To receive a verbal report on the latest activities of the Young Mayor and Young Cabinet.
Minutes:
The Young Mayor reported on the following activities in which she and Young Cabinet Members and/or Youth Councillors had been involved:
· The Equalities Committee had met with the young people’s focus group Unity as and discussed transgender issues facing young people in North Tyneside, where Unity members shared their concerns and how they could work together to highlight where improvements could be made.
· Youth councillors had helped with the Make Christmas Special project which brought people together who would be isolated on Christmas day, providing a hot meal and gift to each person delivered to their home and a few smaller groups meeting in person.
· The BAME Taskforce budget consultation had taken place in December and some of the Youth Council BAME Committee members participated in this session.
· Youth councillors, SEND Youth Forum members and Children in Care Council had taken part in their own budget engagement session and learned about how the North Tyneside Council budget was managed, how it linked with the Our North Tyneside Plan, and also made some suggestions on savings and investments to be included with other feedback for consideration when setting the final budget.
· Some youth councillors had been nominated for the Spirit of North Tyneside Award 2021, along with many other young people who had contributed in their own time to make a difference to the lives of others in their communities, with Youth Parliament Member, Abi Tang, and the Young Mayor being part of the judging panel to decide on the winners.
· Daniel Taylor had been presented with the Young Mayor’s Award because of his outstanding commitment to his work on projects, using his lived experience to inform and help improve council services.
· The Children in Care Council had led the December Leadership Forum and delivered a training session around what it was like being in care and what they as young people wanted to see being improved. Many services had pledged support around apprenticeships ensuring that young people in care had a trusted adult in their life and the team would be working closely with services from January to drive these pledges forward.
· The Children in Care Council had held their annual Christmas event which allowed them to meet with Senior Corporate Parents to showcase what work they had done over the year and seek support for the coming months with their goals.
· The Young Mayor for North Tyneside and Member of UK Youth Parliament elections were underway with 21 candidates for the two positions. Online voting for the first stage of the election concluded on 14 January, with the top four candidates continuing to campaign to become elected in the second round of votes to be announced on the 4March 2022.
· The Young Mayor had made a recording to be used for the Holocaust Memorial Day.
The Elected Mayor thanked the Young Mayor for the update and the young people for their work throughout the year including contributions made to Children in Care and the Spirit of North Tyneside.