Purpose

On 24 April 2025 Cabinet was
presented with the findings of the Youth Service Provision Review
Working Party which looked into youth provision in Thanet and how
Thanet District Council could support such provisions in the
district, taking into consideration the functions a district
council could provide. This scrutiny review led to some findings
and proposals being put forward for Cabinet consideration and
response as well as senior management comments. Cabinet agrees with
the importance of engaging and supporting young people.

Decision

Cabinet agreed the following in response to
each of the Overview & Scrutiny Panel recommendations:
 
1. 
Recommendation 1 - Accessibility of sport and leisure opportunities
is important to health and wellbeing and something supported by the
Cabinet. In line with CMT comments this will not be an easy thing
to implement but Cabinet will ask officers to draw up a proposal
for consideration during the 2026/2027 budget build which will
include tabling the idea at the Thanet Parish Council Forum for
their considerations;
 
2. 
Recommendation 2 - The council has a duty to consider the voice of
the child in its decision making and commits to improving this by
discussing more proposals with Youth Council and organisations such
as Thanet Youth Network and Youth Forums;
 
3. 
Recommendation 3 - The patrolling of parks, open spaces and high
streets is not a service currently provided by the council and
would need significant financial investment of around £550K.
This would provide at least 10 patrolling officers on shift, a
manager and associated equipment. In order to provide this
provision there would have to be cuts in other service provision.
Cabinet will ask officers to draw up a proposal on how this could
be achieved for consideration in the 2026/27 budget setting
process;
 
4. 
Recommendation 3a - The Thanet Community Safety Partnership (TCSP)
focus a vast amount of their resources on providing interventions
in schools and youth organisations, the partnership does not have a
continuous presence in these areas. Kent Police are the arm of the
TCSP who provide this presence through their child centred policing
team. The Cabinet will feed back this recommendation to the TCSP
Chair;
 
5. 
Recommendation 4 - There is no funding available for a Youth
Liaison Officer to be employed by the council. Cabinet will feed
this recommendation back to the TCSP Chair for consideration in
preparation of their work plan;
 
6. 
Recommendation 5 - Cabinet supports improvements in engagement with
young people however there is no allocated budget for an increased
TDC presence in schools and youth groups. Cabinet will ask officers
to draw up a proposal for how this could be achieved for
consideration during the 2026/2027 budget build;
 
7. 
Recommendation 5a - This would require an additional budget and
whilst Cabinet is supportive to this in principle there would be a
cost implication of around £50K depending on salary scale. In
order to provide this provision there would have to be cuts in
other service provision. Cabinet will ask officers to draw up a
proposal on how this could be achieved for consideration in the
2026/27 budget setting process;
 
8. 
Recommendation 5b - Cabinet is pleased to learn that there is so
much enthusiasm from Councillors to support youth activities and
engagements. Cabinet will ask officers to investigate and give
feedback on how Councillors can be involved in this work;
 
9. 
Recommendation 5c - Cabinet will ask officers to include this
within the training programme for councillors;
 
10.Recommendation 5d - The Council will continue
to work to improve communications with young people;
 
11.Recommendation 5e - Cabinet will ask Officers
to carry out a review of the Thanet Youth Council;
 
12.Recommendation 6 - This is a significant piece
of work and Cabinet will be raising this with the Chair of the TCSP
as DWP are a partner to see if this is something that can be
achieved by the partnership rather than TDC in isolation;
 
13.Recommendation 6a - The council
already provides a range of internship and apprenticeship
opportunities both directly and indirectly through its contractors.
Cabinet will ask officers to continue to pursue these opportunities
where possible;
 
14.Recommendation 7 - As age is a
protected characteristic under the Public Sector Equality Duty,
Cabinet agrees that the needs of young people could be more
explicitly set out in the terms of reference for the Equalities
Cabinet Advisory Group rather than establishing a further CAG;
 
15.Recommendation 8 - As age is a protected
characteristic under the Public Sector Equality Duty, the impact on
young people from decisions taken by the Cabinet should be
considered as part of equalities screening assessments and
equalities impact assessments. The consideration of the Public
Sector Equality Duty is already included within the standard
template for all Cabinet decisions.

Reasons for the decision

Cabinet recognises the importance of
supporting and engaging young people, the working party has
provided a number of recommendations which Cabinet wish to support
as they can.

Alternative options considered

The alternative option to not respond to the
recommendations of the Youth Services Provision Working Party
Report was rejected as they wish to support the young people of
Thanet