Delays in deciding the future of youth work in the village mean that more Council Tax income could be earmarked for a service whose value for money has been a concern since March last year.
At their next meeting Parish Councillors will be asked to approve a youth provision budget which, every year since 2017, has been allocated to Connections Bus Project.
The charity currently runs after-school activities in the village for 4 hours a week during term times, for which they charged Histon & Impington over £26,000 in 2024/5 – around 5% of all the village’s total Council Tax income.
Questions have been raised about the cost vs. benefits of the service, given the limited number of young people who use them, but the Council is now proposing to extend funding to the Connections Bus Project until July 2025 at a cost of £8,695.
Falling attendance
The Connections Bus Project’s services in the village include a 1.5 hour after-school youth club and a 1 hour ‘mindfulness and yoga’ session on Mondays. These are held at the community room at the Recreation Ground: although the charity’s two bespoke double-decker youth buses serve many other villages, they are not used in Histon & Impington.
The charity also runs a 1.5 hour babysitting course at Histon Baptist Church on Tuesdays, which is open to young people across the District.
But young people’s engagement with the youth club declined during the 2023/4 academic year. By the summer term 2024 it was attracting an average of just 15 attendees per session, compared with 38 during the same term the previous year. Attendance at yoga sessions held steady at an average of 5 participants per session, and the babysitting course attracted an average of 12.
Five sessions were cancelled, with staff shortages blamed for some of them.
Value for money
Concerns about the value for money offered by the Connections Bus sessions were first raised by a resident in January 2024.
A subsequent investigation and report was presented to Councillors in March 2024. It recommended ‘starting afresh’ to find out what the community wants in the way of youth work in future, commenting that there are many other youth groups serving the village – most volunteer-led and without any Parish Council funding.
The report included an estimate that the per-session fee being paid by the Council for the youth club was £330, plus £137 for each yoga class and £278 for each babysitting class, plus free use of the community room.
Questions were raised as to whether Council taxpayers in Histon & Impington may be subsidising services for other villages, as no figures are published to show how many of the young people using the services are actually residents in the village.
The report also highlighted “unreasonable” differential with youth club fees paid to Connections Bus by other parishes.
Last year the charity provided youth work services at 14 different villages in Cambridgeshire, yet Histon & Impington was the source of almost a quarter of all their income from Parish Councils. The investigation into the hourly fees charged to other villages revealed that Histon & Impington was paying 40% more than Cottenham, more still than Orchard Park, and no other villages were running baby sitting or yoga sessions.
Connections Bus Project denies that such comparisons make sense, telling the Council that “Due to the nature of the venue and facilities that are used for the youth club, four youth workers are required [while] many other villages only require three” and noting that “Additional services are provided: babysitting course and youth yoga.”
They also comment that “a much higher proportion” of the Assistant Manager’s contract hours are allocated to Histon & Impington, because of the “additional support/follow-up for young people” being provided – though this work is not specified in the Council’s service agreement with the charity.
Decision delays
Despite concerns, in February last year Councillors agreed funding of almost £17,400 for the Connections Bus youth services through to December 2024, aiming to set up a Youth Provision Working Group and give it time to conduct a review and decide whether to continue with the services beyond December 2024.
The Group was first due to present its findings and recommendations for consideration at a Full Council meeting in June last year. Delays have meant this and plans to present to Council in October both fell through – though conversations with other potential youth service suppliers, including Sawston and Shelford Youth Initiative and Romsey Mill, have taken place.
The delays led Councillors to approve a further payment of £8,696 to Connections Bus, to cover the three months from December 2024 to March 2025.
To enable them to plan ahead, the charity has now requested a decision about extending their contract beyond March 2025 to be made this month.
But the findings of the Youth Provision Working Party have yet to be shared with Councillors and, in spite of concerns, a decision to continue with current arrangements may yet be agreed. Some Councillors have already expressed support for extending them to synchronise with the academic year, instead of the Council’s financial year.
The decision whether to extend funding to Connection Bus Project is scheduled to take place on Monday 20 January at the meeting of the full Parish Council, starting 7.30pm. All Histon & Impington residents are invited to attend to listen to the debates and any resident wishing to address the meeting should contact the office to request a slot. Email clerk@hisimp-pc.gov.uk For more details, see the agenda pack here.
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