Issue - meetings

Consideration was given to the report of the Youth Service Manager which was presented to provide Members with an opportunity to scrutinise the local Inspire 2 Achieve and Inspire 2 Work projects funded by the European Social Fund (ESF).

The Youth Services Manager spoke to the report and highlighted the main points contained therein.

In response to a Member’s question regarding young people supported into employment, the Youth Services Manager said that the team followed up on young people supported into employment and the young people mentioned in the report were currently still in employment.

A Member raised concerns that the Department was heavily dependent on grant funding and enquired regarding funding at the end of the programme in 2022.  European funding would no longer be available and the Council budget would need to be looked at going forward as not all funding was passported into the schools budgets. The Member requested that the Executive Committee consider budget implications.

The Committee AGREED this course of action.

The Chair commented that as funding was due to end in 2022 there was a risk that staff would seek other employment.  The Youth Services Manager responded that staff were committed to their role and were used to working in grant funded settings, however, this may be an issue in the last year of funding.

The Committee AGREED to recommend that the report be accepted and endorse Option 1; namely that Members scrutinised the information detailed within the report and contributed by making appropriate recommendations to the Executive Committee.