Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 12 October 2021 be confirmed and signed by the Chair as an accurate record.

Councillor Matthew Fido declared a Personal Interest with regard to the agenda item titled 'Ambition Lincoln - Andy Chisholm, Director of Teaching School'.

Reason: He was participating in a teacher training course and confirmed it was not associated with a school within the Lincoln area.

Councillor Naomi Tweddle declared a Personal Interest with regard to the agenda item titled ' Presentation: Michael Hurtley, Development Officer (City of Lincoln Council)'.

Reason: Michael Hurtley, Development Officer (City of Lincoln Council) was her spouse.

Kate Ellis, Major Development Director and Michael Hurtley, Development Officer:

a)    confirmed that engaging with young people was important not only as part of our corporate and leadership responsibility in the city, but also because they would become the leaders, innovators, workforce and champions of Lincoln in the decades to come

b)    highlighted that 38% of the overall population of Lincoln (100,049) were under the age of 25. This illustrated just how important it was that we continue to improve and develop ways of representing and seeking the views of such an important section of Lincoln’s resident population

c)    advised that the City of Lincoln Council had engaged with young people in a range of areas and provided an overview of that work in recent years. This included the variety of ways in which the Council had sought to include young people in decision making and on specific projects and schemes undertaken by the Council and was detailed at 2.2 of the report

d)    outlined youth engagement in sustainability and climate commission including regular consulting with Lincolnshire Youth Council and other youth groups on the content of the Lincoln 2030 Climate Action Plan

e)    advised that the views of young people were specifically sought concerning economic growth, in particular the Western Growth Corridor (WGC) sustainable urban extension. As part of the public consultations, CoLC held an event at the Think Tank that was specifically aimed at young people and students in the city

f)     reported that the CoLC had a successful apprenticeship scheme which had been in place for over 25 years. This had provided opportunities across the organisation for young people in Lincoln to gain qualifications, experiences and development of their careers

g)    highlighted that Councillor Helena Mair acted as Young Person Advocate for CoLC and confirmed an annual report was produced to detail work carried out that year

h)    added that future strategies for engaging young people in the work of the Council was detailed at 3.2. In addition, it remained a key aspiration to increase those efforts and to ensure new and innovative ways to engage with young people and ensure that their voices and ideas were used to inform Council policy initiatives in the future

i)     invited questions and comments from members of the Committee

As a result of discussion between members, officers and guest speakers, the following points were made: -

·         The report gave clarity on housing economic growth, but additional information was sought regarding activities for young people as it was felt that ‘play’ was important for young people.

·         University students were not always registered as they only resided within the City for a short period of time. Consideration was given to their potential enthusiasm to engage in decisions affecting the city as their concentration would be centred elsewhere in furthering their education and participation in social activities.

·         Members queried how we dealt with students within the city and considered if communication with the Student Union would be beneficial regarding what was lacking in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3a

Robert Marshall, Business Intelligence Analyst:

a)    confirmed that Lincoln’s population had risen by 750 to 100,049 in 2020 and it was expected to reach just over 104,000 by 2039. He added that Lincoln remained a young city with 30.2% of its population in the 15-29 age bracket

b)    highlighted that Boultham Ward remained the most populous ward in Lincoln with 11,932 residents and it had the highest number of younger people within the ward at 6,089

c)    advised that we had a total of 18,705 University students in the city in 2019/20* up 570 from the previous year. He added that China was still providing the largest source of international students to the University of Lincoln with 359 students in 2020/21

d)    outlined that Lincoln’s most common age group remained at 20-24, with a percentage of 14.3%, a jump from 12.5% last year. This was certainly as a result of having two Universities in a small city and added that Lincoln had an even spread of gender at approximately 50/50

e)    advised that at present, 0.8% of our population made up the Lincoln Citizens Panel which was equal to less than 800 people. Therefore, if only half responded, the representation would be reduced to only 0.4% of the population and added that inclusion of under 16’s posed a difficulty due to GDPR legislation which caused significant issues

f)     reported that the introduction of an electronic survey saw 200 out of 800 people still choose to use a paper copy which lengthened the process

g)    highlighted the difficulties in engaging the interest of younger members and added the need to build a cycle with a concern that the questions contained on the questionnaire were not always relevant to the person who received it

h)    added that the Lincoln Citizen Panel would like to get involved with school panels and consideration had been given to this through the citizenship skills agenda (SMCS)

i)     invited questions and comments from members of the Committee

As a result of discussion between members, officers and guest speakers, the following points were made: -

