The Children and Education Scrutiny Sub-Committee met to discuss the progress that has been made in delivering the council's youth services, including plans to open a youth club in each of the borough's wards. They also discussed the priorities of the Children's Services Directorate for the coming year, and reviewed the Sub-Committee's draft work programme for the 2024/25 municipal year.

Youth Services

The Children's Services Directorate presented plans to expand youth services provision in the borough as part of the new Young Tower Hamlets strategy. Councillor Maium Talukdar, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Education, Youth and Lifelong Learning, highlighted the strategic aims of the new strategy which include providing A safe space in every ward and A workforce that reflects the community .[1] The Sub-Committee heard that there are currently eight universal youth clubs operating in the borough, and that plans are in place to identify a suitable building for youth work in each ward by 2025.

The Sub-Committee also heard about the need for increased investment in youth services. Steve Reddy, Corporate Director for Children’s Services, said:

A significant reduction in funding to youth services at a local and national level over the past decade has led to an increase in crime and anti-social behaviour and lack of safe spaces for young people to go outside of school hours or during holiday periods. [2]

The Sub-Committee also heard from the Young Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Fetuma Hassan, who spoke about the importance of youth services in providing young people with a safe space to socialise and learn new skills.

The Children's Services Directorate intends to complete their youth strategy by September 2024, and in the meantime they plan to finalise the youth service's commissioned provision and budget, and continue to recruit staff for the new model.

Reflections and Priorities for Children’s Services 2024/25

Councillor Maium Talukdar and Steve Reddy also presented the Children's Service Directorate's reflections on the last municipal year and their priorities for the year ahead. They noted that 96% of pupils in the borough are in schools rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, and that 68% of pupils in Year 6 met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths in the 2022/23 academic year. They also noted that the rate of first-time entrants to the Youth Justice System in Tower Hamlets was 142 per 100,000 children in 2022 - lower than the London average.

The Directorate highlighted a number of priority areas for the coming year, including developing support for key stage 5 students, preparing for the upcoming inspections of Children's Social Care, Youth Justice and SEND, launching the new Young Tower Hamlets strategy, completing the roll out of family hubs, and working with partners to deliver the Accelerate! partnership plan.

Draft CESSC Work Programme 2024/25

Finally, the Sub-Committee reviewed its draft Work Programme for the 2024/25 municipal year. The Work Programme includes items on the early help offer, preparation for inspections, youth justice improvement work, corporate parenting, children and young people’s mental health, free school meals, KS5 educational attainment, the school curriculum, and children’s safeguarding. In addition to these items, the Sub-Committee plans to hold a challenge session on a subject to be decided, and to receive regular performance briefings from Children's Services.