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

email: [email protected]

1. Report summary

1.1 The report informs Members of the main themes of the Government's Green Paper `Youth Matters ', summarises the response made to the Department of Education and Skills (DfES) and identifies the areas the Local Authority through children's trust arrangements, will need to consider to implement the reforms.

1.2 The proposals outlined in the Green Paper will enable the County Council to deliver services for young people which support the corporate strategy aims of maximising life opportunities, improving economic prosperity and improving services for young people, as well as ensuring young people contribute actively to their community, resulting in stronger and safer communities.

1.3 The Green Paper identifies how services for young people should be reformed to deliver to meet the aims, purposes and outcomes of the Children Act.

2. Green Paper `Youth Matters' summary

2.1 As part of the DfES `Five year strategy for children and learners' (July 2004) the Green Paper Youth Matters was published July 2005 to develop the Government's and partners' thinking on appropriate responses and services to young people. The Green Paper sets out to reform existing services for young people in England and to create a modern system of support with the overall aim of ensuring all young people meet the five outcomes of Every Child Matters. The objectives of reform are:

1. to engage more young people in positive activities and empower them to shape the services they receive;

2. to encourage more young people to volunteer and become involved in their communities;

3. to provide better information, advice and guidance to young people to help them make informed choices about their lives;

4. to provide better and more personalised intensive support for each young person who has serious problems or gets into trouble.

2.2 The reforms identified in Youth Matters are based on six under-pinning principles:

1. making services more responsive to what young people and their parents want;

2. balancing greater opportunities and support with promoting young people's responsibilities;

3. making services for young people more integrated, efficient and effective;

4. improving outcomes for all young people, while narrowing the gap between those who doe well and those who do not;

5. involving a wide range of organisations from the voluntary, community and private sectors in order to increase choice and secure the best outcomes; and

6. building on the best of what is currently provided.

2.3 The proposals also seek to integrate with other initiatives for young people including Local Area Agreements, provision for under 13s and the Social Inclusion Unit Agenda for 19-25s.

3 Consultation

3.1 There was a twelve week consultation period, in addition to the summer holidays, with a closing date 04 November 2005. A response was co-ordinated by the County Youth Officer on behalf of the Children and Young People's Strategic Partnership. A summary of the main points submitted are outlined below.

3.2 General comments:

3.2.1 There is a credibility gap between the Green Paper's aspirations for what might be achieved for young people and the funding available.

3.2.2 Youth Matters does not attempt to reconcile the commitment to integrate services which is central to Every Child Matters and the parallel government policies which emphasise the independence of individual schools, colleges and health practitioners in terms of commissioning and providing services.

3.2.3 Youth Matters does not place enough emphasis on the important role youth services can play in enabling young people to develop the personal and social skills they require in the transition from childhood and dependency to adulthood and autonomy.

3.2.4 Youth Matters appears to describe `information, advice and guidance' as one service and `targeted support for young people at risk' as a separate service. This is counter to all the feedback received from young people, who make it clear that they wish to be able to access a continuum of information, advice, guidance and support which is available to all young people.

3.2.5 There is not sufficient focus on young people developing enquiring minds and being creative or a recognition of the importance of informal education to the development of young people. `Youth Matters' relies too heavily on sanctions against anti-social behaviour, which may be counter productive and actually work against empowering young people. The emphasis on improving buying power through the reward card is also misplaced.

3.2.6 There is insufficient reflection of the diversity of young people and their needs and especially the challenges faced by those living in rural areas. One of the major issues for these young people is transport.

3.2.7 There is little link to the "skills agenda" and the importance of work with employers, the Learning and Skills Council and Job Centre Plus to ensure that young people are equipped to enter the world of work.

3.3 The following proposals are welcomed:

3.3.1 Engaging young people in decision making which will be essential in promoting social inclusion;

3.3.2 The intention to legislate for local authorities to secure positive activities and a choice of things to do and places to go as part of a youth offer which will include access to constructive activities, volunteering, recreational, sporting and enriching experiences and safe and enjoyable places to go;

3.3.3 National standards for Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG), which should cover this area in its broadest forms and not just career related IAG;

3.3.4 The development and recognition of volunteering opportunities;

3.3.5 The inclusion of commissioning responsibility for information, advice and guidance into the children's trust arrangements;

3.3.6 The potential significant contribution of the voluntary sector as partners;

3.3.7 The need to engage with parents in a supportive manner;

3.3.8 Some additional resources and the clear intention to bring a range of services together within the children's trust arrangements to enable a cohesive range of services to develop with shared training opportunities.

