Mo Marsh

Councillor Mo Marsh, The Labour and Cooperative party spokesperson for Children and Young people, is calling on the Green administration to come forward with a clear plan for Youth Services, after a report failed to outline its future.

The report which talks about “doing things differently”, contains no clear, costed proposals for the way that Youth Services should be delivered in the future, leaving uncertainty in the voluntary sector as to future funding, and how services will be commissioned.

Cllr Marsh said:

“The Tories carried out a review, and now the Greens want to carry out another. Just how many more reviews do we actually need into Youth Services, before there is a clear, coherent and cost effective policy in place?”

“I am concerned that valuable resources have been used up with this series of ‘reviews’ and that money could have been better spent directly on the service”

Cllr Marsh went on to say:

“The report states that funding ‘will be subject to the budget process’ and that there is no transitional funding being made available for the move to the new model. This is despite 500k of transitional funding for the Youth Service being ring-fenced in last year’s budget. This simply means that the cost of moving to a new model will have to come from services to young people.”

“Money which was set aside to be spent on pilot programmes for 8 – 13yr olds appears to have gone missing. Questions relating to where this funding has gone could not be answered at budget scrutiny, and it is unclear as to whether these pilots have actually taken place.”

“I am today calling on Cllr Sue Shanks, the Cabinet Member for Children and young people, to bring forward some clear proposals as to the future of youth services”