It is still early days for the new Coalition Government but to date it has not said a great deal in relation to youth policy or given specific details on funding or the impacts of the savings on young people’s work. CHYPS, in partnership with others, is trying to learn what the direction the Government wants to take for young people’s work. 

 

There is a general absence of references to youth work or IAG in the Coalition statement and subsequent announcements. Does this absence signal a down playing of this work and the policy direction signalled in Aiming High? Likewise, little has been said on the future of Connexions as either a service or a brand. There has been no indication as to whether the Liberal Democrat manifesto commitment of putting youth work on a statutory footing will be introduced.

 

There have been some announcements – the Ministry of Justice will have sole responsibility for Youth Justice ending the shared responsibility with the then DCSF. The implications for preventative work remain unclear - will this continue to be a priority for Youth Offending Teams or will prevention form part of the wider youth work role.

 

When introducing the Building the Big Society the Coalition did re-affirm that they “will introduce a National Citizen Service. The initial flagship project will provide a programme for 16 year olds to give them a chance to develop the skills needed to be active and responsible citizens, mix with people from different backgrounds, and start getting involved in their communities”. 

 

Iain Duncan Smith (Work and Pensions Secretary) has prioritised tackling youth unemployment in the government's reform of the welfare system citing latest figures that show 1.4 million under-25s are not in education, employment or training. Initiatives to tackle unemployment for all ages are to be simplified and packaged under a single 'Work Programme' that will offer personalised support.

 

Then there are questions over funding for Young People’s Services, concerns are being expressed over the continued availability of the Youth Opportunity and Youth Capital Funds for 2010/11 and whether they are still ring fenced? The announcement of reductions of £1.7bn of grants to local authorities in 2010-11 will in turn impact upon young people’s service’s budgets.  And then there are the capital developments – the myplace and YCF+ projects – how are the savings going to impact on these for their development and ongoing revenue implications.   What we do know is that the Government intends to “use funds from dormant bank accounts to establish a Big Society Bank, which will provide new finance for neighbourhood groups, charities, social enterprises and other non-governmental bodies”. This was a fund to be used for the development of youth facilities.

 

As June unfolds the position should become clearer and when information becomes available we will let you know. CHYPS is pushing for clarity on these issues and the seminar on June 24^th will be a chance to discuss these further.

Have the 2010/11 savings started to impact on your service?

Whilst most of us are a little confused by things like Twitter, blogging, Facebook, Ning, Web 2.0 and all associated technology and software; a number of the staff that we manage are racing ahead getting to grips with it. Today, the business case we put forward to the council for access to Facebook on our 'work' computers was accepted. The case was based upon the premise that Facebook is now an accepted part of daily life for young people - most 13+ year olds seem to use it on a regular basis and the creation of a well-managed 'fans' page does give almost instant access to those young people we are working with.

This week is also UKYP/Assembly election week and we are using, for the third year, mobile phones as the route for voting. Last year we had over 14000 votes and this year we are aiming for 20,000 with 32 candidates standing.

Web 2.0 is no longer 'new' technology - it is just there and I was surprised recently to discover that access to the internet by the use of mobile devices now exceeds access through a PC.

If you want to know more about using Web 2.0 then a social network worth joining is Youth Work Online. Over 500 youth workers who use the web in constructive and creative ways. The address is http://network.youthworkonline.org.uk/

Worth visiting!

Many people know the 2 February as Candlemas Day but how many of you realised it is also officially known as Groundhog Day? It is the midpoint between Winter and Spring and today, the groundhog peeps out from 'his' lair and decides, by the lack of shadows, whether sleeping on is called for.

 

How many events in our working life feel a little like this? As we progress in our career it feels sometimes like "I really have been here before". We hear another negative comment about young people; we're criticised for not supporting the "third sector" enough; we're asked to "keep them off the streets" in that village or town. What is the real need for universally accessible provision, why not just target?

 

I am known, locally, as a broken record - "children and young people"  - known locally to be an advocate for the rights of young people - "there is an entitlement to 'defensible space' in each of our communities"; known locally to be a bit of a pain in the a**e about it all, unfortunately!

 

On the other hand, if there isn't someone working within the local authority who doesn't play this role then young people remain in the disadvantaged and discriminatory position that many adult commentators wish them to remain. So - here goes - another groundhog day today and I won't apologise for it!

This is a personal plea - related to my role as a public servant but slightly to one side of it.  I have joined a voluntary network called the Democracy Club - a non partisan approach to helping the public get more out of the next general election. They're looking for volunteers in all of the constituencies - are you interested?

Democracy Club are building a network of election volunteers to help mySociety and TheStraightChoice in the run up to the next general election, and hopefully beyond. They want your help to achieve this.

In elections these days, all major candidates have a huge team of volunteers behind them, helping them produce and distribute leaflets, get publicity in the local news media, raising their profile and painting a generally rosy picture of them.

But the public gets no such help. They are given election leaflets, party election broadcasts, newspaper interviews with candidates, but they are not given solid, factual information, or simple unbiased analysis of the truth value of these publicity campaigns, especially not at a local level.

Democracy Club feel that the public needs its own team of volunteers to help them. They want you to be one of those volunteers: gather information on candidates, their leaflets, and local news coverage of them; or publicise vote analyses in local papers around the country; or do other tasks they haven't even thought of yet.

