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Question
1 - What are your
views on young people’s access to youth work services,
including, for example:
- levels of
provision across Wales and any regional variation;
- issues relating
to access for specific groups of young people e.g. language,
disability, rurality, ethnicity.
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The variation in
the levels of provision across Wales is quite significant. In
terms of statutory youth provision, local authorities decide
themselves how much of the RSG to allocate. Although local
discretion is important, the absence of at least an agreed baseline
for provision means that for a few authorities, provision is less
than recommended in the budget allocations. Each local
authority youth service will consult with young people on provision
and a range of issues, but there is no central portal that helps us
to build a picture of what the needs and demands are of young
people in Wales today. This means that each local authority
responds to young people’s voice at a very local level, and
this has led to such variation, although when you speak to
colleagues e.g. at the Principal Youth Officer’s Group, many
are identify the same needs and views. Youth Services are
innovative out of necessity, responding to the changes in young
people’s demographics and profile, although often change can
be difficult to implement due to political pressure e.g. Elected
Members and Community Councils whilst also trying to changes in
guidance and legislation, e.g. Youth Engagement and Progression,
Families First, Youth Service Strategy. All of these can
often be distractions to actually addressing the needs of young
people.
Recently there has
been a significant shift across Wales towards more targeted youth
services and this has been exacerbated by the significant savings
required by local authorities. Whereas the argument for
providing universal open-access youth services has been made,
especially in relation to the longer-term outcomes, they are now
being undermined due to the focus on short-term measurable outcomes
e.g. numbers into education, employment and training. When
Extending Entitlement was introduced by Welsh Government, it was
the envy of many other countries and although it technically
underpins Youth Services, its importance has sadly
diminished. A whole-hearted revival of this, along with
minimum provision expectations, would help to readdress the
imbalance, and to support young people in their entirety, not just
for their future economic value. In fact, it is likely that
if young people have access to universal informal/non-formal
education, they will be more likely to make a successful transition
to adulthood.
The challenge for
providing specific services for children with disabilities, who are
ethnic minorities, live in rural areas and/or bilingual, is that
therein lies the tension of providing universal open-access versus
targeted youth work provision. The Youth Service, even when
working with groups of young people, is always focused on the
individual, starting from where they are, not the other way
around. This means that children with any specific needs are
often accommodated within the universal offer, and in fact that is
the way things should be so that young people feel a part of
everything, not different to their peers. There will always
be a necessity to provide safe spaces for some individuals and
groups e.g. with significant mental health issues or LGTB, but
these should occur alongside open-access provision, so that young
people have a choice of what they do and do not attend. For local
authorities to have to choose one or the other due to guidance and
funding means that young people’s needs are no longer put
first. There are too many examples, especially within Welsh
Government, of one department abdicating responsibility for
supporting an element of youth work provision because they do not
see it as ‘their’ business, but make these decisions
without any prior agreement of how gaps can be filled by those
departments whose business they think it is. This means that
at a local level, significant time and effort by Officers is spent
trying to balance all of these competing demands when the focus
should be on the further development of services in response to the
views of young people.
The Youth Service
and its staff are incredibly adaptable and flexible. The
range of services delivered to young people is impressive and the
Youth Service has demonstrated that in addition to its delivery of
open-access services, it excels in a range of settings, delivering
services across health, youth justice, education (schools and
colleges), Police, etc. Its approach is always the same, and
this is why the added value it provides is recognised by other
services and professions.
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If you believe that there are particular
problems, how do you think they could be resolved?
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A refreshing and relaunching of Extending
Entitlement. The recently developed Youth Charter and offere,
developed by the Youth Work reference group had good intentions but
its promotion has been weak.
It would be useful to use a similar approach to
that used for the Engagement and Progression Framework, requiring
local authorities to be more accountable regarding
provision.
Consideration could be given to having a Youth
Support Services sufficiency assessment, similar to the childcare
sufficiency and play assessments.
Acknowledgement needs to be made of the
long-term benefits experienced by young people who engage with
Youth Services and a commitment to promoting the benefits of
informal/non-formal education.
Welsh Government Departments to communicate
better to ensure that they consider the seen and unforeseen
consequences of changes to guidance and legislation.
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Question 2
- How effective do
you think the Welsh Government strategy and policy on youth work
is?
In
considering this question you may wish to think about:
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the Welsh Government’s specific youth work policy and
strategy such as ‘The Youth Work offer’; The Wales
Charter for Youth Work; The National Youth Work Strategy for Wales
2014 to 2018;
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Welsh Government departmental responsibilities and whether there is
a cross-departmental and co-ordinated approach to support youth
work provision.
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As it currently
stands, the strategy and policy on youth work is not being
maximised. Welsh Government would be best placed to help
build a consensus between local authority Youth Services and the
Third Sector as during the past couple of years, this relationship
has weakened. There is a sense in the field that despite best
efforts e.g. establishment of the Youth Service Reference Group,
there has been a lack of momentum, despite bringing together
experts in the field. Despite the size, although currently
reducing, of the Youth Support Services sector, leadership from
Welsh Government seems to be minimal compared to other service
areas such as Youth Justice, Families First, Youth Engagement and
Progression and Play, which are comparable, and often much smaller
‘projects’. It is right that these other areas
receive the current level of attention, but there seems to be
difficulty in developing a comprehensive strategy for Youth Work,
failing to gel it to other important policies in respect of formal
education and health and wellbeing. On the ground, its
contribution is acknowledged but this leads to a fragmented
approach rather than an overall strategy. It would benefit everyone
if Welsh Government could work with the field to strengthen the
approach.
