Agenda and minutes

1.1 Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Sharon Patrick, Cllr Clare Joseph, Michael Lobenstein (Co-opted member) and Shuja Shaik (Co-opted member).

1.2 Apologies for lateness were received from Cllr Katie Hansen and Cllr Clare Potter.

2.1 The following declarations were received by members of the Commission:

·  Cllr Chauhan was a teacher at secondary school in another London borough and a member of the NEU;

·  Cllr Peters was a governor at special school in Hackney;

·  Graham Hunter was a governor at Primary Advantage Federation;

·  Justine McDonald, was a Headteacher at local secondary school;

·  Jo McLeod was a governor at a local school in Hackney.

3.1 The were no urgent items and the agenda was as scheduled.

4.1 A key theme to emerge from the Commission’s work programme consultation for 2019/20 was how children and young people are actively engaged in the design, planning and delivery of services for them.  The Commission therefore agreed to assess this issue within the context of the council’s commitment to ‘Make Hackney a Child Friendly Borough’.

4.2 The agreed aims of the session were:

·  Explore the council’s policy ambitions for a child friendly borough;

·  Assess how children and young people were currently involved in planning services and how this could be improved;

·  Consider how the council can create a child friendly physical environment which is embedded within local planning and development policy and guidance.

4.3 To assist in these aims, the Commission heard from a range of local stakeholders and other informed contributors. From the evidence presented, it was hoped that the Commission would develop a number of strategic recommendations to guide and inform the development of the council’s approach to ‘Making Hackney a Child Friendly Borough’. 

4.4 The session was in held in 3 parts which are as set out below:

Part 1 - Policy ambitions for a child friendly borough

Part 2 - Exploring how we engage, involve and advocate for young people

Part 3 - Assessing how to develop child friendly neighbourhoods and physical spaces

Part 1 – Policy Ambitions for a child friendly borough.

Cabinet Members

4.5 The policy for Child Friendly Borough policy is covered by both the Cabinet member for Early Years, Families and Play and the Cabinet member for Children, Education and Children’s Social Care and both attended to provide an overview for the ambitions for this policy.

4.6 The Cabinet member for Early Years, Families and Play noted that Hackney had already made considerable investments to ensure that the borough was child friendly which was exemplified through the presence of high performing schools, 21 children’s centres, 7 adventure playgrounds and other local child friendly projects such as School Streets and Play Streets.  It was noted that the Child Friendly Borough policy would extend this commitment further to ensure that the needs of children and young people were embedded in planning and development processes across the borough.

4.7 The approach to this emerging policy was informed by a number of local neighbourhood design and consultation projects at both Haggerston Youth Centre and the De Beauvoir Estate.  These projects analysed what young people’s views of a number of public spaces, and sought to assess their accessibility and use through ‘a young person’s eyes’.  It was apparent that there were specific reasons why children and young people may choose to use a public space or not, and details of this work were contained within a report produced by ZCD Architects: Neighbourhood Design: Working with children toward a child friendly city.

4.8 A Child Friendly Borough policy in Hackney would seek to build on this work through the development of a Special Planning Document which would set out how the council would expect spaces to be designed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.1 Actions from the last meeting: a further update to the Recruitment and Retention of Foster Carers has been added to the work programme for 2020/21.

5.2 The minutes of the 29^th October meeting were approved.

6.1 A number of additions have been made to the work programme since the last meeting (October 2019) which include:

1)  27^th January - Children and Families Service will be reporting to the Commission the outcomes of the Ofsted Inspection.

2)  The April meeting will fall within the pre-election period (for London Mayor) and it is likely that this will need to be rescheduled (most likely early May).

7.1 There was no other business and the meeting closed at 9.55pm.