Service Specification for the Best Value Review of Joint Services for Youth

Appendix 1

Working Documents

1

Aims of the Service

 1.1

At present there are no corporate aims for the services that Hampshire County Council offers to young people. It is recommended that the corporate aims should be as follows:

Services for young people (13-19) managed, supported and promoted by the County Council will:

1 Provide a rich diversity of personal and social development opportunities to support young people during their transition to adulthood enabling them to become active citizens

2 Deliver the objectives outlined in the Quality Protects initiative

3 Be of high quality and cost effective

4 Support the development of the Connexions Strategy in Hampshire

2

Objectives of the Service

 2.1

2.2

2.3

2.4

Personal Development

1. To create opportunities for young people to take risks within a challenging and controlled environment

2. To create and promote cultural and creative opportunities

3. To create opportunities for young people to participate in sports and outdoor education

4. To provide and support youth counselling, advice, information and guidance to meet individual needs

Citizenship

1. To create opportunities for young people to be at the centre of policies that affect them

2. To involve young people in decision making processes

3. To create opportunities for young people to be more aware of themselves, codes of morality, spirituality, the environment, the communities in which they live and to take responsibility for their actions.

Social Inclusion

1. To improve young people's access to affordable transport at times they require it

2. To support the development of informal safe meeting places in local communities

3. To effectively promote services for young people from marginalised social groups

4. To support the development of crime prevention initiatives impacting on young people both as victims and offenders

Health

1. To encourage young people to adopt healthy lifestyles

2. To respond to the government's targets for the reduction of teenage pregnancy and the reduction of illegal drug use.

3. To create opportunities for young people to learn about the dangers of misusing substances, so that they are able to make informed choices about their own behaviour.

3

Links to the Corporate Aims

Link

Aim 1

Developing the quality of Life in Hampshire

All the objectives identified above support the development of the quality of life in Hampshire for young people.

Aim 2

Stewardship of the environment

An outcome of the citizenship objectives

Aim 3

Achieving economic prosperity

An outcome of the social inclusion objectives

Aim 4

Partnership for strong communities

An outcome of the citizenship objectives

Aim 5

Providing high quality accessible services

An outcome of aim 1.3

4

4.1

4.2

4.3

4.4

4.5

4.6

4.7

4.8

Other Links

National guidance for services to young people is outlined below.

Quality Protects: is a three year government initiative started in 1999, designed to transform and improve the quality of care for looked after children.

Connexions - `the best start for every young person': outlines the Connexions Strategy bringing together a number of existing and new initiatives aimed at young people 13-19. The guidance document sets out in detail the various initiatives within the strategy including; the new Connexions Service; ideas for new wide-ranging way of recognising teenagers achievements; financial support; and wider education and training policies.

Tomorrow's Future - `building a strategy for children and young people': Children and Young People's Unit guidance on developing responses and services to young people. The strategy builds on the Social Exclusion Unit's policy action team report on young people (PAT12). The report examines how the Government can improve the way polices and services work for young people.

Transforming Youth Work -` developing youth work for young people': outlines the importance of Youth Work and the positive contribution it can make to the development of the Connexions Strategy.

Quality Develops - `towards excellence in youth service': The report by the National Youth Agency (NYA) sets out a framework for the development of quality youth services at a local level. The report suggests a pledge for young people, which could be adopted by local authorities. Currently the NYA is in the process of using the pledge to develop standards for youth work.

Inspecting Youth Work - a revised framework for inspection: in June 2001 the office for standards in education (Ofsted) produced a third revision for the inspection of youth work. The framework sets out the focus for an inspection which will include standard of work, quality and efficiency of local authority services. This revision incorporates the evaluation requirements of Best Value and includes a self assessment schedule.

Setting Standards for the Active Involvement of Young people in Democracy -`hear by right': The Local Government Association and the National Youth Agency have together developed a set of standards for councils to aim for in engaging young people in local democracy.

5

Service Policies

5.1

5.1.1

5.1.2

5.1.3

5.2

5.2.1

5.2.2

5.2.3

Policies:

Protecting Our Children: the policy and procedural requirements of Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton Child Protection Committees

Hampshire County Council Health and Safety: Corporate manager's Guide to Managing Staff and Health and Safety - people matter

Hampshire County Council Treasurers Financial Regulations

Plans:

Youth Service: Strategic Development Plan 2000-2003: Challenging and Supporting Young People

Social Services: New Directions - development and community development plan 1999-2004

Other departmental development policies and plans to be identified and listed following the meeting of the 5 October

