Agenda item

To receive a verbal report on the latest activities of the Young Mayor and Young Cabinet.

The Young Mayor reported on the following activities in which he and Young Cabinet Members and/or Youth Councillors had been involved:

·         The Young People’s Conference held on 31 March 2022 with 100 young participants in attendance, focussed on young people’s issues around the environment and emotional wellbeing and mental health. The conference also helped recruit more Youth Councillors from a variety of schools. The committees would use the findings to shape projects moving forward and to feedback and discuss activities with Lead Members and Senior Leaders on Thursday of this week.

·         The Young Mayor had begun his term of office with Member of UK Youth Parliament (MYP) Hannah who had met with key decision makers including the Elected Mayor, Chief Executive, Cabinet Member for Environment, and Director of Environment, who had all spent time with the young people to help support them to achieve their objectives.

·         The Young Mayor had begun planning his strategy for gathering support from schools to join the Eco Green Flag Awards which involved researching primary and secondary schools who were already committed to the scheme with the intention of these being examples of good practice for other schools, supported by the Authority’s Sustainable Environment Team.

·         MYP Hannah had pledged to Work on improving PD/PSHE Lessons to prepare students with the necessary skills for the future such as a course on basic first aid skills or education surrounding how to apply for a mortgage etc.  Mental Health assistance for students too.  The newly created ‘Ready for Life’ Committee and the Youth Council members would be working closely with Hannah on achieving her pledge.

·         Hannah’s work would be driven by the national campaigns.  The Make Your Mark Ballot count showed in North Tyneside that the top issues for young voters were Health and Wellbeing, close second is Jobs, Money, Homes and Opportunities and the third issue was the Environment!  Hannah would ensure that she represented the issues for the young people in North Tyneside when she joined the wider forums and hopefully able to speak in the House of Commons. As a Youth Council they would also be working locally on these top issues.

·         Youth Councillors Poppy Chaplin, and Daniel Taylor had visited some of the Ease into Activities as part of the Holiday Activity and Food Programmeduring the Easter break.

·         MYP Hannah and the Young Mayor had visited Shiremoor Adventure Playground Trust’s Annual General Meeting.

·         Youth Councillors would resume their fundraising for a local charity this year and had for their preference which was ‘Walking With’, who provided a support service for Refugees and Asylum Seekers who were living in North Tyneside. 

·         North Tyneside SEND Youth forum supported sixth form students from Woodlawn, Beacon Hill, and Ignite Your Potential to take part in a national consultation on Annual Health Checks for those with a learning disability.  Two students were asked to take part in a video which would be used as teaching tool for GPs across England delivering Annual Health Checks to young people. 

·         The Children in Care Council had set its six priorities for focus over 2022.  These had been shared with the Authority’s Senior Managers and would be used as challenge for change by the children and young people.

The Elected Mayor thanked the Young Mayor for the update and the young people for their work past and present including their work involving Refugees and Asylum Seekers.