It would be
helpful to Principal Youth Officers to feel that there is an
overarching, meaningful strategy that still allows for local
discretion, but with a minimum, but substantial framework that
local authorities must be accountable for.
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How do you think the Welsh Government could
approach its youth work strategy and policy differently / to better
effect?
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By being more visible
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By engaging with the Principal Youth
Officer’s group as a partnership
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By working in conjunction with the
Third Sector and PYO group to build consensus on the future
delivery of Youth Service
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By introducing some accountability
for the delivery of local Youth Services
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By carrying out an All Wales Survey
of young people to establish what their expectations are from Youth
Work and wider Youth Support Services, but also what they hope to
gain by participating. This would help to agree and establish
a meaningful outcomes framework
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By facilitating access to research,
peer mentoring and sharing opportunities, meaningful contributions
to emerging policy, etc.
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Question 3
- What are your
views on the funding available for youth work, including through
Local Authority, Welsh Government, European Union, and Third
Sector.
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The funding
available for Youth Work is fragmented, but this is true for many
service areas. In areas where the RSG is fully allocated this
obviously helps but currently all Youth Service RSG is under
pressure as local authorities seek savings across their whole
portfolio. The RSG is useful in that it can support
open-access universal provision and more traditional services such
as DofE, whilst grants help fund the delivery of specialist
projects such as mental health, drugs and alcohol, advocacy, etc.
This does make everything very precarious though as whilst
the RSG is under pressure, funding streams are often annual so
planning for the future is difficult. As Principal Youth
Officers, a lot of time is spent trying to forecast and adapt to
planned and unplanned changes.
Welsh Government
funding is welcomed but brings with it challenges. The Youth
Service Revenue Grant is the most straightforward and allows Youth
Services to provide additional services, although the annual
application is not helpful and a three year plan would mean the
monies could be maximised and tied to strategy. It also
enables it to secure and fund Third Sector provision which helps
with relationship building between sectors but also enables a wider
range of young people to be reached. Sharing of staff, training and
expertise also contribute to this relationship building.
Where it becomes more challenging is when funding is provided by
funding streams that sit outside of youth work e.g. Families
First. In some local authorities, Youth Services have been
successful in obtaining funding, whereas in others, they have
failed to do so and this is down to local interpretation of the
guidance. It is difficult to know whether clearer stipulation
of intended beneficiaries would be helpful or a hindrance. To
stipulate might mean that there is no room for flexibility and this
would not be helpful.
European funding
has certainly helped to develop and support youth projects but
there is no doubt that the bureaucracy attached to it, especially
when Welsh Government is the third partner alongside WEFO and the
local authority, can often be off-putting. It is also reliant
on match-funding and when some match-funding is from Welsh
Government annual grants, this means that local authorities are
taking risks in committing to ESF funded projects, along with
potential redundancy costs and little in the way of exit
strategies. The ending of ESF funding, unless replaced by
central government, will be sorely felt.
The funding for
the Third Sector is also precarious, and it has become evident that
the capacity for the sector to grow, especially for small to medium
size organisations, is reducing. In order to help build capacity
into the sector, time and effort is required by all partners to
help each other, including Welsh Government, otherwise any further
demise will undermine the great strides made in Wales when
Extending Entitlement came into play. The Third Sector
currently do not have a mechanism for accurately demonstrating how
many young people they work with, what the outcomes are for young
people and the added value they bring. Local Authorities
across Wales use different Management Information Systems but the
Youth Service Audit at least means that everyone is trying to
measure the same things so that we can build a picture. It
would be beneficial if Local authority Youth Services and the Third
Sector were all contributing to the same MIS that would provide
consistent monitoring.
Young people
articulate time and time again that Youth Services mean so much to
them. This form of pedagogy does much to support young people
to find their way in life by offering them safe spaces to meet, new
experiences, a voice and access to decision-making processes that
they can influence.
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If you believe there are problems in this area,
how do you think they could be resolved?
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Grants need to be for longer than 1
year and linked to a comprehensive strategy.
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It needs to be clear which
funds/strategies can be accessed by the Youth Service e.g. Pupil
Deprivation Grant, 14-19, Curriculum for Wales, Engagement and
Progression Framework, Families First, etc., to prevent
‘battles’ taking place.
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One MIS for all so that reports can
be run in an instant and everyone is comparing like for
like.
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Replacement for ESF needs to be
identified sooner than later.
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Time and resources are required to
build/re-build capacity into the Third Sector
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Question 4
– Are there any
other issues you consider relevant to the Inquiry that you think
the Committee should be made aware of?
