions. The Deputy Mayor confirmed it cost £23,000 for every exclusion. A Member further queried what the process was after the exclusion. Members were advised that alternative provisions, such as home schooling, were required to ensure the excluded child received an education. This meant the Council had to source those alternative provisions, usually via the private sector. Members also queried the condition of relationships between the Council and School Academies. The Deputy Mayor advised those relationships were strong owing the hard work carried out by the Council’s Education teams. It was also commented that exclusions were reducing and that exclusions moved problems rather than solved them. It was also clarified that schools were aware of the cost of the exclusions.

 

Members discussed the issue of children that were not registered and therefore not receiving mainstream education. The Deputy Mayor was aware of this and advised robust systems were in place to monitor the situation. The Chair of the Children’s Scrutiny Panel advised that the systems in place for this were robust and had been considered as part of the People Scrutiny Panel’s review into Children Missing Education.

 

A Member queried where Family Hubs were advertised. It was clarified they were advertised in several places, such as social media. However, the Deputy Mayor did not have a definitive list.

 

In terms of Youth Justice, this was a shared service between Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland Council. The key objectives were to drive delivery of the Youth Justice Plan and to strengthen partnerships.

 

A Member commented that the Youth Justice process could take a long time to complete. It was also stated that, for those involved in the process, it was difficult to give the impression action was being taken because of this.

 

A Member queried how many young people were in the Youth Justice system and it was agreed that the Deputy Mayor would collate this information and circulate it to the Board. Members also discussed how a small cohort of people could generate significant problems and how new legislation would provide more information to the victims of crime.

 

There were no further questions on this element of the presentation and so the Deputy Mayor proceeded with the final section of the presentation.

 

Members were advised the Deputy Mayor was also the Chair of the Domestic Abuse Strategic Partnership (DASP) which involved working with other Domestic Abuse Services and partners. This role also involved supporting the Survivors Panel which had been set up by the Mayor. The Deputy Mayor commented that not all relevant partners attended partnership meetings.

 

The Deputy Mayor also helped to coordinate the workings of the Civics Working Group, which was an informal, cross party, working group. Members were advised that any Member could contribute to its workings. For Members wanting to be involved, they could email the Deputy Mayor.

 

The Membership of the Survivors Panel was queried, and it was confirmed it consisted of victims of domestic abuse and comprised mainly women. It was also commented that the Civics Working Group also helped coordinate veteran’s events and it was hoped this role would become stronger going forward.

 

Part of the Deputy Mayor’s roles was to ensure the town’s civic collection was catalogued and accounted for. A conversation took place regarding how cataloguing the town’s civic collections was important as some items were on loan to other institutions including the British Museum. 

 

In terms of the Anti-Poverty Strategy, there was a need to look at this issue through an overarching strategy.

 

A Member queried the frequency of Civics events, and it was clarified there were approximately six events per year and there was the intention of adding more events to that calendar, such as Veteran’s Day. It was also clarified that Civic events were spread across the year but tended to be held during the autumn. The Chair queried why Pride events were held in the autumn, but LGBT month was in July. It was commented that the Council did not set the dates of the events, it simply supported them.

 

Continuing with the Anti-Poverty theme, the Deputy Mayor stated that a lot of work had been carried out with Children in this area, such as the Multi-Bank. Addressing Child Poverty was crucial to tackling poverty generally, but the Council had encountered several barriers to achieving its goals and that challenge to those barriers would be welcomed.

 

A conversation took place about how the Anti-Poverty agenda could be cross-authority. The Deputy Mayor stated she would like to see the Tees Valley Combined Authority take a lead on this issue, in a similar way to the North East Combined Authority.

 

A Member queried the nature and operation of the Multi-Bank. It was explained the Multi-Bank was operated by The Junction and distributed essential, surplus items that local business no longer needed. Those items were distributed to local charities who in turn identified people who needed the items most. It was also clarified the Multi-Bank was in its second year of operations and that speeding up ordering times was proving difficult but efforts were being made to achieve this.

 

There were no further questions from the Board and the Chair thanked the Deputy Mayor for her presentation.

 

At this point the Deputy Mayor, as well as the Directors of Education and Partnerships and Regeneration withdrew from the meeting.

 

ORDERED that

 

1.    The total number of young people engaged in the Youth Justice system would be provided to the Board.

2.    That the information presented be noted.