• Issues surrounding registration were noted and clarification was sought regarding the figure of 104,000 students in Lincoln. It was queried whether that figure was representative of students currently enrolled or those registered to which it was stated that the figure was an estimation from the Office of National Statistics 2011.
• Members requested further information on how people joined the Lincoln Citizens Panel and if there was a limit on the number of people on the panel. In addition, how many surveys were carried out and if the results were weighed by demographics. It was confirmed that invitations were sent out online and the use of an external company was optimised to carry out a random selection that was demographically representative. In additional, the panel consisted of 800 members, but the number could be increased if desired.
• Further interest was expressed at the possible use of the Lincoln Citizens Panel in other consultation on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3b

The Committee received a presentation from Andy Chisholm, Director of Teaching representing Ambition Lincoln within which he:

a)    confirmed the project was envisaged pre-pandemic and was essentially a place-based partnership for mutual benefit. It was aimed at all 39 Lincoln City schools and the project was funded by Lincoln County Council with a budget of £195,039.93. He added that the timeline for the project had been extended with completion expected to take place in July 2022

b)    highlighted that staff continuously strove for achievement of the Children's Services vision, putting children first and everyone worked together for all children, young people and families to be happy, healthy, safe and the best they could be

c)    advised that Lincoln City Foundation and The Network were organisations that were part of Ambition Lincoln’s project and added that the driver for the funding of the project was educational data. He addressed performance disparities particularly at EYFS, KS2 and KS4 and confirmed that the disparity started at EYFS with children performing 3% behind their peers in County

d)    outlined that the City of Lincoln was in the top third most deprived areas in terms of average deprivation. It ranked 45 out of 326 Local Authorities (where 1 is most deprived) and was in the top 10% most deprived areas nationally in terms of health, disability and income deprivation indicators

e)    advised it was acknowledged that Lincoln schools faced greater challenges than some of their peers with regard given to socio-economic indicators within their communities such as; high levels of disadvantage, residents with low skills and qualification levels; lower levels of aspiration and higher than average levels of EAL residents

f)     reported that there was no correlation between there being a lack of talent in Lincoln schools and it was felt that the teaching quality was strong with professional development utilised well. He added that The LA accepted that its processes and systems were complex and there had been a lot of support removed over the last number of years

g)    highlighted that there were many other means of receiving support, however, there was a level of understanding needed which simply wasn’t possible for busy headteachers with demanding schedules. He added that the second issue was around the mindset of the young people (and their parents) to achieve. Furthermore, Headteachers spoke about an inherent lack of ambition within certain communities, a lack of aspiration, thus the title of the project

h)    added that there was strength in collaboration and the only way to shape the development of our own workforce was through our school leaders, but this required systemic change as continuation of processes previously exercises would result in the same achievement already experienced

i)     Highted that elements such as transition only worked if there was coherence. In creation of a directory, toolkits had been given to head teachers that they needed

j)     invited questions and comments from members of the Committee

As a result of discussion between members, officers and guest speakers, the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3c

The Committee received a presentation from Jasmine Craft, Employability Manager representing Lincoln City Foundation within which she:

a)    confirmed that Lincoln City Foundation was a charity linked with Lincoln City Football Club and the 2020-2025 strategy had been launched a couple of months ago creating a networking event which included: NCS, Premier League Kicks, Traineeships, Twinning Project and Secondary School Port Vale Twinning Project

b)    highlighted that the charity had secured a contract for the NCS programme including provision for 330 places for summer 2022 and were in the planning stages for delivery including bespoke school and college models. She added that consideration was especially given to SEND schools including St. Christopher’s and St. Francis. The Changemakers group was full of many young people passionate about the local community and consisted of 18 individuals, 4-5 that attend every session

