Archived decisions

Contact: Malcolm Rittman, County Youth Officer, Tel: 01962 846370

email: [email protected]

1. Report summary

1.1 The Government expects Local Authorities to have an approved annual plan for their Youth Service, which is submitted to the Government Office. The draft Youth Work Plan 2004/05 (appendix 1) for the Hampshire County Youth Service responds to national guidance to ensure quality youth work is developed.

1.2 The proposed plan supports Corporate Strategy aim 5, Improving Services, as well as contributing to the Cabinet priority for Youth.

2 Objective

2.1 The aim of this report is to recommend the draft Hampshire County Youth Service-Youth Work Plan 2004/05 for approval by the Cabinet Member for Education.

3. Contextual information

3.1 In autumn 2002, a common planning framework for the Youth Service was issued by the Government setting out the key components plans are to address. Plans are expected to demonstrate how the Youth Service will meet the following Transforming Youth Work objectives:

· Quality support to young people

· Enabling the voice of young people to be heard

· Ensuring a rich diversity of personal and social development opportunities

· Promoting intervention and prevention, addressing disaffection and exclusion.

3.2 In December 2003 Margaret Hodge the Minister for Children, Young People and Families revised the common planning framework to include the following performance measures:

.1 the level of reach into the resident 13-19 population against a benchmark of 25%

.2 the level of participation of the 13-19 population in youth work against a benchmark of 15%

.3 the proportion of participants in youth work who gain recorded outcomes against a benchmark of 60%

.4 the proportion of participants in youth work who gain accredited outcomes against a benchmark of 30%

3.3 The Youth Work Plan for Hampshire responds to the guidance, builds on the Hampshire County Youth Service Strategic Development Plan 03/06 approved by the Executive Member for Education in March 2002 and includes the revised targets set out by the Minister in December 2003. In future years the plan will be simplified and adopt the guidance for Council plans. The plan outlines how the Hampshire County Youth Service will:

· Provide the strategic leadership expected by the Government

· Respond to the agreed local targets outlined in the Strategic Development Plan 2003/2006

· Perform against the Youth Work Standards, identifying the work required to be completed over the next three years to meet the standards effectively

· Work with young people to: increase their personal and social skills; promote democracy and decision making; promote social inclusion and community cohesion; develop new opportunities and challenging experiences and promote healthy lifestyles.

4. Identification of the issues

4.1 The plan sets high expectations for the service. The performance measures outlined in 3.2 will be challenging to meet. In 2002/03 the Youth Service reached 18% of the resident youth population 13-19 with a participation rate of 12%, with only 3% gaining an accredited outcome. Data are not available for this period to identify the proportion of participants who gained a recorded outcome. Improved data collection systems are being implemented.

4.2 In order to work towards achieving the national expectations the Youth Service will need to:

1. increase the number of young people with whom it works

2. improve recruitment and increase the level of qualified staff

3. increase the number of local projects providing accredited outcomes

4. improve the core funding base to meet the objective of a sufficiently funded service

5. improve data collection and quality assurance arrangements.

5. Funding

5.1 The plan includes the Transforming Youth Work Plan which is required for additional government funding from the transforming youth work development fund and for work developed under the Special Education Needs and Disability Act 2001. The plan is based on the assumption that funding for of these areas will be at the same level as last year, which as yet is still to be confirmed.

6. Recommendations

That the Executive Member for Education approves the Hampshire County Youth Service - Youth Work Plan for 2004/5

Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background Papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

N.B. The list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

Transforming Youth Work - Resourcing Excellent Youth Services

Transforming Youth Work - Planning for the Local Authority Youth Service: 2003-04 Guidance

Letter from Margaret Hodge MP Minister for Children, Young People and Families: Planning Guidance to Local Authority Youth Services 2004-05 (December 2003)