6

Summary of existing services and delivery methods

6.1

6.2

6.2.1

6.2.2

6.3

6.4

6.4.1

6.4.2

6.4.3

6.4.4

6.4.5

6.4.6

6.4.7

6.4.8

6.5

6.5.1

6.5.2

6.5.3

6.6

6.6.1

6.6.2

6.6.3

6.6.4

6.7

6.8

6.9

6.10

6.11

6.12

6.13

6.14

6.15

6.16

Outlined below is a list of the departments and delivery methods providing services to young people in the County Council

Education Department

The County Youth Service provides the following services:

Support for youth councils and fora

Detached youth work

Outreach youth work

Mobile projects

Youth Counselling information and advice

Youth Clubs and centres

Focused project work

Duke of Edinburgh's Award and other schemes which recognise achievement and learning

Outdoor education, residential and international experiences

Arts, drama, dance, drama and sports activities

Grant aid to voluntary youth organisations

Advising voluntary organisations

Other Services outside formal education settings and relevant to this review will be identified from October 2001.

Activity statistics and resource information:

3000 young people attended Youth Service projects per week

The annual youth survey showed:

· 49% male, 51% female

· 88% of young people within 13-19 years target group

· 5% were 11 and 12 years old

· 7% were over 19

· 44% of young people attended a youth service project for more that 1 year

· 17% of young people attended a youth service project for 1 to 6 months

· 83% of young people gave their project 7 out of 10 marks or above

The Hampshire County Youth Service Budget for 2000-2001 was £3,614,000

The current staffing level of the County Youth Service is 71 fulltime and 300 part time staff (full time equivalent: 79), 38 admin staff (full time equivalent: 32) 9 youth work manager/trainers.

Social Services Department:

Youth Offending:

As part of the outworking of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 the Government established pilot areas where all parts of the new Act would be tested through Youth Offending Teams (YOTS)

The Wessex YOT was chosen as one of the pilots and contributed successfully to the decision, in April 2000, to establish teams throughout England and Wales.

With an emphasis on partnership the Wessex YOT brings together Police, Probation, Social Services (Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton & the Isle of Wight) Education (Hampshire, Portsmouth & Southampton) and the three Hampshire based Health Authorities and the Isle of Wight H.A.

The aim of the Wessex Youth Offending Team is `to facilitate prevention of further offending by children and young people who are already in conflict with the law, and to facilitate prevention of offending by children most at risk of becoming serious or persistent offenders. This is achieved by deploying a multi-agency charged with the implementation of national strategies applied to local priorities'.

The budget for the entire Wessex team has just been increased from 3.5 to 5 million per year of which Hampshire contributes 40% ( 2 million )

The team is managed by a team leader based in Winchester and staff are located in four centres, Portsmouth, Southampton, Newport, Isle of Wight and Winchester; under the leadership of a senior youth justice worker.

There is a total staff team of 100 people to which Hampshire contributes 60 people currently.

The team has a number of statutory duties, these include:

_ Assessment and intervention work in support of final warnings.

_ Basic information and support services

_ Preparing court reports

_ Placing young people remanded into the care of the County Council

_ Supervising young people under supervision orders

_ Through care and post release supervision

_ Appropriate adult service

Adolescent Support

The department is presently investing £690k in three teams, of approximately 20 staff, whose function is to support young people, and where appropriate their families, who are at risk of needing to be accommodated by the local authority, are already in care or are in the process of leaving care.

Established in 1998 as part of the department's Quality Protects Strategy the adolescent support teams became fully operational in 2000 and the whole scheme is to be evaluated by the Social Services Research and Information Unit of Portsmouth University.

An important part of the adolescent support service is its education support work and the overall annual investment in this work is £210k.The purpose is to work with colleagues in Education to ensure that each individual has a personal education plan aimed at achieving to the full extent of ability. In recent years Hampshire has received national recognition for the success at GCSE level of young people in care.

Children in Mental Health Services

Reviewed as part of the year 1 Best Value programme Children in Mental Health Services (CAMHS) is essentially a range of provision from preventative at one end to highly specialist at the other and intended for those children and young people with severe emotional and mental health problems

Social Services invests in this multi-agency health based service by the employment of 15 social worker county wide. The investment represents 1.7% of the total children and families budget( £375k).

Social workers use a range of skills and techniques to work with clients through, individual assessment and ongoing therapy, post abuse counselling, family therapy and group work with parents.

The range of problems exhibited include aggressive behaviour, bereavement/loss. Self harm and general family relationship problems.

Relevant statistics from other County Council department's services to be identified from October 2001.

District councils Parish and Town Councils

District councils Parish and Town Councils provide for young people's leisure and recreation by providing a range of sports and cultural opportunities. These opportunities are usually provided through sports, arts and leisure centres or by enabling voluntary groups to flourish and develop.

All districts are required to establish local community plans and safety strategy in conjunction with the County Council. Many of these plans have identified needs and issues presented by young people and some of the planned responses relate to the personal development of young people. This has lead to increased partnership working with the Hampshire County Council and the voluntary sector.

