Government Plan 2020–2023 (P.71/2019): eleventh amendment [P.71/2019 Amd.(11)]

STATES OF JERSEY

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GOVERNMENT PLAN 2020–2023 (P.71/2019): ELEVENTH AMENDMENT

Lodged au Greffe on 11th November 2019 by Deputy I. Gardiner of St. Helier

STATES GREFFE

2019  P.71 Amd.(11)

GOVERNMENT PLAN 2020–2023 (P.71/2019): ELEVENTH AMENDMENT ____________

1  PAGE 2, PARAGRAPH (c) –

After the words "of the Report" insert the words ", except that in Summary Table 3(i) the Head of Expenditure for Children, Young People, Education and Skills shall be increased by £53,000 to allow for the Youth Service to employ an additional full-time assistant youth worker for the Move on' project which will allow them to continue to operate and meet the increased need, with other affected lines in Summary Table 3(i) to be  updated accordingly; and  to request the Minister  for  Treasury  and  Resources  to  investigate  whether  the  additional spending can be funded from the Criminal Offences Confiscation Fund or other similar Fund if possible and, if not, then from the Consolidated Fund".

2  PAGE 2, PARAGRAPH (c) –

After the words "of the Report" insert the words ", except that in Summary Table 3(i) the Head of Expenditure for Children, Young People, Education and Skills shall be increased by £174,000 to allow for the Youth Service to run a pilot scheme to engage with young people from the Portuguese, Polish and Romanian communities, with other affected lines in Summary Table 3(i) to be updated accordingly; and to request the Minister for Treasury and Resources to investigate whether the additional spending can be funded from the Criminal Offences Confiscation Fund or other similar Fund if possible and, if not, then from the Consolidated Fund".

DEPUTY I. GARDINER OF ST. HELIER

Note:  After this amendment, the proposition would read as follows –

THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion

to receive the Government Plan 2020–2023 specified in Article 9(1) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 ("the Law") and specifically –

1. to approve the estimate of total States income to be paid into the Consolidated Fund in 2020 as set out in Appendix 2 – Summary Table 1 to the Report, which is inclusive of the proposed taxation and impôts duties changes outlined in the Government Plan, in line with Article 9(2)(a) of the Law; and
2. to approve each major project that is to be started or continued in 2020 and the total cost of each such project, in line with Article 9(2)(d),  (e)  and  (f)  of  the  Law  and  as  set  out  in Appendix 2 – Summary Table 2 to the Report; and

3. to approve the proposed amount to be appropriated from the Consolidated Fund for 2020, for each head of expenditure, being gross expenditure less estimated income (if any), in line with Articles 9(2)(g), 10(1) and 10(2) of the Law and set out in Appendix 2 – Summary Tables 3(i) and (ii) of the Report –

1. except  that  in  Summary  Table 3(i)  the  Head  ofExpenditure for Children, Young People, Educationand Skills shall be increased by £53,000 to allow forthe Youth Service to employ an additional full-timeassistant youth worker for the Move on' project whichwill allow them to continue to operate and meet theincreased need, with other affected lines in SummaryTable 3(i) to be updated accordingly; and to request theMinister for Treasury and Resources to investigatewhether the additional spending can be funded fromthe  Criminal  Offences  Confiscation  Fund  or  othersimilar Fund if possible and, if not, then from theConsolidated Fund;
2. except  that  in  Summary  Table 3(i)  the  Head  ofExpenditure for Children, Young People, Educationand Skills shall be increased by £174,000 to allow forthe Youth Service to run a pilot scheme to engage withyoung  people  from  the  Portuguese,  Polish  andRomanian communities, with other affected lines inSummary Table 3(i) to be updated accordingly; and torequest the Minister for Treasury and Resources toinvestigate  whether the  additional spending can befunded from the Criminal Offences Confiscation Fund or other similar Fund if possible and, if not, then fromthe Consolidated Fund; and

