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County Council supports votes at 16
The voice of young people in West Sussex matters. That was the message as West Sussex County Councillors voted to support lowering the voting age to 16.
A motion created by the West Sussex Youth Cabinet backing 16 and 17 year olds to have a say in local elections was debated and approved on Friday 5 April at the Full Council. It marks a major breakthrough for the Youth Cabinet in their ‘Votes at 16’ campaign following months of hard work. In September 2018, teenage members impressed senior councillors and MPs when debating the key issue in the Cabinet Chamber, drawing support and paving the way for today’s discussion.
Their motion argues that 16 and 17 year olds are well equipped to participate in elections and have so far been denied the chance to vote on key issues like the EU Referendum and tuition fees that affect their lives. Ellie Roberts, Youth Cabinet chairman, said: “It’s so important that our Votes at 16 Campaign has been heard and supported by councillors, it shows that the voice of youth matters in West Sussex. At 16 we can get married or enter a civil partnership, serve in the armed forces, pay tax and make other key decisions but currently we don’t get a say on who runs our councils and government. We think that’s wrong and it’s great that senior councillors think the same.”
The decision means West Sussex County Council now formally supports giving 16 and 17 year olds the vote in local West Sussex elections, followed at a future date by national elections. The council will now lobby West Sussex MPs and the Government to support its proposals. Find out more about the Youth Cabinet
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Celebrating ‘Stronger Relationships, Stronger Social Work’
On the 19 March 2019 social workers from Children’s Services came together at West Sussex’s annual Children Social Work Conference.
The conference was held on World Social Work Day with a focus on strengthening relationships. The majority of attendees were our internal staff, with some external social workers joining us for the day. Some highlights included:
- Hearing from our Interim Director of Children and Family Services, Andrew Fraser, on the importance of building strong relationships and
- the Organisational Development team on making the most of every interaction
- An interactive look at using eco-mapping to build relationships with children and young people with FSP and L&D
- How the Assessment & Intervention South Team went from struggling with caseloads to stable and supported.
- Interactive workshops run by the Adolescent & Family Resource, Family Support & Protection and Assessment & Intervention teams
A short video was played of some of our own social workers talking about how positive relationships impact their work with colleagues and families. It also included children and parents speaking about what they think makes a good social worker.
Thank you to everyone that attended for ensuring it was an inspiring, collaborative, thought provoking and memorable day.
Watch what our social workers had to say about relationships in the video played at the conference.
DWP email changes
DWP email addresses are changing and @dwp.gsi.gov.uk email addresses will soon cease to exist. All future emails should be addressed @dwp.gov.uk.
Please update any records you have. For further information, view their website.
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This bulletin is sent to you as our stakeholders and partners with a warm welcome, keeping you up-to-date with all our service news.
Feel free to send any short articles (with an optional image) by 11am Friday, for inclusion in the fortnightly Tuesday newsletter.
If you have any questions, or know that someone has not received this, please email sarah.dimmock@westsussex.gov.uk.
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