Positive Youth Summit

A number of Ministers from across Government attended the Youth Summit jointly organised by the DfE and NCVYS, which took place on 9th March at the QEII Conference Centre, Westminster. Nick Clegg attended and gave a key note speech. The themes for the Summit were the key issues faced by funders and commissioners of services for young people:

·        How can I succeed in learning?

·        How do I get a job?

·        How can I live a healthy life?

·        How do I avoid getting involved in crime?

·        How can I make a difference?

·        How do we make best use of available funding?

·        How do we get society more engaged?

CHYPS was represented at the Summit contributing to all 7 groups and will continue to support the development of the Policy. In May we intend to run a seminar to articulate what Heads of Service want to see in the Youth Policy. Look out for details in the April Bulletins.

The summit, was co-chaired by Jack Rowley, Vice-Chair of the British Youth Council, Susanne Rauprich, NCVYS Chief Executive and Tim Loughton, marks the start of a programme of work with the sector and young people to build a new vision for young people and youth services.

Children's Minister Tim Loughton said:

For too long young people in this country have had a bad press. Today's Positive for Youth Summit is an opportunity to begin to build a new vision for young people, one that recognises and supports the valuable contribution every young person can make to society. We know that young people today are facing a range of challenges and we want to tackle these head on. That's why we have brought together over 200 people who work with young people, as well as 50 young people themselves, to generate debate and hear their views on how we should develop services for young people. This work will continue over the coming months to help inform a new policy document to be published later in the year.

Jack Rowley, Vice-Chair of BYC said:

This next generation is facing a tough and uncertain future so it’s especially important that we remain Positive for Youth and translate this into support and opportunity. Every day children and young people demonstrate their resilience, creativity and achievement, frequently unrecognised and rarely rewarded. But increasingly many are making a positive difference to their communities and the world they live in, through volunteering or speaking up to influence decision makers. Last year nearly a million children and young people took part in peer elections and today many young representatives have joined national stakeholders to ask questions, challenge decision makers and put forward their perspective on shaping the future. But if this is to be a good news story those views need to be listened to, and acted upon. Investing in youth is investing in all our futures.

Susanne Rauprich said:

The summit allowed government ministers and the youth sector to come together and create a new dialogue on how we can best serve young people. Never before have we seen such a wide spread of government, civil society, public and private sector representatives in one place with a single objective – improving the policies that affects every young person in England

Further details:

http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/youngpeople/a0075356/positive-for-youth-summit