4. to approve the estimated income, being estimated gross income less expenditure, that each States trading operation will pay into its trading fund in 2020 in line with Article 9(2)(h) of the Law and set out in Appendix 2 – Summary Table 4 to the Report; and
5. to approve the proposed amount to be appropriated from each States trading operation's trading fund for 2020 for each head of expenditure in line with Article 9(2)(i) of the Law and set out in Appendix 2 – Summary Table 5 to the Report; and
6. to approve –

1. the establishment of a "Climate Emergency Fund", in accordance with the provisions of Article 6 of the Law, as set out at Appendix 3 to the Report; and
2. the estimated income and expenditure proposals for the Climate  Emergency  Fund  for  2020  as  set  out  in Appendix 2 – Summary Table 6 to the Report; and

7. to approve the amounts to be transferred from one States fund to another for 2020 in line with Article 9(2)(b) as set out in Appendix 2 – Summary Table 7 to the Report; and
8. to approve the estimated income and expenditure of the Social Security, Health Insurance and Long-Term Care Funds for 2020 set out in Appendix 2 – Summary Tables 8(i), (ii) and (iii) to the Report, with –
   1. the estimated income to be raised from existing social security contributions defined in the Social Security Law and the proposed changes to contribution liability; and
   2. the estimated expenditure to be paid to support the existing benefits and functions defined in the Social Security Law, the Health Insurance Law and the Long- Term Care Funds and new benefits, if any, to be paid from the Funds; and

9. to approve, in accordance with Article 9(1) of the Law, the Government Plan 2020–2023, as set out at Appendix 4 to the Report.

REPORT

Both parts of this amendment seek to increase funding for the Jersey Youth Service. Youth work provides excellent opportunities for young people through –

• involving and empowering young people

• celebrating the creativity of young people

• providing personal and social development opportunities

• working towards equality of opportunity

• encouraging young people's participation

• enabling young people to become active citizens

• promoting a safe environment for young people.

The numbers of Youth Service users have grown during the last 3 years as shown in the table below –

We can see steady growth.

At the same time, we know that only approximately 33% of young people are taking part in Youth Service activities. Others might participate in other youth movements and alternative curriculums.

My amendment will target 2 very specific groups:

1. Young people who have very little involvement in after-school activities. Those we see on the steps of Liberation Square, at McDonald's, and wandering around residential estates or town looking for something to do. These young people are the target group for street youth workers, and clients for the "Move On Café", which  operates  at  Liberty  Wharf  and  provides  a  safe  and  supervised environment.
2. Young people with English as a second language. There are few young people from minority groups engaged with the Youth Service. We need to reach out to the community and bring them in, and show there is an alternative.

Fundamentally,  this  amendment  strives  to  strengthen  our  commitment  as  States Members to "Put Children First" and to give equal opportunities to all of them.

As declared in the Children's Plan 2019-2023, there are 5 guiding principles –

• Listen and involve

• Work creatively and innovatively in close partnership

• Think family and community

• Celebrate diversity

• Prevent problems beginning or escalating.

Both of the bids are a straightforward and very specific answer for the 5 guiding principles. Please see below the rationale for each group as to why it's important.

Move On' Project:

At the heart of all good youth work is a concern to ensure that children and young people are safeguarded and their wellbeing promoted. By offering a service that seeks to encourage young people to engage in positive activities, it is more likely that those participating and engaging will be diverted from risky behaviours and relationships.

The Move On' Café delivers fantastic work for some of our most vulnerable young people, and provides young people with somewhere to go, something to do, and someone to talk with. Additionally, the staff from the Move On' Café provide an outreach team that works out on the streets of St. Helier , to support those young people who do not want to engage, and/or those who are sometimes involved in high-risk behaviours and are in need of assistance.

The Move On' Café is open 4 evenings and 4 afternoons per week, and the outreach services work within the town area on a Friday evening. It also puts out additional youth workers on the streets of St. Helier for large events, such as over the summer when the funfair is in town, and leading up to Christmas. There are also additional youth workers on the street when nightclubs put under-18s events on and there is a high number of young people out on the streets within St. Helier . They work with Police colleagues when problem areas arise.

