Full Parliament meeting 24th March 2017
Chair; Luke Morgan
Vice-Chair; Chichi Nwodoh
Minutes taken by; Sophie Hill
Introduction and apologies
The meeting began with members and guests, being asked to introduce themselves, give
the group they were representing and their favourite chocolate bar.
Ice breaker – Get to know each other
The icebreaker involved 4-5 people in a group attempting to find facts that all of the had in
common. Then telling everyone else in attendance the fact.
Guest Speakers; Cllr Andrew Mackness, (chairman of the Conservative party in Kent) Ian
Sutherland (director of children and adult services) and Ann Domeney (Children social work
and children services).
Our guest speakers were here this week to primarily discuss the future of Medway Youth
Parliament in terms of outsourcing as well as the future existence of some of the youth
centres, to which they stated that youth services shall remain "in house" and "no
outsourcing shall be occurring", claiming that out-sourcing was a "miss-informed and ill
decision'' to make and that we will get far better value and outcomes for young people by
not outsourcing. The decisions that we have made now are the best thing for the future.
Mackness stated that they ''do not as of yet know which youth centres will be disbanded or
reorganised'' and which shall remain, It is most likely that some will end due to cuts in the
budget with the youth services which have the best value for money remaining. Essentially
the decision for which youth centres shall remain and which shall not shall be based on
budget, this includes the location of youth centres as well as ''professional opinion'' on
whether the outcomes of the centre means that the centre is work keeping. Professionals
shall also decide on the specifics of what the outcomes are, these decisions shall also be
''reviewed after 12-24 months in terms of effectiveness'' according to Domeeney. Mackness
and the other guest speakers hope that the voluntary sector, such as the Church will be able
to provide the gaps caused by cuts; as well as ''more outreach work''. It was also stated that
the areas targeted shall not necessarily be the most vulnerable areas but rather the ''areas
which may cost the community later on''. However later on in the discussion it was stated
that their priorities is the care services and that they want to ''target the most vulnerable
young people in Medway, the ones who are not even interested in attending Youth
Centres''.
Mackness also discussed the possibility of schools playing a ''bigger moral purpose'' in the
lives of students and can fulfil a bigger role in the community. Providing opportunities other
than academic education which they believe is realistic in terms of funding. Woodlands
academy is open 7 days a week from 6am-10pm. The guest speakers seemed to believe that
this should be standard in schools, correctly claiming that the ''best teachers are not just in
school 9am-3pm and teaching simply for the money''. Some members questioned whether
their plans was to simply have schools overtake the functions of youth centres, to which the
response was that it is ''not an either or between schools and youth centres'', both can exist
with some degree of flexibility.
As well as Medway Youth Parliament and some of the youth centres remaining protected
the duke of Edinburgh award shall also remain. ''For the time being it has been safe
guarded, and shall be financially supported for the next two years until it can be selfsustainable''. They believe that if DofE had been outsourced it would no longer exist.
Throughout the discussion there was plenty of comments concerning budget and that
everything must be done in a financially effective way. One member asked whether their
concerns were purely financial of if young people were a concern to. To which the response
was that ''decisions must come from head not heart'', and it ''isn't fog which provides
services''; however any decisions made concerning money will be in the ''best interest of
young people''.
As a whole Mackness stated that the ''services provided must be within budgets and as a
country we must balance the books, from a local authority perspective we must plan the
service within this''.
Update from campaign groups.
1. Health and Well-being; led Emily Hodgson, had Dementia friends meeting last week,
as well as hospital meetings coming up.
2. Young People's futures; led by Sophie Selgrad have completed a poster aimed at
students leaving primary school and entering secondary school which provides
advice and tips for the transition of schools.
3. Community Issues; is currently in the process of handover, from George Peck to Oli
Branch the new campaign lead, as George Peck recently resigned.
Try-Angle Awards
The Try-angle awards this year shall not be held in July but rather later on, because it has
been decided that we want to do more in terms of the winners. Currently the winner of TryAngle are merely handed a certificate and trophy and then sent on their way, we would like
to do more, for example provide the winner of the music category with a block of music
lessons etc. This would require having more sponsors. As well as this there was a brief
discussion on having extra categories for young people to be nominated into, meaning that
it would no longer be the Try-Angle awards and we would have our own set of awards.
Overview and Scrutiny
The last O&S meeting focused on education right from exclusions all the way to the success
of schools such as RGS. The next meeting is on the 8th June when the conference report will
be reported.
Debate- ‘Should creative subjects be compulsory at GCSE?’
1. Pro; Education in turmoil. Pressure, grades declining. We’ve been modelling
education too much of China or South Korea resulting in too much mental issues. We
need creativity as an effective alternative. Creativity is vital to human growth.
Expressing ourselves. Encouraging creative mindset which can be applied to all
subjects. Innovation is what makes a country great. Mental health is too frequently
neglected in education, which doesn’t help students. Reduce stress.
2. Against; Freedom of choice, should not be forced. Technical colleges faith schools,
choice to do what you want. We need financial, political and sexual education in
school not art. Students already have the opportunity to be creative in English. You
can be creative in your own time as a hobby. Doing a creative subject can rinse out
creativity and passion.
The Youth Parliament voted that creative subjects should be compulsory until GCSEs.
Easter Egg draw.
Winner of MYP draw is; Lucy.
Winner of Youth Centre draw is; Jade.
Any other business.
Recently created Medway Youth Parliament Leaflets were distributed to be handed out to
other young people.
Chi-Chi had news article published concerning our conference!