Minutes:
Dr Sue Bond-Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Lincoln addressed the committee and expressed an interest in youth justice and the exploration of issues that affected them within the community. During her presentation, the following points were made:
· Consideration was given to the global Unicef initiative, Child Friendly Cities which in summary, was a city or community where the voices, needs, priorities and rights of children are an integral part of public policies, programmes and decisions
· The responsibility for the formation of a child friendly city primarily fell on the Government but also fell on stakeholders including civil society organizations, the private sector, academia and the media aswell as children themselves
· The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as ratified in December 1991 gave comprehensive coverage of every aspect of young people’s lives
· The UN Convention was based on provision, protection and participation
· The Unicef approach to a child friendly city was a rigid one which comprised of nine building blocks, set as the gold standard
· In a city friendly city, inclusion and participation were fundamental in providing an integrated response to the invisible demands of children
· Issues surrounding the level of complexity were considered in that children did not often present with a singular issue. Often, it was several connected issues
· The highest rung of Roger Hart’s Ladder of participation was where young people are initiating projects themselves and avoided tokenistic participation
· Inspiration for a child friendly city came from Leeds and although they hadn’t adopted the Unicef route, they began with participation work with children which lead to twelve wishes that formed the basis of their child friendly city model including play, travel, transport, and venues
· A child friendly city strategy for Lincoln, extended to the county of Lincolnshire was launched in 2017 at ESRC Festival of Social Science event
· Work within wider districts presented difficulties in facilitation of the concept including issues surrounding local authority staff restructuring, resources, economic implication, and the impact of austerity
· The main aim of the University of Lincoln Child Friendly Research Network was to build an interdisciplinary research base which supported the rights of children both in the City and the County
· A systems thinking approach recognized the need for multiple stakeholders to work together, since stakeholders in different parts of the system hold different parts of the solution
· University Industry Research Strategy set out the process of co-creation which included discover, define, develop and deliver
· In summary, the University of Lincoln Child Friendly Research Network aimed to tackle the invisible problems that affected young people and promote children’s rights as granted through international legal obligation
As a result of discussion between members, officers and guest speakers, the following points were made: -
· Consideration was given to child friendly spaces when planning applications were granted such as the Western Growth Corridor approval and how we could integrate children into the process
· It was noted that there was emphasis on children involvement in the Vision 2025 presentation, but it would need to be implemented in a way that worked
· Recognition was given to daily services such as planning, licensing, and collection of rubbish and that all these areas affected children
· It would be beneficial if Lincolnshire County Council and City of Lincoln Council could work collaboratively on the initiative
· Previous discussions and works were delayed due to the Coronavirus pandemic and the emergence of Omicron. However, the Portfolio Holder for Housing was in dialogue about young people’s voices and the importance of that
· It was noted that Leeds was a unitary authority however in Lincoln we had a two-tier authority, with Children’s Services delivered at County level. Other services that affected children such as parks and play spaces were delivered by District Councils. The complications that this could cause when trying to initiate a child friendly city concept were highlighted
· The importance of work continuing after dialogue took place was recognised and the need for work to be initiated and lead by an agency that could affect change
· It was agreed that a child friendly city was a great aspiration for any city to have as everyone wanted the best for children as they were the future
· Consideration was given to the possibility of dialogue with Leeds, to form something achievable from the start and build upon that however concerns were raised about the academic year and school engagement with Data protection issues being raised historically
· There was a desire to create a space to share materials with potential access to external partners. An affiliated group – Lincolnshire Learning Lab launched at the University in the School of Education made attempts at building relationships
· School engagement was important, and it was essential to establish resistance to engagement and the reasons for that as the initiative gave young people a voice
· Emphasis was placed on the importance of in person meetings. It was understood that Covid-19 impacted the ability to meet in person however inspirational presentations were best heard in person
· Young people made up 34% of the population and this made their voices an important part of the decision-making process
· It was important to consider a diverse demographic of children and young people including refugees, those from the traveller community, those with disabilities and those that faced stigmas
· Leaders in the community had a responsibility to source ideas and for them to be made possible
· City of Lincoln as the pilot could work collaboratively with other districts councils. It did not need to be an isolated approach
· Concerns were raised regarding costings but if resource would be used to benefit young people, it could be possible
· Previous concerns were raised regarding the ability of young people accessing the Citizens Panel with data protection issues as a main concern
· It was noted that there were ways to collect data in an anonymous way and in accordance with data protection rules. Further information could be found in the ‘Let’s Talk’ system that the Council procured
· Due to the size of Lincoln, it could be difficult for people to engage in issues affecting other areas that they did not inhabit
· Comparisons were drawn in relation to the Police and Crime Commissioner works to develop a Youth Commission. Over a two year period, there had been a team of ambassadors made up of young people who carried out peer research and gathered peer views regarding crime and justice issues, mental health and exploitation. It would be useful to see how this work went
The Chair gave thanks for such an inspirating presentation and for all the work carried out by the University. In addition, she expressed confirmation that the Community Leadership Scrutiny Committee made recommendations and therefore work would be ongoing.