The current staffing situation means that at times the Move On' Project is unable to put enough staff out on the streets, have to close sessions to meet other demands, run a reduced programme of activities, or are unable to respond in a timely way due to capacity issues.

The data shows that the number of participants is around 330, and it cannot be increased without extra street youth workers, who will be there to reach out to the teenagers at risk of getting involved in anti-social behaviour.

The  "Jersey Youth Justice Review", published in June, expressed concerns about inequalities in accessing both health and education services in the Island. It suggested –

"There should be an understanding promoted across all relevant professional staff that the reasons children and young people present with challenging behaviour are many, complex and often interacting."

The Child Integrated Support Team ("CIST") which was formed in May 2018, has given promising evidence that engagement with the Youth Service can have a positive effect on a young person and keep them as much as possible away from anti-social behaviour.

The CIST group is about intensive problem solving over a 3–4 month period of working with young people to encourage them to engage with services, and in particular the Youth Service, through their clubs and mobile/street teams.

The CIST initiative was a Police-led operation which took place over the summer of 2018.  The  aim  and  intention  of  the  operation  was  to  address  several  areas  of vulnerability for some children in Jersey who found themselves exposed to the attention of multiple agencies for reasons of being –

• regularly missing from home

• involved in crime

• involved in anti-social behaviour

• absent from school.

This multi-agency response was widely successful, and it showed that between May and August 2018, for 10 teenagers there were the follow results –

• the number of offences dropped from total 63 to 5

• the number of incidents dropped from a total of 97 to 20

• the number of missing from school' reports dropped from a total of 48 to 23.

The operational group is chaired by the Youth Service, who have been absolutely vital in delivering this work. They are a key partner and have the best rapport with the young people – many of whom attend the Move On' project.

There is still lots of work to be done to gather evidence, and we should have more in 12–18 months' time.

It's important to focus on an outreach type of strategy to engage with these young people, and Street Youth Workers have a vital role in that.

The research which has been done by the United Teen Equality Center in Lowell, Massachusetts, uses Street Outreach Workers ("SWs") to intervene with individuals aged from 13–23 years to capture " How youth perceive the SWs" –

• Regardless of whether they had worked with a SW, youth respondents reported that their peers believed the SWs made Lowell a better place.

• Among the youth who had worked with a SW, 38% received help finding a job.

• 67% indicated that working with a SW made a difference in their lives.

• Approximately 82% of individuals who participated in mediation activities led by the SWs reported that it resolved their conflict.

These results support the value of SWs in helping youths meet their needs.

I would like to see this Government be bold, and provide for the Move On' Café project a second, full-time Assistant Youth Worker to expand and engage with more vulnerable teenagers on the streets of Jersey.

I propose that the Youth Service budget be increased by £53,000 to pay for a full-time youth worker for the Move On' Café.

Pilot scheme for dedicated Youth Workers for minorities:

As a Deputy of St. Helier and Non-Executive Director on Caritas International for Social Inclusion project, I regularly engage with minorities, and know that there is a need for youth development work with the Polish, Portuguese and Romanian young people. The Youth Service would be best placed to deliver this.

I have met with the Principal Youth Officer, who confirmed that very few young people with English as their second language engage in youth club activities. While the Youth Service would like to engage more with these 3 groups of our community, they do not have the resources to do this work.

We  know  that  many  of  these  young  people  are  vulnerable,  living  in  poor accommodation, and need support to help integrate with local networks and services. Having a youth worker who can develop links for them would be a positive start to integrate them in the work of youth clubs.

It has already been highlighted that there are gaps in the services. The Youth Service has youth workers employed specifically to target 2 groups during the last 2 years, and both have been successful projects. These are the LGBTQ project and the Young Carers project.

From talking with the Youth Service, I learned that the Young Carers and LGBTQ projects started small. They carried out some scoping work, made new contacts with different children and young people, listened to their needs, and afterwards developed a service relevant to their needs.

LGBTQ project:

• The aim of this project is to provide young people with a safe space where they feel comfortable and can meet with people that are in similar situations.