c)    advised that the Premier League Kicks Programme worked with local schools/organisations to deliver activities and sessions within the Sincil Bank area specifically youth clubs at the LNER Stadium

d)    outlined that the organisation had recently delivered their first 12-week traineeship in 2021. This programme specialised in supporting young people to attain Functional Skills in English & Maths and to enable them to gain an employability qualification also. Work placements were included and covered employability sessions. She added that there were 3 cohorts planned for next year and that the 19–24-year bracket would go straight into local businesses to do their work experience

e)    advised that the Twinning Project was delivered at HMP Lincoln and three cohorts had been delivered so far

f)     reported that the Port Vale Twinning Project had begun delivery in Priory Acadamies and was focussed on Year 8 – Year 10 to support those age groups in an attempt to make a decision regarding what they wanted to do. In addition, targeting young people who had consistent poor behaviour and/or attendance.This was a football-based programme and delivery was up to six weeks

g)    highlighted that the Planet Super League was a place for fans of all ages to learn about climate action and how to cut their emissions at home, at school or at work. Activities on this programme included litter picking, walked ten kilometres and sharing a video to encourage others to support climate change. She added that the Planet Super League worked with 49 football clubs and Lincoln City Football Club planted 962 trees across the league they took part in.

h)    added that the youth aim was to allow young people’s voices to be heard and created an environment where they had the ability to make important changes within their communities

i)     invited questions and comments from members of the Committee

As a result of discussion between members, officers and guest speakers, the following points were made: -

·         The Chair gave sincere thanks to Jasmine Craft for the inspiring presentation and expressed her gratitude for the work that the Lincoln City Foundation were carrying out.

·         Members commented that as a Council we were aware  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3d

The Committee received a presentation from Gabby Wright, Project Co-Ordinator representing The Network within which she:

a)    highlighted that The Network was established and funded by the Council over the previous five years and original research was conducted after Connexions was defunded. The Network was launched in 2015/16

b)    advised that during 2018, the need to re-focus was established and the organisations focus was offering carers advice and support

c)    advised that the organisation is person centred and the core work carried out was a one-to-one service in an attempt to establish what the individuals focus was, what they had done so far and what barriers were preventing their success

d)    outlined a number of factors that prevent ambition from being met and this included social anxiety/isolation. She added that 48% had stated social anxiety and 41% reported low self esteem

e)    advised that the organisations Council funding was coming to an end but the Network would retain use of their premises within the building and had secured a contract with the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) this year. Individuals would be sent to The Network from the DWP and to date, approximately 200 individuals had used their support after being referred

f)     invited questions and comments from members of the Committee

As a result of discussion between members, officers and guest speakers, the following points were made: -

·         The Chair extended her thanks for the inspirational presentation and commented that the link with the DWP was essential.

·         Individuals could present with skills but not necessarily the skill set required for entry into college. This could come in the form of not possessing a GCSE in mathematics for acceptance on to an Information Technology course.

·         Members considered that holistic approach had developed and progression over the last ten years was vast. Clarification was sought regarding the services offered by The Network and whether this extended to counselling services. Gabby Wright confirmed that The Network was not actively providing a counselling service and instead, preferred to support a holistic approach and that the DWP were supportive of that despite it taking time.

·         Employment outcomes have been met and exceeded from the contract secured with two new projects due to commence in January. This could provide growth for The Network including the employment of another member of staff, joining in partnership with The Lincoln City Foundation and gaining further access to funding. This would allow the organisation to tailor the number of referrals to exactly who needed it.

·         The funding for The Network derived from a number of agencies with mental health support provided by The Lincoln City Foundation, not principally the DWP. Although funded was coming to an end, the intention for The Network was always to become an independent entity.

·         The Network retained autonomy of decision regarding which charities it chose to partnership with collaboratively.

·         The primary age range for the organisation’s work was 16-24, however The Network had hopes of joining the panel with LCC to consider people  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3e

Consideration was given to the Committee’s work programme. The Democratic Services and Elections Manager advised that the key contributors for the Committee’s next topic on giving young people a voice on how they engage with the Council were listed and confirmation of attendance had been received from several.