(for
example: workforce related issues; the Quality Mark for Youth Work
in Wales; buildings and infrastructure; youth work in schools;
transport issues; access to digital technology; Welsh
Government’s consultation on proposals to register and
inspect some out of school education settings).
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Workforce
Due to the
significant reductions in budgets for Youth Work across England and
Wales, there is a risk that people begin to avoid pursuing Youth
Work as a career, which would be a great loss, especially to young
people. Youth Work has a long history and should be
celebrated and maintained. The registration of Youth Workers
from 1st April 2017 will help with acknowledging the
role of Youth Work but it would benefit from being seen on a par
with teaching, social work and other professions, especially in
relation to pedagogy. In a number of European countries, it
enjoys this status, and rightly so. Formal education, health
services, the Police, etc., have much to learn from Youth Services
and certainly over the past few years, have been turning to Youth
Services for help and provision. In Wrexham, we deliver the
following which are examples of how youth work can contribute to or
lead the work of other services/organisations:
Inspire Hospital
Youth Work Project – based at
the Maelor Hospital. An Award Winning Project that supports
young people admitted to hospital with self-harming
behaviours.
In2change Drug and
Alcohol Service – LA led but
working in partnership with Health, Youth Justice Service and the
Third Sector.
Info Shop and Info
Outreach (including Sexual
Health Clinic) – delivered in partnership with Betsi
Cadwaladr Health Board
School’s
Youth Work – working in
partnership with secondary schools, a small number of Primary
Schools, Education Social Work Service and Youth Justice Service
Education Officer
Arson Reduction
Projects – working in
partnership with the Fire Service
Early
Intervention – Working in
partnership with the Police, Community Councils and Youth Justice
Service
These are but a
few.
In response to the
fiscal pressures at WCBC, the Youth Service alongside all services
in the Prevention and Support portfolio have been realigned to be
more integrated, retain a range of services across prevention
(universal), early intervention, targeted intervention and
statutory intervention in order to adhere to the principles of the
underpinning pedagogy shared across all professions.
A career in Youth
Work must remain appealing if we are able to continue to deliver
what makes youth work different to other professions. The
risk is that professions will blur and as a consequence all that
will be left is a bland offer for our young people. Different
professions and different approaches create options for young
people to choose to engage with, recognising that different things
work for different people.
Youth Work in
Schools
The pressure on
young people to achieve academic excellence is high but for many
they are unable to cope, and when this happens, the Youth Service
plays a critical role in helping them to manage their anxieties, no
matter how they manifest. There are schools who work very
hard to support these young people via there pastoral systems but
there are too many examples of young people who sit outside the
perceived norm, who are left to their own devices, often absent or
excluded. Many of these young people become enter the Youth
Justice System, suffer mental health issues and/or become not
engaged in education, training or employment. In a nutshell,
their future is blighted. Schools Youth Work and its links to
community based youth services provides the perfect conduit to
appropriate support networks, ensuring young people are supported
within and beyond the school gate.
Transport
This issue
consistently arises in consultations with young people. One
of the best things that could happen for young people is to provide
them with access to free transport. By increasing their
mobility, it opens up new horizons to them both for leisure and
educational opportunities. The cost of even subsidised
transport is prohibitive to many. Added to this, unless you
reside along the main transport routes, there is often very limited
access to transport. In such a rural land as Wales, this
needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency, not just in respect
of young people but for families and adults. Ongoing failure
to address this as an infrastructure issue means that our young
people (and adults) will be restricted to their locality and with
no opportunity to travel, they will continue to find it difficult
to travel for education, employment or leisure – which
ultimately impacts on the economy.
Digital
Technology
In this day and
age, it is critical that Youth Services are able to provide access
to the most up to date digital technology, but sadly this is not
the case. Although great strides have been made to ensure
there is access to Wi-Fi in Youth Centres, often there are blocks
on sites due to risk adverse policies being in place. Staff
are attempting to utilise message texting, websites and social
media as a way in which to interact with young people, but again,
especially within local authorities, there are challenges.
For the whole sector, technology can often be outdate and difficult
to replace due to budget constraints. Many young people are
themselves unable to afford the most up to date technology and rely
on access to other’s equipment to be able to apply for
universal credit, carry out job searches, seeking housing, etc.
In Wrexham we utilise the Info Shop to provide some of these
services, but further investment in staff time and equipment would
be beneficial and would enhance the service, but this is unlikely
to happen in the near future.
Inspection
The Youth Service
is no longer subject to its own inspection regime, rather it is a
small part of the inspection of Local Authority Education Services
for Children and Young People (LAESCYP) and in being so has
diminished the role that the Youth Service plays. This has
been an unfortunate development, and the Youth Service would
welcome a refocus or a more significant acknowledgement in the
LAESCYP regime in order to raise its importance in the overall
education of young people in Wales.
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Question
5 - If you had to
make one recommendation to the Welsh Government from all the points
you have made, what would that recommendation be?
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Put young people first. Listen to them.
And then develop joined up policies that are meaningful,
appropriately funded and clear about the role that Youth Services
will play to ensure that young people are able to be proud and
fully contributing citizens of Wales. Young people are
greater than their academic achievements and should be recognised
as so.
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