• To enable LGBTQ+ young people to access support and advice from youth workers in relation to their identity and sexuality as well as general teenage life.

• To  enable  LGBTQ+  young  people  to  take  part in new  opportunities and experiences that will help with personal development.

By raising awareness and reducing stigma within schools and amongst the wider community, the project helps to reduce the harm that LGBTQ+ young people frequently cause  to  themselves.  Behaviours  such  as  self-harming  and  attempted  suicide  are something  we  see  regularly  amongst  young  LGBTQ  people.  Furthermore, it  will hopefully reduce the discrimination, abuse and bullying they can receive from members of the Public.

Young Carers project (Mytime) Project:  

This project was set up to support young carers. These are teenagers under the age of 18 who provide care, assistance and support to another family member. They carry out, often on a regular basis, significant or substantial caring tasks, and assume a level of responsibility which would normally be associated with an adult. The person receiving the care is often a parent, but can be a sibling, grandparent or other relative who is disabled, has some chronic illness, mental health problem, or other condition connected

with a need for care, support or supervision. Factors which influence the extent and nature of young carer's tasks and responsibilities include the illness/disability, family structure,  gender,  culture,  religion,  income,  and  the  availability  and  quality  of professional support and services." (Young Carers, 2000).

Pressures and risks young carers face:

• Social Isolation: young carers can miss out on various leisure opportunities due to additional home life responsibilities.

• Bullying: they are at risk of being bullied in relation to the family member they are caring for.

• Academic  Achievement:  they  may  struggle  academically  and  have  poor attendance, failure to meet deadlines, and the inability to focus in class.

• Health Problems: they are likely to feel stressed and under pressure, they may also have a poor diet and poor fitness levels.

• Emotional Difficulties: they are likely to have poor emotional wellbeing and may be worried or concerned about the family member they are caring for.

• Child to Adult Transitioning: they may not have the support required whilst going through physical changes, discovering who they are, what they want to be, etc.

Unfortunately, we do not have any accurate data specifying the number of young carers living in Jersey. Previously there was not support for young carers.

As this work is progressing, we are finding further issues that young people are facing and therefore need to expand this service.

As mentioned earlier, very few children from minorities are involved with the Youth Service.

This means we still haven't reach out to young carers in immigrant communities.

It is a widely known fact that children from immigrant families have a profound sense of obligation to support and assist their families as they attempt to adapt. This obligation creates extra pressure and stress. This sense of obligation changes only slightly between the first and second generation.

As children learn the language of the country where they reside more quickly, parents often end up depending on their children to translate for them in a range of settings, including the doctor's office, legal situations (where children can help their parents fill out immigration documents), and mediating during parent-teacher interviews.

Research shows children as young as 8 years, who obviously don't have training in translation,  become  linguistic  and  cultural  mediators,  giving  them  increased responsibility, which leads to role-reversal. Parents express dependent behaviours, and children, in an attempt to meet their parent's needs, acquire nurturing, supportive, and care-giving behaviours. Such relationship disturbances have been linked to aggression, risk-taking behaviours and social problems in children.

The LGBTQ and Young Carers projects have now developed into key projects for the Youth Service and, more importantly, have a positive impact on the lives of young people. I wish to see the Youth Service developing work with ethnic minorities in a similar way.

I  propose  a  pilot  scheme  to  reach  out  to  Portuguese,  Polish  and  Romanian communities to engage and estimate what the demand is for work, and the issues children and young people are facing.

The September 2019 census reported that the number of pupils throughout all Jersey schools  (both  public  and  private)  having  Polish  as  their  first  language  was  547; Portuguese was 1,592; Romanian was 134.

Please note, a pupil's first language is defined as –

The language that a pupil was exposed to during early development and continues to be exposed to in the home or community. If a pupil was exposed to more  than  one  language  (which  may  include  English)  during  early development, a language other than English should be recorded, irrespective of the pupil's proficiency in English.'

According to the Councils, these numbers may be an under-estimation, as schools may record English' as a first language if a child is fluent, but by using the definition above, English would be recorded as a second language. Our school computer system does not allow more than one first language to be recorded.

