{Disestablished Committee} - Social Strategy Overview and Scrutiny Committee

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Present:

• Councillor Karney - In the Chair 
• Councillors Evans, Hitchen, Isherwood, N. Murphy, Royle, Watson, and Whitmore 

Also Present:

• Councillor Hackett, Executive Member for Culture and Leisure 
• Councillor Cooley 

SS/06/27 Minutes

Decision

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 24 May 2006 as a correct record.

SS/06/28 Alcohol free shop

Members heard from John Risby and Chris Humphrey who had set up the Alcohol Free shop as a web based retail outlet promoting alcohol free wines and beers as well as confectionery, health and beauty products and gifts. They explained that they had been approached by health promotion and crime prevention agencies to help deliver messages on sensible drinking and drink driving, and felt that this was a key future role for their business. The company was looking to expand and to get involved in community and cultural events within Manchester i.e. the Manchester Show, as a means of promoting positive messages about non-alcoholic alternatives. Chris Humphrey explained to members the problems involved in marketing products and the terms used to describe drinks in which the alcohol has been extracted and Government regulations which only allow drinks containing 0.5% alcohol or less to be classed as de-alcoholised whereas in Europe they are classified as alcohol free.

The Chair referred to the aggressive marketing strategies adopted by supermarket chains in relation to the promotion of alcohol during the FIFA World Cup which perpetuated the spurious linkage between alcohol and sport, and he drew the Committee's attention to the corresponding increase in drink-fuelled domestic violence during the period of the competition.

Members suggested that there was scope for establishing linkages by the Council and health partners with the Youth Service to support opportunities for young people to sample non alcoholic alternatives.

Decision

1. To request that non-alcoholic beer and wine alternatives be available at the next Council meeting for Members to sample, and that the Events and Promotions Team be asked to consider making non-alcoholic beers and wines more generally available at catered functions held in the Town Hall and other Council managed venues.

2. To support representations to Government in relation to the amendment of existing regulations to re-classify drinks containing 0.5% alcohol or less as 'alcohol free' rather than 'de-alcoholised'.

SS/06/29 The impact of the Commonwealth Games on sport participation in East Manchester

Members received a presentation from John Dwan detailing the work being undertaken in respect of sport participation within East Manchester drawing both on the legacy of sporting facilities from the Commonwealth Games and the high levels of community interactivity associated with the regeneration process in East Manchester.

Members applauded the significant success achieved in encouraging community usage of the facilities in East Manchester, not just by East Manchester residents but also for groups and individuals drawn from across the city. The absence of comparable facilities in other parts of the city was however highlighted as an inhibitor to replicating these achievements across the city and members urged that a more even spread of opportunities for engagement in sport and recreation therefore remained a priority for the Council. Responding, the Head of Sports and Leisure Services outlined the improvements that had been made in sport and leisure facilities in many parts of the city in recent years and the corresponding increase in usage of those facilities by local people that had been evidenced in previous reports.

Decision

1. To thank the officers for a very informative presentation; to welcome the achievements made in East Manchester in terms of public engagement in sporting and leisure activities, and, whilst accepting that there have been improvements in facilities in many parts of the city, to ask the Head of Sports and Leisure Services to report to a future meeting on the lessons that can be learned from the East Manchester experience in terms of the perception of local residents in Alexandra Park, Fallowfield and Levenshulme to the range of facilities available in those areas.

2. To urge the officers to initiate discussions with Manchester City FC urging them to review the current arrangements to allow smoking in certain parts of the complex, which in the view of this Committee is incompatible with the ethos of health and fitness that a major international sports stadium should be promoting.

SS/06/30 The work of Positive Futures in bringing sport into communities

Members received a presentation from Antony Sharvo, Team Leader with the Positive Futures team who explained the programme.

Positive Futures is a national sports-based social inclusion programme aimed at marginalised 10 to 19-year-olds in the most deprived areas. By means of engaging marginalised young people in sport and other activities, Positive Futures aimed to build relationships between responsible adults and young people based on mutual trust and respect, in order to create new opportunities for alternative lifestyles. The programme used sport as a catalyst to encourage participants to make decisions for themselves, and to take self-determined steps towards a positive future. Steering young people towards educational and employment opportunities was at the heart of the programme's agenda.

Members recognised the excellent work which was being undertaken by the officers, and the other partners involved, the Chair making specific reference to the labyrinthine funding structures that it had been necessary to negotiate to make this work possible. The Executive Member for Culture and Leisure highlighted the importance that the programme both supported young people but also raised expectations from them, and he drew specific attention to its contribution to the battle to raise attendance levels in Manchester's secondary schools. In terms of rolling the programme out more widely he indicated that this would be dependent upon resources being included in the Council Budget for 2007/2008.

Members expressed some concerns that there should be equal engagement with young people who were not marginalised and officers responded by indicating that this was only one element of a wider strategy of mainstream sports and activity programmes available to all young people in the city

Decision

1. To welcome the presentation and the sterling work being done with some of the most challenging young people and the positive outcomes that are emerging from that work; to recognise the need to roll this work out across the city and the resource implications that would be involved, and (a) to urge the officers and the Executive Member for Leisure to use their best endeavours to secure additional funding to extend the scope of the scheme in 2007/2008, and (b) to request that an update report is brought back to Committee in due course.

2. To request that the summer activities programme is brought before our meeting in July.

SS/06/31 Cultural Regeneration Officers

Due to time constraints it was agreed that this item should be deferred until the next meeting.

SS/06/32 Food Futures: a food strategy for Manchester

The Committee considered the draft Manchester Good Futures strategy and proposals for future developments.

Members noted that the Joint Health Unit had been approached by researchers from the University of Oxford who wished to carry out a community study on the effects of improved nutrition on the behaviour of young people in intensive supervision and surveillance programmes in Greater Manchester and this link with Oxford was supported by the Committee.

The Chair commented on the importance of this work in terms of countering the aggressive targeting of vulnerable young people by food producers promoting unhealthy food options through television and magazine advertising

A member referred also to the importance issues in relation to nutrition involving older people and was reassured by officers that such issues were already the subject of discussion with officers involved in the Valuing Older People Strategy and would find proper expression within the final food strategy.

Decision

To welcome this work and to request an update to Committee in September.