Contact: Pete Marsh, Deputy County Youth Officer, Tel: 01962 846805,

email: [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 In July 2005 the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) published `Effective Youth Services - Good Practice' a summary document of case studies of good practice seen during the first year of a four year programme to inspect all local authority youth services. A summary of the report and key findings is attached (appendix 1). The self-assessment would indicate The Hampshire County Youth Service compares favourably with the examples highlighted in the report and would be described a good service providing good value for money. In addition, in September 2005, the Authority received interim feedback on the Audit Commission's Value for Money (VFM) self-assessment submission, which forms part of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA), this identified areas for improvement, including ` the need to make links between quality, cost and value for money more explicit' in some aspects of spending on youth.

1.2 To date the Hampshire County Youth Service has not had a formal Ofsted inspection but will receive an enhanced visit as part of the Joint Area Review of Children's Services.

1.3 This report identifies how the Hampshire County youth service is meeting the County Council's strategic aims for improving services, and maximising life opportunities and evidences VFM achievement to date and identifies future plans for improvement within existing resources.

2 Contextual information

2.1 Ofsted inspections assess three key aspects of a service:

· The standards of young people's achievement and the quality of youth work practice

· The quality of curriculum and resources

· Strategic and operational leadership

2.2 Services are classified as: very good, good, adequate or inadequate and similarly an inspection assesses value for money. In 2004, 31 services were inspected 6 were judged good or very good, 17 adequate and 8 inadequate. Value for money was judged to be good or very good in 4 services, satisfactory in 19 and unsatisfactory in 8. Services judged as inadequate or providing unsatisfactory value for money was high in proportion to the number of inspections carried out.

3 Main issues

3.1 Extending reach and increased accreditation

3.1.1 Youth Services are required to produce an annual statistical return to the National Youth Agency (NYA). The national target expects youth services to reach 25% of the 13-19 youth population in a local authority. In for 2004/05 the service reached this target, as the number of different young people reached by the service was 31,933 of which 26,900 were 13 -19 representing 25% of the target population. 929 of those actively engaged achieved an accredited outcome.

3.1.2 In 2004/2005 a Hampshire Certificate was launched to acknowledge individual personal learning within service activities. To date 1,515 young people received a recorded outcome.

3.1.3 Ofsted findings suggest `even the best services sometimes found it difficult to reconcile the aim of extending their work and to increase the emphasis on accreditation with simultaneous pressure to engage disaffected young people'. Balancing the competing pressures between universal and targeted opportunities for young people continues to be a challenge for the service.

3.2 Young peoples achievement and youth work practice

3.2.1 The service measures achievement and practice through project evaluation and weeklong management inspections where a sample of projects is visited. Findings from the 2004 inspection were:

.1 84% of projects were graded as adequate or above, of these 70% were good or very good

.2 the quality of relationships between youth workers and young people was of a consistently high standard

.3 good use was made of youth work skills

.4 there was evidence of good planning and preparation

.5 learning outcomes were wide and varied.

Improving project action plans and the recording of outcomes were identified as areas for improvement.

3.2.2 To improve the service's approach to quality assurance and to ensure continual improvement each project will complete a comprehensive annual self-assessment, which will be used for senior staff to observe and evaluate work undertaken. The outcome will ensure all youth work will be annually evaluated and validated. Support will be provided to ensure improvements take place.

3.3 Curriculum policies

3.3.1 Effective services had developed their curriculum policies in consultation with staff, young people and partners. The service's curriculum policy has been developed over a number of years and forms the basis of youth work plans and youth work NVQ training.

3.4 Quality assurance

3.4.1 The report identified that most services had quality assurance processes but were rarely understood and implemented consistently. Quality assurance processes in the youth service have been developing and improving over time. Currently a working group is reviewing needs and approaches include:

· Project annual self- assessment

· Observation of practice

· Regular management meetings

· Annual performance development reviews

· Regular staff surveys

· Annual users survey

· Equalities assessment

· Statistical data collection.

3.4.2 Statistics are collected manually with projects providing monthly data and collated at the district office. The data includes: how many young people contacted; how often they have attended: whether the young person has actively participated; recorded or accredited outcomes gained. Young people are also categorised by age, gender, and ethnicity. This system works well, however, it is not possible to identify if a young person attends more than one project. An electronic system is currently being trialled to improve data collection and analysis.

3.5 Strategic and Operational management

3.5.1 The report identified features of good strategic and operational management which underpinned successful youth work. There is considerable evidence to demonstrate the service performs well in this area. There is a comprehensive planning process, which sets clear targets for districts, a series of regular management meetings and wider groups involving managers from the voluntary sector and Connexions. Regular budget monitoring takes place through the youth service management team and within districts.

3.5.2 Policy and practice is clear and there is a comprehensive range of guidance documents, which identify youth work practice within County Council policies.

3.5.3 Service aims and objectives reflect local and national priorities with the annual self-assessments based on the 5 outcomes of `Every Child Matters'. The service has taken the lead the service in responding to the Green Paper `Youth Matters.'