Voluntary Youth Organisations

There are a number of voluntary organisations developing and delivering youth work with young people in Hampshire. Twenty four organisations are part of the Hampshire Council for Voluntary Youth Services (HCVYS). HCVYS facilitates the working together of voluntary organisations and other agencies working with young people in Hampshire. The main organisations involved belong to national organisation or are affiliations providing a network of support to local groups or initiatives. It should be noted that not all voluntary youth groups belong to organisations affiliated to HCVYS.

Hampshire Council for Voluntary Youth Services has:

· 1890 outlets for young people

· 14108 adults working with young people

· Estimated: 105472 young people being worked with on a regular basis

· 7 Residential centres

Note the above figures relate to young people aged 5-25

Voluntary organisations in Hampshire received £195,600 in 2000/01, from the Youth Service Sub-committee in grant aid which represents 5% of the delegated budget for the Youth Service. Grants are allocated for the development of new initiatives with young people or for supporting annual revenue expenditure, providing the organisations are working towards the aims and priorities of the County Youth Service.

Grants for supporting individuals, capital expenditure, sports and recreational activities are provided by the Policy and Resources Committee.

Present and projected costs

Youth Service: £3,617,000 (2001/02 budget)

Social Services Projected Figures

COSTS FOR YOUTH SERVICES (13 - 19 YEAR OLDS) - 2001/02

Description

Projected Outturn

£

Adolescent Support

764,260

NCP's (Non County Placements)

3,560,864

Foster Care Placements

1,323,359

Residential Costs

1,866,800

Total

7,515,283

Arts Countryside and Community: £569,100 planned subsidies for 2001/02

Youth arts: £239,000

Outdoor activities: £30,000

Sports development: £300,100

7

Recent Consultation

7.1

7.1.1

7.2

7.3

7.4

7.5

7.6

7.7

7.8

7.9

7.10

7.11

7.12

Youth Service

In October 1999 and again in October 2000, the County Youth Service surveyed young people using the service, to gauge the level of user satisfaction, the quality of relationships between young people and youth workers, and the learning outcomes for young people.

Major Findings Included:

1. a high percentage of user satisfaction (refer to Section 8)

2. good working relationships between young people and Youth Workers.

3. work on `cultural learning' needs further development

4. there is a need for more proactive work with young men on issues that affect them

5. the need for the service to be more proactive in working with young people from ethnic minorities, disabled young people and looked after children, even though the service appears to attract a good proportion of young people from minority and marginalized groups.

6. the service needs to promote its work more fully

7. there is plenty of scope for increased inter-departmental and inter agency working.

Youth work staff were asked to consider the findings of the October 2000 user survey in their action plans for 2001/2002.

The staff of the service are consulted on major policy developments through staff conferences, meetings and working groups. A bi-monthly staff newsletter is used to ensure regular communication.

Wide consultation took place with a number of stakeholders about the contents of the strategic development plan.

No other formal consultation takes place at a county level with `stakeholders' in the County Youth Service. Some stakeholders will have been consulted and more fully involved at a local level on specific issues or developments within districts.

As part of the development of the Connexions Strategy regular stakeholder consultation conferences have been established.

Social Services

As part of its Best Value review Community and Mental Health Services was subject to service user and professional consultation. The overall finding was that users of the service held it in high regard when it was available but some concern was expressed over the patchy nature of provision across Hampshire and the service's ability to respond quickly enough to critical situations.

Professionals and managers were only too well aware of the need to take a serious look at what is a fragmented service and to resolve issues of investment, management and parity. An inter-agency working group is meeting to take the Member agreed recommendations forward.

The Wessex Youth Offending Team report no recent service user consultation. Full consultation goes on at managerial level through senior agency mangers being part of the management board.

The Adolescent Support Service will be undertaking consultation as part of the teams day to day work and to inform the university based evaluation. The service being relatively young has not carried out a specific exercise as yet.

Recent consultation in other services to be identified from October 2001.

8

Current performance information

8.1

8.2

8.2.1

8.2.2

8.3

8.3.1

8.4

8.4.1

8.4.2

8.4.3

8.4.4

8.4.5

8.5

Quality assurance, internal audit and inspection reports

Youth Service: Internal Inspection - Focusing the Youth Service 1998; Annual Survey of Young People using Hampshire Youth Service carried out by the Youth Affairs Unit De Montfort University November 2000; Annual Report 2000/01.

Performance indicators and targets

Youth Service: the County Youth Service manages, supports and promotes effective youth work throughout Hampshire. The target age range is 11-25 with the highest priority placed on the 13-19's. The service has identified five priority areas of work. These are:

1. to enable young people to develop personal and social skills

2. to involve young people in democracy and decision making

3. to promote the social inclusion of young people

4. to engage young people in new opportunities and challenging experiences

5. to encourage young people to lead healthy lifestyles.

