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Barnet Council has launched a Mental Health Charter, to actively support the mental health of people living and working in the borough and foster a culture of positive mental well-being.  The charter, which was launched at a special event yesterday (10 October 2023), on World Mental Health Day, has been designed with the Barnet Together Alliance and received input from over 200 residents and 30 organisations across the borough.  

Barnet Council's Youth Justice Service has been awarded Youth Justice SEND (special educational needs and disability) Quality Lead Status with a Child First Commendation, which recognises consistently high levels of practice with children who have SEND. Youth Justice SEND Quality Lead Status is awarded to teams that provide evidence and case studies of improved outcomes for children in their borough achieved through effective partnership working.

Barnet Council and Middlesex University have announced the ‘BarNET ZERO Challenge’, a competition encouraging individuals and communities to come forward with innovative ideas and provide practical solutions for reducing carbon emissions.

Barnet Council’s Cabinet has approved proposals to update its social value policy, which will require suppliers of large contracts to support community projects, as well as create new jobs for local residents. At last night’s (18 October) Cabinet meeting, Members voted for a minimum of 5% to be reinvested in social value initiatives by suppliers, on contracts worth over £100,000. For larger contracts, suppliers must create a minimum of one local job for every £1million of contract value.

Councillors last night (18 October) approved plans at Barnet’s monthly Cabinet meeting to allow ‘Play Streets’ in the borough, following a successful six-month pilot scheme in East and North Finchley which ran until August this year. Play Streets are a resident-led initiative that involves short road closures to create a safe space where children can play freely together right on their doorsteps. Once applications are approved, they will initially run for up to two hours a month per street.

Barnet Council has approved plans for reducing poverty in the borough, with councillors voting for a raft of new measures at last night’s (18 October) Cabinet meeting. Cabinet members were presented with a comprehensive plan to tackle the main causes of inequality between different communities, especially for those who experience lower than average job and education opportunities, as well as poorer health and wellbeing.

Barnet-based community groups have been awarded grants from the £240,000 Community Innovation Fund (CIF), to help support and fund projects that tackle the cost-of-living crisis and its impact on residents’ health. Following the success of the first two rounds, the Fund’s third round opened for innovative local projects that would particularly benefit communities with poorer health outcomes.

Councillors voted to pass the council’s 'Our Plan for Barnet' 2023-2026 and vision for the future at the full council meeting at Hendon Town Hall last night (28 Feb). The council now has the mandate to transform how it will tackle issues that affect residents and community groups by giving them a say and more power to get involved. This will include fighting inequality and poverty, through to establishing Barnet as a ‘borough of fun’.

Every Barnet parent who applied on time for a secondary school place for their child has received an offer of a place. This is the fourth year in a row that this has been achieved.This year, the council received 7,864 on time applications. 4,406 were from Barnet residents, and 3,458 were from residents in other boroughs.

Barnet Council has launched a new awards scheme to celebrate the borough’s inspirational women and girls of the past, present and future on International Women’s Day (IWD) yesterday (Wednesday 8 March). The ‘InspirationAll awards’ which were launched at a special event at StoneX stadium will annually recognise the inspiring work and accomplishments of women and girls in Barnet.