3.4 A number of significant concerns are highlighted:

3.4.1 New statutory duties are expected to be delivered within existing resources these will only be aspirational without any recognition or analysis of costs. The flat rate distribution of costs for the Opportunity Fund is not an appropriate way of allocating the funding.

3.4.2 There are serious reservations about the opportunity card proposal as it will be costly to administer and the experience of other cards has not proved them to be effective. A link with rewards and punitive measures is seen as unhelpful.

3.4.3 The proposals rely too heavily on sanctions against anti-social behaviour, which may be counter productive and actually work against empowering young people

3.4.4 Not enough attention is given to quality of life issues, including the need to combat the isolation experienced by young people living in rural areas and the importance of promoting a positive response to diversity.

3.4.5 Providing places where young people can be with their friends/peers, in a safe and supportive environment is an important part of what youth services must continue to offer.

3.4.6 Finding ways which divert young people from (genuinely) harmful behaviour, and reducing public anxiety, should be approached imaginatively, and with the direct involvement of young people.

3.4.7 There is insufficient recognition of the value of maintaining working arrangements and databases which span local authority boundaries; young people, particularly over the age of 16, move readily across those boundaries for learning, employment and social activities.

4 Next Steps

4.1 Youth Matters is a consultative paper but it is clear from the paper many of its proposals are quite firm. The Government will need to respond to the consultation process and some change to legislation may be required. Local authorities, working with partners through local authority commissioning and trust arrangements, will need to consider the action required to implement the developments described in Youth Matters. A number of these are raised below:

4.1.1 Commissioning processes for information, advice and guidance and targeted support will need to be established through a children's trust approach.

4.1.2 Within the children's trust arrangements there needs to be a particular focus on the 13-19 age group with arrangements to link with or subsume the Connexions Local Management Committee, the Teenage Pregnancy Partnership Board, the Youth Offending Team Management Board, the 14-19 Executive (County Council, Learning and Skills Council LSC, and Connexions).

4.1.3 The practicalities and arrangements for developing `integrated youth support teams' need to be considered and progressed.

4.1.4 The practicalities and arrangements for developing `the local youth offer' need to be considered and progressed.

4.1.5 Young people `making a positive contribution' though volunteering and links with the initiatives of the Russell Commission implementation board need to be considered and progressed.

4.1.6 The children's trust arrangements need to achieve the involvement of schools, colleges and the LSC in its work, with effective links to the `skills agenda' and the `Every Child Matters' outcome `achieve economic well-being'.

4.1.7 The children's trust arrangements need to build on the strong established foundations to achieve more integrated and consistent involvement and influence of young people.

5 Legal implications

5.1 The Green Paper proposes legislation to clarify Local Authorities' duties in the provision of services for young people. Legislation is expected during the summer of 2006.

6 Financial implications

6.1 Additional funding has been identified by the government for improving facilities for young people. An opportunity fund is to be established in each Local Authority to be spent at young people's discretion. The government is proposing a capital fund of £40 million, over two years, to develop new approaches to strategic investment in youth facilities. The funding for the Connexions Service will be transferred to the Local Authority. Additional financial support for volunteering will be managed by the Russell Commission Implementation Group; otherwise, financial support for the proposals is expected to be developed from existing resources.

7 Personnel implications

7.1 The proposals will have a direct impact on both the roles and practices of staff involved in the development of youth support services and potentially for staff responsible for Connexions work, due to the changes in Connexions funding transferring to Local Authorities.

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 expectation of the reforms should lead to improved prevention services and better engagement of young people in communities.

10. Recommendations

10.1 That Members acknowledge and welcome the response made by the Children and Young People's Partnership to the Green Paper Youth Matters

10.2 That Members request the Director Of Children's Services to consider appropriate responses in preparation for the implementation of Youth Matters proposals

10.3 That the Director Of Children's Services keeps Members informed of the Government's response to Youth Matters and of the impact that legislation has on County Council duties and practice in relation to young people.

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.

Youth Matters: Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Education and Skills by Command of Her Majesty. July 2005