Issue - meetings

A presentation to introduce Rotherham Youth Cabinet and set the context for the choice of health and wellbeing as the theme for the Children’s Takeover Challenge.

The Chair, Alex G, introduced herself and confirmed she had been a member of the Youth Cabinet since February.  She issued a warm welcome from Rotherham Youth Cabinet and members of the UK Youth Parliament.  She invited other Youth Cabinet Members to introduce themselves and to give a brief history on how long they had been involved with the Youth Cabinet.  They included:-

Tom

Ashaz

Amogh

Alex B

Tilly

Mabrookah

Zac

Giancarlo

Harrison

Hope

Dillon

Nana

Falak

Lilia

A new promotional video was shown providing information about Rotherham’s Youth Cabinet and Youth Parliament. The video set out how the Youth Cabinet worked, how it was made up, decision making having a positive impact on the lives of young people across Rotherham and how it consulted with young people to tackle issues they faced.

The Youth Cabinet provided young people with a voice. The Youth Cabinet had two elected members of the Youth Parliament which were elected nationally. They were elected every two years and made sure that the youth voice was heard.

The Youth Cabinet also assisted with interviewing county directors and commissioning people for the borough. In addition, this included attending civic events like the Remembrance Day Parade.

Every year a new manifesto was developed and launched at the Town Hall and this included issues raised by young people through discussions, and consultations. The aim was to work with people throughout Rotherham in order to create positive change. This could be with elected members, officers and directors from the Council, representatives from schools, charities and even regional mayors and MP’s.

The Youth Cabinet also worked with other young people locally, regionally and nationally to strengthen its voice, such as young people's police independent advisory groups.

The Youth Cabinet also worked with other groups such as the Youth Parliament, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, Regional Youth Climate Assembly, Regional Ethnic Minority Youth Group and others.

A further presentation about the Youth Cabinet detailed what the Youth Cabinet was all about.  Further information was provided on the Youth Cabinet’s Manifesto 2023/24 which involved over 4000 young people taking part in the consultation.

Health and Wellbeing came out as the issue nationally and locally with the Manifesto’s aims for 2024 including:-

·            Health and Wellbeing.

·            Vaping and Smoking.

·            Climate Action.

·            Anti Violence.

·            Religious Education.

This Take Over Day Challenge was a fun, imaginative and exciting activity to encourage organisations across England to open their doors to children and young people to take over adult roles.  It put children and young people into decision-making positions and encouraged organisations and businesses to hear their views.

This year’s Take-Over Challenge had chosen health and wellbeing as a theme and was broken down into four sections:-

?           Section 1 Vaping

?           Section 2 Mental Health

?           Section 3 Physical Health

?           Section 4 Healthy Eating

The top two issues were mental health and crime and safety. This national result mirrored what young people in Rotherham said and they had voted mental health and crime as the main issues in Rotherham.

During  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44