Annual targets for each of these priorities is defined in the strategic development plan. The annual action plan identifies the planned actions and outcomes for each target.

Spending and Performance Data

The National Youth Agency has supplied the following performance data for the County Youth Service showing Hampshire's position in relation to our comparator Counties and local authority Youth Services. This information has been available since an Audit of Youth Services was completed in 1998, so trends can be identified as this has now become an annual audit.

National Ranking

Local Authority

YS as % of Ed

21

Dorset

1.69%

48

Nottinghamshire

1.39%

59

Gloucestershire

1.30%

71

Lancashire

1.21%

107

Cambridgeshire

0.95%

110

Suffolk

0.94%

115

Oxfordshire

0.90%

132

Kent

0.74%

136

Bedfordshire

0.68%

138

HAMPSHIRE

0.65%

National Ranking

Local Authority

11-25 spending

20

Dorset

£44.32

45

Nottinghamshire

£35.59

56

Lancashire

£32.06

64

Gloucestershire

£31.02

78

Kent

£29.45

114

Suffolk

£23.11

133

Cambridgeshire

£18.54

134

Bedfordshire

£17.88

139

Oxfordshire

£16.92

142

HAMPSHIRE

£14.29

National Ranking

Local Authority

13-19 Spending

35

Dorset

£77.75

46

Nottinghamshire

£73.79

67

Lancashire

£60.94

81

Gloucestershire

£56.57

104

Suffolk

£47.96

131

Cambridgeshire

£37.61

132

Kent

£37.48

138

Oxfordshire

£34.00

140

Bedfordshire

£31.96

143

HAMPSHIRE

£29.62

National Ranking

Local Authority

%11-25s in contact

4

Dorset

40.1%

28

Gloucestershire

22.75%

45

Nottinghamshire

18.88%

47

Kent

17.72%

65

Cambridgeshire

14.09%

78

Oxfordshire

10.00%

83

Bedfordshire

9.38%

115

Suffolk

2.83%

143

HAMPSHIRE

N/A

National Ranking

Local Authority

%13-19s in contact

4

Dorset

48.68%

42

Nottinghamshire

25.52%

46

Cambridgeshire

23.88%

55

Gloucestershire

20.74%

81

Bedfordshire

13.54%

93

Oxfordshire

10.00%

105

Suffolk

5.05%

HAMPSHIRE

N/A

Social Services:

It was evident in year 1 performance data that across the branches the service is uneven both in terms of its nature and the degree to which clear measurement is apparent.

Youth offending is measured against a required annual YOT plan and report which is submitted to the national Youth Justice Board.

The Quality Protects MAP publishes performance indicators and projections based on both the Performance Assessment Framework and Quality Protects specific performance indicators.

The Adolescent support service teams have developed performance development agreements and as part of the review it will be necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of these in practice.

The Community and Mental Health Services review highlighted the absence of clear measurement and the rectification of this is part of the ongoing work.

Other Services performance data to be identified from October 2001.

9

Competition and other providers

9.1

This aspect of the Best Value process is yet to be considered by the Best Value Review Team.

10

10.1

10.1.1

10.2

10.3

10.4

10.5

10.6

10.7

10.8

Challenges facing services to young people

Youth Service

The Government is encouraging a more strategic approach to services for young people and inter agency working. The Connexions strategy is a key element in this approach and will impact on the Youth Service. The recently published Transforming Youth Work supports the continuation of local authority youth services with the expectation of co-operation with the Connexions service.

Other challenges include the need to respond to a number of government targets for young people including:

1. reducing the involvement of young people in crime

2. increasing levels of involvement in education training and employment

3. reducing illegal substance use

4. reducing teenage pregnancy

5. reducing social exclusion

Although the County Youth Service offers a range of provision for young people the services available are not consistent across the county as a whole. This is partly explained by differences in local needs but also reflects historical patterns of provision and a variable response to new developments in some districts and local communities The recruitment of both professionally qualified full time staff and new part time youth workers, poses a real problem in some, if not all, parts of the county.

The collection and storage of statistical information using ICT is at a relatively early stage within the County Youth Service and needs developing.

A further challenge is provided by the move towards adopting a `pledge' to young people as described in the National Youth Agency document `Quality Develops'.

Social Services

A clear challenge for Social Services as far as young people are concerned is the forthcoming change to state benefits legislation. Under the new proposals those who are not living at home will no longer be entitled to benefits and responsibility for their support will pass to Social Services under the supporting people initiative. Future demand is as yet unclear.

From a review perspective perhaps the greatest challenge will be to resolve how to quantify the potential or actual input of a wide range of voluntary and statutory bodies and to evolve a strategy that is both workable and accessible to young people.

Other challenges to be identified.