There was a discussion at the Caritas International Board meeting on 7th November, where I asked about the data collected on this topic and the overall Board response was: "It's very low numbers, we know that the numbers are much higher, but nobody knows exactly how much".

I am a member of the Diversity Forum Privileges and Procedures Committee Sub- committee, and I am chairing the St. Helier Community Strategy Steering Group; both of these groups have ongoing conversations about how to reach out to the ethnic minorities, how we get them involved and integrated, and how important diversity is.

I have looked closely at the Government Plan, and was not able to find examples of specific action that specifically brings attention to, and addresses, minorities' integration into the community, apart from EOL funds, which is very important, but not enough to address social inclusion issues.

My proposition is to provide the Youth Service with additional resources so that they can employ 3 youth workers to focus specifically on our Portuguese, Polish and Romanian young people. During this pilot scheme they will –

• Make  contact  with  Portuguese,  Polish  and  Romanian  young  people  and families.

• Build positive relationships with young people.

• Signpost young people and families into universal Youth Service provision so that young people feel included and valued.

• Where required, develop new meeting-places for groups to meet out of school time and have the same opportunities as other young people.

• Work in partnership with the EAL and secondary schools to highlight any young people in need of Early Help and support.

• Encourage intercultural dialogue and build mutual understanding between young people from different cultural backgrounds.

The work will target the young person's sense of belonging, self-esteem and body image, relationships (family, friends and partners), diet and nutrition, stress and goal setting, which should be tailored to the needs of each group. Their work will also help to reduce the stigmatisation of the group. We will all benefit from successful integration of ethnic minority groups, most of which have a general desire to do so.

Costs of a youth worker salary, on costs (Social Security and Pension) and unsocial hours payments:

Assistant Youth Worker – Portuguese  £53,000 Assistant Youth Worker – Polish  £53,000 Assistant Youth Worker – Romanian  £53,000 Curriculum Resources – £5,000 per worker  £15,000 Total:  £174,000

Average spending per individual participant – £699 per year.

If we base the budget on the lowest possible number of participants within ethnic minorities, and estimate that only 33% will participate (as per general population), the requested spending for this pilot scheme is £232 per individual participant.

Article 31 of The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, or UNCRC:  

"1.  States Parties recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in

play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.

2.  States Parties shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life and shall encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activity."

Strategic plan About us and Our Aims" 2019-2023

Published by the Children's Commissioner, this stated: "All children have the same rights.  All  rights  are  interconnected  and  of  equal  importance.  The  rights  in  the Convention can be grouped into four categories – survival, development, participation and protection rights".

Youth workers for minorities will help to meet our obligation to the right of participation for these young people.

One of our 5 guiding principles for Children and Young People plan for 2019-2023:

"Celebrate diversity: We know that our children and young people have a wide and diverse range of needs, which if unmet, can pose particular challenges and limit life  chances. We  will not only  recognise  these  differences,  we  will embrace and celebrate them. We are inspired by the diversity of our children and young people and endeavour to always develop a better understanding of their needs. We will promote a culture of inclusion and tolerance, and in all that we do we seek to put our inclusive values into action. We will work relentlessly to  ensure  that  no  child,  young  person,  family  or  community  experiences discrimination  or  is  at  relative  disadvantage,  and  is  instead  supported  to overcome  difficulties  or  barriers  to  their  learning,  participation  and opportunities."

I am proposing that we take a very specific point of action to reach out to young people from ethnic minority groups who are currently not engaged, and provide them with services and support, including mental health and emotional wellbeing, across the spectrum of need from preventative and early intervention approaches.

We need to do something to enhance social inclusion of young people from a migrant's background and help them to succeed in this life in Jersey.

Financial and manpower implications

This amendment increases expenditure in 2020 within the Government Plan by £53,000 for part (a) and £174,000 for part (b). In the event that this could be funded from the Criminal Offences Confiscation Fund or other similar Fund, then this would be shown as income within the Head of Expenditure, meaning that there would be no net increase in spending from the Consolidated Fund.