3.5.4 Effective services involve young people in all aspects of the service and delivery. The Hampshire County Youth Council is highly regarded and all districts contribute to its development. The service supports the elections and ongoing work of the UK Youth MPs. Approaches vary in each district and there are many examples of participation through youth councils, forums and young people influencing the development of their projects.

3.6 Performance management

3.6.1 Effective youth services can demonstrate links between performance management, training plans and service development. The service has a comprehensive programme of regular performance management, which includes an annual performance development review linked to the planning process. As a result of annual performance review meetings training needs are identified and a training plan established.

3.6.2 There is considerable evidence of flexible and innovative staff deployment which is demonstrated through the changing job descriptions and types of youth work delivery such as inclusion workers, detached and mobile projects, and the work of the development team.

3.7 The number and quality of staff

3.7.1 Good services had sufficient managers and workers with a good balance between full- and part-time workers. The service currently employs 82 full-time and 290 part-time youth work staff with over 80% of the total budget being spent on staff. During the last three years turnover of staff has decreased substantially, which has enabled the service to deliver improving services for young people efficiently and effectively.

3.7.2 The majority of full-time staff are nationally qualified, 30% of part time staff are JNC locally qualified to NVQ level 2 and a further 45 are in training.

3.8 Resource deployment

3.8.1 Effective resource deployment underpins good services. Resources in the youth service are allocated to districts through a fair funding formula, which takes into account youth population and a number of agreed social factors including population density, exclusions from school and levels of youth crime. The service spends approximately £40 per head (NYA Audit 2003/04) of the 13 -19 population living in Hampshire. External funding raised by the service equates to 20% of the cash limited budget and comes mainly from the Transforming Youth Work Improvement fund, District and Parish Councils. The £900,000 raised is mostly short-term funding but is critical to the development of the service.

3.9 Safeguarding young people

3.9.1 The majority of services safeguarded young people well and provided them and youth workers with a safe working environment. The service implements the County Council's policies on child protection, health and safety, risk assessment and off-site activities. Child protection, health and safety are cornerstones of the induction training to ensure all staff are able to implement the policies. A programme of upgrading premises is in place to ensure all working environments are fit for purpose.

3.10 Commitment from the local authority

3.10.1 Strong commitment from the local authority was a key feature of most effective services. The service has grown considerably over the last few years. Between 1999 and 2004/2005 demonstrates the number of:

.1 full-time youth workers increased from 37 to 83

.2 young people involved rose from 4.5% of the 13-19 population to 25%

.3 projects have grown from 115 to 172.

3.10.2 The service compares favourably with comparator authorities in terms of performance but remains in the lowest quartile of local authority youth services in respect of funding per head of the 13 -19 year old population.

3.11 Other Evidence

3.11.1 A staff survey in 2004 involving about a third of youth service staff, demonstrated 84% of respondents were either happy or very happy with their work and only 9% were neither happy nor unhappy.

3.11.2 The latest annual survey of users, 2005 involved 687 young people. The replies demonstrated 98% of respondents rated the projects they attended as satisfactory or better, with 78% giving a rating of excellent or very good. Only 0.1% rated the project they attended as unsatisfactory.

4 Self-assessment of the youth service

4.1 The service completes an annual self-assessment of the work it provides. The `Effective Youth Services - Good Practice ' document provides a focus for the self-assessment. As a result of the evidence produced the Hampshire County Youth Service would be viewed as a good service, providing good value for money, which would also be supported by the draft findings of the VFM self-assessment.

4.2 In order to become a very good service the following improvements are required

.1 greater involvement of young people in the development of individual projects

.2 increased resources closer to the `Resourcing Excellent Youth Services' aspiration of £100 per 13 - 19 years old. However, the County Council's formula spending share, which covers not only youth but also community, is only equivalent to £85 per young person. The County Council spends at this level and this is therefore a national funding issue.

.3 comprehensive quality assurance ensuring observation of practice takes place more regularly with secure statistical data collection

.4 increase in the number of recorded and accredited outcomes achieved by young people

.5 improve and make links between quality, costs and value for money more explicit.

5 Legal implications

5.1 The green paper `Youth Matters' states that the government will `legislate to clarify local authorities' duty to secure positive activities for all young people'. This will have an impact on youth service delivery.

6 Financial implications

6.1 Identified in 4.2.2

7 Personnel implications

7.1 None

8 Impact assessment

8.1 Race and equality impact assessment has been considered in the development of this report and no adverse impact has been identified.

9 Crime prevention issues

9.1 The youth service plays an active role in most district Crime and Disorder groups and youth work is one of the recognised ways of providing diversionary activities for young people to keep them from becoming involved in criminal activity.

10 Views of the Local County Councillor

10.1 Views were not sought as the report does not relate to a specific constituency.

Recommendations

1 The judgement of this report that Hampshire County Youth Service is a good youth service and providing good value for money is welcomed.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

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

NB: the list excludes

1. Published works

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

List documents here or type `none'.

· Ofsted - Effective Youth Services - Good Practice

· Audit Commission's - Value for Money

· Comprehensive Performance Assessment

· Natural Youth Agency - Statistical Return