Agenda item

Ishaan raised the issue of modern slavery which was prevalent in the UK with over 100,000 victims. The number of victims was noted to be significantly higher in London, hence potentially existent in our Borough. It was important that local government take the steps needed to prevent slavery and in doing so, Barnet could create its own modern slavery strategy. Support was requested from Ishaan to raise awareness, train emergency services and work with schools to minimise the risk of online exploitation in the digital world.

Barnet could lead the way in tackling modern slavery on a local level and once a framework was set in place, it could be shared with the London Youth Assembly to implement the Barnet model on a London wide level.

It was noted that modern slavery was one area of focus for the safeguarding children’s partnership, working closely with community safety to be driven forward.

The Barnet Group did a lot of work with staff based on the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and involved people in the community to report on anything deemed to be nefarious. 

Dara focused on the issue of grief as a result of death which had been emotionally consuming for young people especially during the pandemic. Dara asked the board what resources were available to staff supporting those bereaved and how those members of staff would be supported during the delivery of their services to young people.

Most of the support was provided by the mental health provision in the council. Grief Encounters https://www.griefencounter.org.uk/provided a very good service for children and young people. There was also Covid support and a bereavement service run by MIND in Barnet.Funding from the DFE allowed for staff to be trained by a Mental Health Lead incorporating pillars of recovery to help someone recover from trauma using psychological first aid. Staff in schools would be equipped with the knowledge on how to approach a young person or a distressed member of staff. In addition, Educational Psychologists were offering specialist workshops on bereavement and loss as well as behavioural communication. The Critical Incidence Policy was in place for schools to access for free.

Barnet Youth Board identified that there needed to be more affective race and diversity training for professionals within health and well being services. Research had shown that there was a lack of diversity within the mental health sector in the UK. Training would help professionals overcome cultural barriers and understand what was needed in order to provide effective treatment.

Even though there was a mental health first aider at almost every school in Barnet, it was important that staff checked up on students who were not always willing to approach staff to talk about the state of their mental health.

The Chairman recommended that the item on mental health be brought back to the next meeting to enable a more detailed discussion.

As Chair of the Youth Board, Tani was running a campaign on the 13^th of March about different careers young people could pursue, which was a big issue for young people who were struggling about what they could do. Tani welcomed Headteachers to partake who might be interested in speaking about their journey to becoming a Headteacher.

BELS provides post 16 careers information and guidance to secondary schools, many of whom have their own dedicated careers service, a legal requirement to ensure that all pupils received objective careers advice.

Members suggested promoting the Kickstart programme to schools that could help with CVs and back to work information.

Within Growth & Corporate Services, there was a skills and training team in connection with job centres and support programmes.