Agenda item

Report of the Cabinet Member Safety and Communities.

The Cabinet Member Safety and Communities thanked colleagues for their support throughout the process, and particularly thanked Richard Gibson, Tracy Brown and Jen Tucker for their hard work. The report sought to illustrate where the project came from and what it had achieved. She highlighted particular problems such as digital poverty, which No Child Left Behind (NCLB) had alleviated by raising £35k to refurbish more than 120 computers for schools across the town. It had also focused on enabling access to play areas and food, and it was important to continue this in years to come. The NCLB awards night had taken place recently, with all nominees chosen by the children involved in the project.

The report asked councillors to support NCLB continuing for another year so that it could keep up its excellent work. The Cabinet Member Safety and Communities added that the Large Enterprise Action Group had been launched, with a number of major international companies involved with this, while the Cheltenham Education Partnership would go directly to young people to find out how they wanted to tackle the issues. She acknowledged the current international situation, and the need to ensure people were not cold over the winter. It was also key to ensure the food network continued to operate and that school uniforms were open to all.

Members welcomed the report and thanked both the Cabinet Member and officers for the work being done.  They made the following points:

-       the project had clearly made a real difference to children’s lives, and could be considered the most important work that the council was doing;

-       it did a good job of highlighting the massive impact of the Covid crisis on children in the town, and if there were any future outbreaks, it was hoped that schools and play areas would not have to close;

-       Members representing relatively deprived wards were especially thankful for the work done by NCLB. In one ward, 30% of children were living below the poverty line, and there was a major cost-of-living crisis in the country which will only get worse.  Poverty had wide-reaching consequences, especially on education and life outcomes, and was not a solely financial matter. The national cuts in youth services had a significant delayed effect;

-       it should be noted that more than 4,000 children in Cheltenham were living in poverty. The council was doing all it could to alleviate the situation, but improvement needed to be nationally led;

-       even in relatively affluent areas of the town, there was poverty;

-       the report was a fantastic example of how the council could deliver more than the sum of its parts by working in partnership with charities and other organisations. There were clear benefits to this approach, and it should be used in more areas.

The Cabinet Member Safety and Communities thanked Members for their comments. She stressed that children were the future, and if they were not supported properly then it would have ramifications throughout their lives.

RESOLVED (unanimously) THAT

-       the progress achieved by No Child Left Behind since the last report to this council on 16 Dec 2019 be noted;

-       the Council commit to support a fourth year of No Child Left Behind to be delivered in 2022;

-       the Council agree to support May as a month of celebrating childhood and to commit to supporting the events and activities listed in section 10.