With your help, they can give the public the same support that the candidates already get.

If you want to read more than click on this link

Yes I did comment to the complainant about his alleged behaviour. In my response, measured and respectful, of course, I made it clear that we would not accept any form of "aggressive" behaviour from any member of the public towards young people or staff. I, of course, made no accusation just a general point. Surprisingly I received a call on my mobile within 10 minutes of sending the response, from the complainant, refuting any allegation of aggression. I explained that I had a written report which did describe the use of loud obscenities. I listened politely. I do take a real exception to any member of the public 'abusing' any member of staff.  Whilst they are public servants (and I would include all those working in the third sector too, because their role is to deliver to the public good) I do strongly believe that they deserve respect and not to be treated or used as anyone's footstool!

How often are we required to respond to complaints from our 'neighbours'? On my first day as a Head of Service, the previous incumbent, with a wry smile on his face, passed me a file which was approx. 15 inches thick and said " He's your now!". The file contained handwritten letters, typed letters, faxes and emails (an interesting reflection of the use of technology) which were complaints form a neighbour to one of our youth facilities. Contained wihin it was the latest missive, some 28 pages long, which detailed complaints going back years. It accused all and sundry within the Council of lies, deceit and conspiracy and had not been answered. The first page was dated some 8 months previous whilst the final page was approximately 2 weeks old. The complainant had spent that long writing it. I was also told that there were six other files in the archives. Being new I thoght, maybe I can bring some calm to the situation. I read all the complaints and soon discovered it wouldn't be easy! Even the sound of a ball bouncing in the basketball court caused offence! I must confess to having some sympathy with this complainant - his house had been there before the facility was built! Today I'm responding to a different complainant. One who moved into a neighbouring house, many years after this youth facility was built, mabe some 28 years. I have less sympathy for this complainant. The report from my staff has indicated some fairly aggressive behaviour towards young people - the complaint refers to the inappropriate behaviour of young people. I'm tempted to respond to the complaint indicating the importance of adult role models! Will let you know tomorrow waht I do say!!

Who isn't experiencing this, or something like this, at the moment? We're all experiencing rapid change, some of it led well and some of it, not so well. Whilst I'm happy (and I hope have always been) with the necessity for change, there are odd moments, almost every day, when I sense a touch of cynicism ringing in my ears! That is one thing that I do not want to become. The old public servant who moans about the now in comparison to the "good old days"! It never was like that!  Just sometimes I wonder about the leaders of change and their driving force! Is it to better services, I'm sure they believe it, but Government induced change is a little like a merry go round! Get on, they scream without realising we're just going round and round! Oops! Maybe it's time for me to get off?

As the democratisation of the music industry continues and access to making, playing, recording and promoting music gains momentum through the use of internet based programmes, I was asked by a young person if I thought that the promotion of youth music should be something that public services should be offering as a standard? I hadn't thought about this before. I don't know many young people who are not involved in music, some of which I like, some of which I don't even understand but it did set me thinking. Has the market become so open now that public services should be at the forefront of enabling young people gain the skills knowledge and understanding that using music as a medium could bring. Why not a range of public service "record labels" - enabling access for a host of young people to get their music recognised... Just a thought?

As we continue, us "oldies", to get to grips with the use of social media, and not just by young people, our organisations seem to become more and more afraid of it! "No, you cannot access Facebook from your work computer!! I don't care if you have a legitimate reason for contacting young people, it's too dangerous". Did you know that using mobile technology to access the internet is more prevelant now than using PC's? A young man in a local school used his phone to photograph the detail of the homework on the teacher's whiteboard and had his phone confiscated! He was made to write out the detail! Teacher = use of technology - Pupil = pen and paper, ludicrous isn't it!

Anyhow thought this site may interest you:-

If you're not surprised by it - then I'm surprised by you!!!

Budgets, budgets, budgets... I'm spending today defending decisions on the allocation of budgets for next year. How do we ensure that our elected members and other stakeholders actually understand the work we do. How many times do we hear "we've got to keep them off the streets" whilst trying to articulate the role and value of youth work and whilst treading that delicate path between the support "keeping them off the streets" brings with the principles, values and approaches of the youth work professionals. Currently, across the country, there is the tension between targeted work and universal accesible provision. Should we offload the universal to others and engage only in targeted? I'm not sure I agree with this as I've seen so many examples of the personal growth and development of individual young people through our open work. Development that may not have been possible with the potential stigmatising and narrowing of targeted work and without the open access to young people who are in that time of movement from dependence to indepence. Only those brought to the attention of the criminal justice system, the health service, the education welfare service or social care have developmental needs? I think not!!

I'd like to offer Members the opportunity to contribute to this blog - anonymously or not, as you prefer. We are living and working in difficult and challenging times and rarely get the opportunity to 'share' or 'blow off steam' about the challenges, pleasures and difficulties inherent in our role. I'll start with a pleasure! At our staff conference this week we had a presentation about 'packtypes' see http://www.packtypes.co.uk - this pack of cards was an easy, understandable and really positive way of examining the different roles and personalities within the staff teams. It was also clearly a simple but innovative approach to examining roles within groups of young people. Inexpensive and interesting! Well worth considering!